View source for Asia

{{Short description|Continent}}
{{About|the continent}}
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{{Infobox continent
|title               = Asia
|image               = File:Asia (orthographic projection) without New Guinea.svg
|image_size          = 220px
|area                = {{convert|44579000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} ([[Continent#Area and population|1st]])<ref>{{Cite book |publisher=National Geographic Society (U.S.) |title=National Geographic Family Reference Atlas of the World |location=Washington, D.C. |year=2006 |page=264}}</ref>
|population          = {{UN Population|Asia}} ({{UN Population|Year}}; [[List of continents and continental subregions by population|1st]]){{UN Population|ref}}
|density             = 100/km<sup>2</sup> (260/sq mi) 
|GDP_PPP             = [[US$|$]]94.66 trillion (2025 est; [[List of continents by GDP#Continents by GDP (PPP)|1st]])<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPGDP@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD |title=GDP PPP, current prices |publisher=International Monetary Fund |year=2022 |access-date=16 January 2022 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122001107/https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPGDP@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD |url-status=live}}</ref>
|GDP_nominal         = {{nowrap|$41.02 trillion (2025 est; [[List of continents by GDP#Continents by GDP (nominal)|1st]])<ref>{{cite web |title=GDP Nominal, current prices |url=https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD |publisher=International Monetary Fund |year=2022 |access-date=16 January 2022 |archive-date=25 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225211431/https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD |url-status=live}}</ref>}}
|GDP_per_capita      = $9,180 (2025 est; [[List of continents by GDP#Continents by GDP per capita (nominal)|4th]])<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPDPC@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD |title=Nominal GDP per capita |publisher=International Monetary Fund |year=2022 |access-date=16 January 2022 |archive-date=11 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111084550/https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPDPC@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD |url-status=live}}</ref>
|religions          = {{unbulleted list
 | [[Islam in Asia|Islam]] (28.0%)
 | [[Hinduism in Asia|Hinduism]] (22.8%)
 | [[Irreligion in Asia|No religion]] (13.9%)
 | [[Buddhism in Asia|Buddhism]] (11.1%)
 | [[Chinese folk religion]] (9.7%)
 | [[Christianity in Asia|Christianity]] (8.4%)
 | [[Ethnic religion]]s (3.5%)
 | [[New religion]]s (1.3%)
 | [[Religion in Asia|Other]] (1.3%)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Todd M. |last2=Crossing |first2=Peter F. |date=14 October 2022 |title=Religions by Continent |journal=Journal of Religion and Demography |volume=9 |issue=1–2 |pages=91–110 |doi=10.1163/2589742x-bja10013 |issn=2589-7411}}</ref>}}
| religions_ref      =
|demonym             = [[Asian people|Asian]]
|countries           = {{ubl
 | 49 UN members
 | 1 UN observer
 | 5 other states
}}
|list_countries      = List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia
|dependencies        =
{{Collapsible list
| titlestyle = background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;
| list_style = text-align:left;
| 1 = {{flag|Akrotiri and Dhekelia}} | 2 = {{flag|British Indian Ocean Territory}} | 3 = {{flag|Christmas Island}} | 4 = {{flag|Cocos (Keeling) Islands}} | 5 = {{flag|Hong Kong}} | 6 = {{flag|Macau}}
}}
|unrecognized        =
{{Collapsible list
| titlestyle = background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;
| list_style = text-align:left;
| 1 = {{flag|Abkhazia}}
| 2 = {{flag|Northern Cyprus}}
| 3 = {{flag|Palestine}}
| 4 = {{flag|South Ossetia}}
| 5 = {{flag|Taiwan}}}}
|languages = [[Languages of Asia|List of languages]]
|time = [[UTC+02:00]] to [[UTC+12:00]]
|internet = [[.asia]]
|cities = {{plainlist|
* [[List of metropolitan areas in Asia|List of metropolitan areas]]
* [[Lists of cities in Asia|Lists of cities]]
}}
|m49 = <code>142</code> – Asia<br /><code>001</code> – World
|footnotes =
}}

'''Asia''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|eɪ|ʒ|ə|audio=En-us-Asia.ogg}} {{respell|AY|zhə}}, {{IPAc-en|UKalso|ˈ|eɪ|ʃ|ə}} {{respell|AY|shə}}) is the largest [[continent]]{{Notetag|Asia is normally considered its own continent in the English speaking world, which uses the seven continent model.<ref>{{cite dictionary |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/asia?q=Asia |title=Asia |dictionary=Oxford Learner's Dictionaries |publisher=Oxford University PRess}}</ref><ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster |Asia}}</ref> Other models consider Asia as part of a Eurasian or Afro-Eurasian continent (see {{slink|Continent|Number}}).}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Asia: The largest continent on Earth |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmh4bdm |publisher=BBC Bitesize |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007001521/https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmh4bdm |archive-date=7 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="Boudreau">{{Cite web |title=Asia: Physical Geography |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/asia/ |access-date=4 February 2023 |website=National Geographic Society |first1=Diane |last1=Boudreau |first2=Melissa |last2=McDaniel |first3=Erin |last3=Sprout |first4=Andrew |last4=Turgeon |others=Crooks, Mary; Gunther, Tim; Wynne, Nancy |editor-first1=Jeannie |editor-last1=Evers |editor-first2=Kara |editor-last2=West |archive-date=30 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630200953/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/asia |url-status=live}}</ref> in the world by both land area and population.<ref name="Boudreau" /> It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres,{{Notetag|44,579,000 square kilometres (17,212,000 square miles)}} about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the [[human population]],<ref>{{cite web |title=The World at Six Billion |url=https://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbillion.htm |publisher=UN Population Division |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305042434/http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbillion.htm |archive-date=5 March 2016 |url-status=dead |postscript=,}} {{cite web |url=http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbilpart1.pdf |title=Table 2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101220025/http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbilpart1.pdf |archive-date=1 January 2016}}</ref> was the site of many of the [[first civilisations]]. Its 4.7&nbsp;billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population.

Asia shares the [[landmass]] of [[Eurasia]] with [[Europe]], and of [[Afro-Eurasia]] with both Europe and [[Africa]]. In general terms, it is bounded on the east by the [[Pacific Ocean]], on the south by the [[Indian Ocean]], and on the north by the [[Arctic Ocean]]. The border of Asia with Europe is a [[social constructionism|historical and cultural construct]], as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. A commonly accepted division places Asia to the east of the [[Suez Canal]] separating it from Africa; and to the east of the [[Turkish straits]], the [[Ural Mountains]] and [[Ural River]], and to the south of the [[Caucasus Mountains]] and the [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] and [[Black Sea|Black]] seas, separating it from Europe.<ref name="National Geographic-1999">{{cite book |title=National Geographic Atlas of the World |edition=7th |year=1999 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=[[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] |isbn=978-0-7922-7528-2}} "Europe" (pp. 68–69); "Asia" (pp. 90–91): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and Europe is formed by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, and the Black Sea with its outlets, the Bosporus and Dardanelles."</ref>

Since the concept of Asia derives from the term for the eastern region from a European perspective, Asia is the remaining vast area of Eurasia minus Europe. Therefore, Asia is a region where various independent cultures coexist rather than sharing a single culture, and its boundary with Europe is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in [[classical antiquity]]. The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects [[East–West dichotomy|East–West]] cultural differences, some of which vary on a spectrum.

[[China]] and [[India]] traded places as the [[list of regions by past GDP (PPP)|largest economies in the world]] from 1 to 1800 CE. China was a major economic power for much of recorded history, with the highest [[GDP per capita]] until 1500.<ref>{{cite web |first=M. D. |last=Nalapat |url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/SRR/Volume14/nalapat.html |title=Ensuring China's 'Peaceful Rise' |access-date=22 January 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110045822/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/SRR/Volume14/nalapat.html |archive-date=10 January 2010}}</ref><ref name="Eric.ed.gov-2000"/><ref>{{cite news |date=30 September 2004 |title=The Real Great Leap Forward |url=https://www.economist.com/special-report/2004/10/02/the-real-great-leap-forward |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227234147/http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_PNTJQTR |archive-date=27 December 2016 |newspaper=The Economist}}</ref> The [[Silk Road]] became the main east–west trading route in the Asian hinterlands while the [[Straits of Malacca]] stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited [[economic dynamism]] as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, but overall population growth has since fallen.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.economist.com/diversions/millennium/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=346605 |title=Like herrings in a barrel |magazine=The Economist |date=23 December 1999 |issue=Millennium issue: Population |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104100155/http://www.economist.com/diversions/millennium/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=346605 |archive-date=4 January 2010}}</ref> Asia was the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions including [[Buddhism]], [[Christianity]], [[Confucianism]], [[Hinduism]], [[Islam]], [[Jainism]], [[Judaism]], [[Sikhism]], [[Taoism]], [[Zoroastrianism]], and many other religions.

Asia varies greatly across and within [[Regions of Asia|its regions]] with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, and government systems. It also has a mix of many different climates ranging from the equatorial south via the hot deserts in parts of [[West Asia]], [[Central Asia]] and [[South Asia]], temperate areas in the east and the continental centre to vast subarctic and polar areas in [[North Asia]].

== Etymology ==
[[File:Gulf5..JPG|thumb|left|Ptolemy's Asia]]

The term "Asia" is believed to originate in the [[Bronze Age]] toponym {{tlit|hit|[[Assuwa]]}} ({{langx|hit|𒀸𒋗𒉿|translit=aš-šu-wa|link=yes}}) which originally referred only to a portion of northwestern [[Anatolia]]. The term appears in [[Hittite texts|Hittite records]] recounting how a confederation of Assuwan states including [[Troy]] unsuccessfully rebelled against the Hittite king [[Tudhaliya I]] around 1400&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=McMahon |first=Gregory |year=2011 |editor-last1=Steadman |editor-first1=Sharon |editor-last2=McMahon |editor-first2=Gregory |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia |title=The Land and Peoples of Anatolia through Ancient Eyes |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0002 |page=21}}</ref><ref>Bossert, Helmut T., ''Asia'', Istanbul, 1946.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Rose |first=Charles Brian |year=2013 |title=The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-76207-6 |pages=108–109}}</ref> Roughly contemporary [[Linear B]] documents contain the term {{tlit|gmy|aswia}} ({{langx|gmy|𐀀𐀯𐀹𐀊|translit=a-si-wi-ja|link=yes}}), seemingly in reference to captives from the same area.<ref>{{harvnb|Ventris|Chadwick|1973|pp=410, 536}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Billie Jean |last2=Bachvarova |first2=Mary R. |last3=Rutherford |first3=Ian |title=Anatolian Interfaces: Hittites, Greeks and their Neighbours |date=28 March 2010 |publisher=Oxbow |isbn=978-1-78297-475-8 |page=120 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7KemAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT146 |quote=assuwa pylos "aswia" = Linear B A-si-wi-ja |access-date=7 March 2023 |archive-date=4 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204010301/https://books.google.com/books?id=7KemAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT146 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Roman Empire - Asia (125 AD).svg|thumb|left|The province of [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia]] within the Roman Empire]]

Herodotus used the term in reference to [[Anatolia]] and the territory of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], in contrast to Greece and Egypt. He reports that Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of [[Prometheus]], but that [[Lydia]]ns say it was named after ''Asies'', son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe at [[Sardis]].<ref>Book IV, Article 45.</ref> In [[Greek mythology]], "Asia" ({{lang|grc|Ἀσία}} or {{lang|grc|Ἀσίη}}) was the name of a "[[Nymph]] or [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]] goddess of Lydia".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheAsie.html |title=Asie |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia: Greek Gods, Spirits, Monsters |publisher=Theoi Greek Mythology, Exploring Mythology in Classical Literature and Art |date=2000–2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604045105/http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheAsie.html |archive-date=4 June 2010}}</ref> The [[Iliad]] (attributed by the ancient Greeks to [[Homer]]) mentions two Phrygians in the [[Trojan War]] named [[Asius (mythology)|Asios]] (literally 'Asian');<ref>Μ95, Π717.</ref> and also a marsh or lowland containing a marsh in Lydia as {{lang|grc|ασιος}}.<ref>Β461.</ref>

The term was later adopted by the [[Roman people|Roman]]s, who used it in reference to the [[province of Asia]], located in western Anatolia.<ref>{{cite dictionary |year=2007 |title=Ἀσία |dictionary=A Greek-English Lexicon |publisher=Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University |location=Medford |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*%29asi%2Fa |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |orig-year=1940 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427042823/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*%29asi%2Fa |archive-date=27 April 2011 |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |last3=Jones |first3=Henry Stuart |last4=McKenzie |first4=Roderick |url-status=live}}</ref> One of the first writers to use Asia as a name of the whole continent was [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]].<ref>{{cite dictionary |url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=Asia&allowed_in_frame=0 |title=Asia |dictionary=Etymonline.com |access-date=9 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525113914/http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=Asia&allowed_in_frame=0 |archive-date=25 May 2017}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

== Definition ==
{{Further|topic=Asian borders|Geography of Asia#Boundary|Boundaries between the continents|List of transcontinental countries#Asia and Europe|Copenhagen criteria}}

=== Asia–Europe boundary ===
[[File:Possible definitions of the boundary between Europe and Asia.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Definitions used for the boundary between Asia and Europe in different periods of history. [[Asia#Ongoing definition|Modern definition]]s mostly fit with lines ''B'' and ''F'' given.]]

The threefold division of the [[Old World]] into Africa, Asia, and Europe has been in use since the 6th century&nbsp;BCE, due to [[Greek geographers]] such as [[Anaximander]] and [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Slomp |first=Hans |title=Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0313391828 |edition=Illustrated, revised |date=2011}}</ref> Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the [[Phasis River]] (now the Rioni) in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] of Caucasus (from its mouth by [[Poti]] on the [[Black Sea]] coast, through the [[Surami Pass]] and along the [[Kura (Caspian Sea)|Kura River]] to the Caspian Sea), a convention still followed by [[Herodotus]] in the 5th century&nbsp;BCE.<ref>''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' 4.38. Cf. James Rennell, ''The Geographical System of Herodotus Examined and Explained'', Volume 1, Rivington 1830, [[iarchive:bub gb enQ-AAAAcAAJ/page/n274|<!-- quote=Herodotus Phasis. -->p. 244]].</ref> During the [[Hellenistic period]],<ref>according to Strabo (''[[Geographica]]'' 11.7.4) even at the time of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]], "it was agreed by all that the Tanais river separated Asia from Europe" ({{lang|grc|ὡμολόγητο ἐκ πάντων ὅτι διείργει τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀπὸ
τῆς Εὐρώπης ὁ Τάναϊς ποταμός}}; cf. Duane W. Roller, ''Eratosthenes' Geography'', Princeton University Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-691-14267-8}}, {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8peKyWK_SWsC&pg=PA57 |title=Geography |page=57 |isbn=978-0-691-14267-8 |author1=Eratosthenes |date=24 January 2010 |publisher=Princeton University Press |access-date=21 January 2020 |archive-date=26 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326125152/https://books.google.com/books?id=8peKyWK_SWsC&pg=PA57 |url-status=live}})</ref> this convention was revised, and the boundary between Europe and Asia was now considered to be the [[Don River (Russia)|Tanais]] (the modern Don River). This is the convention used by Roman era authors such as [[Posidonius]],<ref>W. Theiler, ''Posidonios. Die Fragmente'', vol. 1. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982, fragm. 47a.</ref> [[Strabo]]<ref>I. G. Kidd (ed.), ''Posidonius: The commentary'', Cambridge University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-521-60443-7}}, {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_iXs1aCr1ckC&pg=PA738 |title=p. 738 |isbn=978-0-521-60443-7 |author1=Posidonius |year=1989 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=21 January 2020 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801115807/https://books.google.com/books?id=_iXs1aCr1ckC&pg=PA738 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Ptolemy]].<ref>''[[Geographia]]'' 7.5.6 (ed. Nobbe 1845, {{cite book |last1=Ptolomy |first1=Claudio |year=1845 |title=Geographia |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vHMCAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524011208/https://books.google.com/books?id=vHMCAAAAQAAJ |archive-date=24 May 2020 |access-date=21 January 2020}}, p. 178). {{lang|grc|Καὶ τῇ Εὐρώπῃ δὲ συνάπτει διὰ τοῦ μεταξὺ αὐχένος τῆς τε Μαιώτιδος λίμνης καὶ τοῦ Σαρματικοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς διαβάσεως τοῦ Τανάϊδος ποταμοῦ.}}
"And [Asia] is connected to Europe by the land-strait between Lake Maiotis and the Sarmatian Ocean where the river Tanais crosses through."</ref>

The border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics.<ref name="Lineback-2013">{{cite magazine |url=http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/09/geography-in-the-news-eurasias-boundaries/ |title=Geography in the News: Eurasia's Boundaries |first=Neal |last=Lineback |magazine=National Geographic |date=9 July 2013 |access-date=9 June 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508224947/http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/09/geography-in-the-news-eurasias-boundaries/ |archive-date=8 May 2016}}</ref>

In Sweden, five years after Peter's death, in 1730 [[Philip Johan von Strahlenberg]] published a new atlas proposing the Ural Mountains as the border of Asia. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg. The latter had suggested the [[Emba River]] as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the [[Ural River]] prevailed in the mid-19th century. The border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects.<ref>{{harvnb|Lewis|Wigen|1997|pp=27–28}}.</ref> The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the [[Caucasus Mountains]], although it is sometimes placed further north.<ref name="Lineback-2013" />

=== Asia–Africa boundary ===
The boundary between Asia and Africa is the [[Suez Canal]], the [[Gulf of Suez]], the [[Red Sea]], and the [[Bab-el-Mandeb]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Suez Canal: 1250 to 1920: Middle East |encyclopedia=Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, & Africa: An Encyclopedia |year=2012 |publisher=Sage |doi=10.4135/9781452218458.n112 |isbn=978-1-4129-8176-7 |s2cid=126449508}}</ref> This makes [[Egypt]] a [[transcontinental country]], with the [[Sinai Peninsula]] in Asia and the remainder of the country in Africa.

=== Asia–Oceania boundary ===
[[File:Map of Sunda and Sahul.svg|left|thumb|upright=1.2|Definitions of the boundary between Asia and Oceania]]

The border between Asia and [[Oceania]] is usually placed somewhere in the [[Indonesian Archipelago]], specifically in [[Eastern Indonesia]]. The [[Wallace Line]] separates the Asian and [[Wallacea]] biogeographical realms, a transition zone of deep water straits between the Asian and Australian continental shelves. [[Weber's Line]] split the region in two with regard to the balance of fauna between Asian origin or Australo-Papuan origin.<ref name="Simpson-1977"/> Wallacea's eastern boundary with [[Australia (continent)|Sahul]] is represented by the [[Richard Lydekker|Lydekker's Line]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Islands under the sea: a review of early modern human dispersal routes and migration hypotheses through Wallacea |journal=The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=364–384 |year=2015 |doi=10.1080/15564894.2015.1119218 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287798057 |last1=Kealy |first1=Shimona |last2=Louys |first2=Julien |last3=o'Connor |first3=Sue |s2cid=129964987 |issn=1556-4894}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=New |first=T. R. |year=2002 |title=Neuroptera of Wallacea: a transitional fauna between major geographical regions |url=http://actazool.nhmus.hu/48Suppl2/newwallace.pdf |journal=Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=217–227}}</ref> The [[Maluku Islands]] (except the Aru Islands) are often considered to lie on the border of southeast Asia, with the [[Aru Islands]] and [[Western New Guinea]], to the east of the Lydekker's Line, being wholly part of Oceania, as both lie on the Australian continental plate.<ref name="Simpson-1977">{{cite journal |last=Simpson |first=George Gaylord |title=Too Many Lines; The Limits of the Oriental and Australian Zoogeographic Regions |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |publisher=American Philosophical Society |volume=121 |issue=2 |year=1977 |issn=0003-049X |jstor=986523 |pages=107–120}}</ref> Culturally, the Wallacea region denoted the transition between [[Austronesian people|Austronesian]] and [[Melanesian people]], with varying degrees of intermixing between the two. In general, the further west and coastal a region is, the stronger the Austronesian influences, and the further east and inland a region is, the stronger the Melanesian influences.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Jejak Pembauran Melanesia dan Austronesia |magazine=National Geographic |date=26 November 2015 |url=https://nationalgeographic.grid.id/read/13302465/jejak-pembauran-melanesia-dan-austronesia |language=id |access-date=11 June 2024}}</ref> The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several vastly different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Indonesian Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the colonial possessions of the various empires there (not all European). Lewis and Wigen assert, "The narrowing of 'Southeast Asia' to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process."<ref>{{harvnb|Lewis|Wigen|1997|pp=170–173}}.</ref>

=== Asia–North America boundary ===
{{See also|Northeast Asia}}
[[File:Us-su-maritime.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The United States–Russia borrder according to the [[USSR–USA Maritime Boundary Agreement]]]]
The [[Bering Strait]] and [[Bering Sea]] separate the landmasses of Asia and [[North America]], as well as forming the international boundary between Russia and the United States. This [[National boundary|national]] and continental boundary separates the [[Diomede Islands]] in the Bering Strait, with [[Diomede Islands|Big Diomede]] in [[Russia]] and [[Diomede Islands|Little Diomede]] in the [[United States]]. The [[Aleutian Islands]] are an island chain extending westward from the [[Alaskan Peninsula]] toward Russia's [[Komandorski Islands]] and [[Kamchatka Peninsula]]. Most of them are always associated with North America, except for the westernmost [[Near Islands]] group, which is on Asia's continental shelf beyond the [[North Aleutians Basin]] and on rare occasions could be associated with Asia, which could then allow the United States to be considered a transcontinental state. The Aleutian Islands are sometimes associated with Oceania, owing to their status as remote Pacific islands, and their proximity to the Pacific Plate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Danver |first1=Steven L. |title=Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues |date=2015 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=185 |isbn=978-1317464006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vf4TBwAAQBAJ&dq=%22aleutians%22+%22part+of+oceania%22&pg=PA185 |access-date=23 April 2022 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404181817/https://books.google.com/books?id=vf4TBwAAQBAJ&dq=%22aleutians%22+%22part+of+oceania%22&pg=PA185 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wallace |first1=Alfred Russel |title=Australasia |date=1879 |publisher=University of Michigan |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e2kcAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22oceania+is+the+word+often%22&pg=PA2 |access-date=12 March 2022 |quote=The more northerly section, lying between Japan and California and between the Aleutian and Hawaiian Archipelagos is relived by nothing but a few solitary reefs and rocks at enormously distant intervals. |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064236/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Australasia/e2kcAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22oceania+is+the+word+often%22&pg=PA2&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kohlhoff |first1=Dean |title=Amchitka and the Bomb: Nuclear Testing in Alaska |date=2002 |publisher=University of Washington Press |page=6 |isbn=978-0295800509 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kSWn8lbI4q4C&dq=%22aleutian+islands%22+%22oceania%22&pg=PA6 |access-date=12 March 2022 |quote=The regional name of the Pacific Islands is appropriate: Oceania, a sea of islands, including those of Alaska and Hawaii. The Pacific Basin is not insignificant or remote. It covers one third of the globe's surface. Its northern boundary is the Aleutian Islands chain. |archive-date=17 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517051213/https://books.google.com/books?id=kSWn8lbI4q4C&dq=%22aleutian+islands%22+%22oceania%22&pg=PA6 |url-status=live}}</ref> This is extremely rare however, due to their non-tropical biogeography, as well as their [[Aleut|inhabitants]], who have historically been related to the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Flick |first1=Alexander Clarence |title=Modern World History, 1776-1926: A Survey of the Origins and Development of Contemporary Civilization |date=1926 |publisher=A. A. Knopf |page=492 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PhGHAAAAMAAJ&q=Modern%20World%20History,%201776-1926A%20Survey%20of%20the%20Origins%20and%20Development%20of%20Contemporary%20Civilization |access-date=10 July 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064936/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Modern_World_History_1776_1926/PhGHAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Modern+World+History%2C+1776-1926A+Survey+of+the+Origins+and+Development+of+Contemporary+Civilization |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Henderson |first1=John William |title=Area Handbook for Oceania |date=1971 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuOIqt-UQowC&dq=%22oceania%22+%22aleutian+islands%22&pg=PR5 |access-date=11 March 2022 |archive-date=6 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406111120/https://books.google.com/books?id=NuOIqt-UQowC&dq=%22oceania%22+%22aleutian+islands%22&pg=PR5 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[St. Lawrence Island]] in the northern Bering Sea belongs to the US state of [[Alaska]] and may be associated with either continent but is almost always considered part of North America, as with the [[Rat Islands]] in the Aleutian chain. At their nearest points, Alaska and Russia are separated by only {{convert|2.5|mi|0|order=flip|abbr=off}}.

=== Ongoing definition ===
[[File:Afro-Eurasia (orthographic projection).svg|thumb|left|Afro-Eurasia]]

Geographical Asia is a cultural artifact of European conceptions of the world, beginning with the [[Ancient Greeks]], being imposed onto other cultures, an imprecise concept causing endemic contention about what it means. Asia does not exactly correspond to the cultural borders of its various types of constituents.<ref>{{harvnb|Lewis|Wigen|1997|pp=7–9}}.</ref>

From the time of Herodotus, a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system (Europe, Africa, Asia) on the grounds that there is no substantial physical separation between them.<ref>{{cite web |title=Asia |url=http://accessscience.com/abstract.aspx?id=054800&referURL=http%3a%2f%2faccessscience.com%2fcontent.aspx%3fid%3d054800 |work=AccessScience |publisher=McGraw-Hill |access-date=26 July 2011 |archive-date=27 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127141127/http://accessscience.com/abstract.aspx?id=054800&referURL=http%3A%2F%2Faccessscience.com%2Fcontent.aspx%3Fid%3D054800 |url-status=dead}}</ref> For example, Sir [[Barry Cunliffe]], the emeritus professor of European archeology at Oxford, argues that Europe has been geographically and culturally merely "the western excrescence of the continent of Asia".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200812/editors-choice |title=Geography Is Destiny |first=Benjamin |last=Schwartz |magazine=The Atlantic |date=December 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930211221/http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200812/editors-choice |archive-date=30 September 2009}}</ref>

Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of [[Eurasia]] with Europe being a northwestern [[peninsula]] of the landmass. Asia, Europe and Africa make up a single continuous landmass—[[Afro-Eurasia]]—and share a common [[continental shelf]]. Almost all of Europe and a major part of Asia sit atop the [[Eurasian Plate]], adjoined on the south by the [[Arabian Plate|Arabian]] and [[Indian Plate]] and with the easternmost part of Siberia (east of the [[Chersky Range]]) on the [[North American Plate]].
{{Clear}}

== History ==
{{Main|History of Asia}}

=== Ancient era ===
{{See also|Sinosphere|Greater India|Greater Iran}}[[File:Silkroutes.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Silk Road]] connected civilisations across Asia.<ref>{{cite web |author=Lee |first=Adela C. Y. |title=Ancient Silk Road Travellers |url=http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108022054/http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml |archive-date=8 November 2017 |access-date=9 November 2017 |website=Silk-road.com |publisher=Silkroad Foundation}}</ref>]]The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: [[East Asia]], [[South Asia]], [[Southeast Asia]], [[Central Asia]], and [[West Asia]]. The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilisations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilisations in [[Mesopotamia]], the [[Indus Valley]] and the [[Yellow River]] shared many similarities. These civilisations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as [[mathematics]] and the [[wheel]]. Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands.

The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the [[steppe]]s. The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the [[Indo-Europeans]], who spread their languages into West Asia, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the [[Tocharians]] resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of [[Siberia]], was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and [[tundra]]. These areas remained very sparsely populated.

The center and the peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The [[Caucasus]] and [[Himalaya]] mountains and the [[Karakum Desert|Karakum]] and [[Gobi]] deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large equestrian force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies.

=== Medieval era ===
[[File:Mongol dominions1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Mongol Empire]] at its greatest extent. The gray area is the later [[Timurid Empire]].]]The Islamic [[Caliphate]]'s defeats of the [[Byzantine]] and Persian empires led to West Asia and southern parts of [[Central Asia]] and [[Northwestern South Asia|western parts of South Asia]] under its control during [[Early Muslim conquests|its conquests]] of the 7th century; Islam also [[Spread of Islam|spread]] over centuries to the southern regions of India and Southeast Asia through trade along the [[Maritime Silk Road]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=How Islam Spread Throughout the World |url=https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/how-islam-spread-throughout-the-world |access-date=8 August 2024 |website=Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Did you know?: The Spread of Islam in Southeast Asia through the Trade Routes |url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/did-you-know-spread-islam-southeast-asia-through-trade-routes |access-date=8 August 2024 |website=en.unesco.org}}</ref> The [[Mongol Empire]] conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe. Before the Mongol invasion, [[Song dynasty]] reportedly had approximately 120 million citizens; the 1300 census which followed the invasion reported roughly 60 million people.<ref>Ping-ti Ho. "An Estimate of the Total Population of Sung-Chin China", in ''Études Song'', Series 1, No. 1, (1970). pp. 33–53.</ref>

The [[Black Death]], one of the most devastating [[pandemic]]s in human history, is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the [[Silk Road]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/blackdisease_01.shtml |title=Black Death |publisher=BBC |date=17 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605000815/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/blackdisease_01.shtml |archive-date=5 June 2012}}</ref>

=== Modern era ===
{{See also|History of Eurasia#Modern era|Afro-Asia#Modern era}}
European involvement in Asia became more significant from the [[Age of Discovery]] onward, with Iberian-sponsored sailors such as [[Christopher Columbus]] and [[Vasco da Gama]] paving the way for new routes from [[Atlantic Europe]] to [[Pacific Asia]] and the Indian Ocean respectively in the late 15th century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hu-DeHart |first1=Evelyn |last2=López |first2=Kathleen |date=2008 |title=Asian Diasporas in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Historical Overview |jstor=23055220 |journal=Afro-Hispanic Review |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=9–21 |issn=0278-8969}}</ref> The [[Russian Empire]] also began to expand into northwestern Asia from the 17th century, and would eventually take control of all of Siberia and most of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century.

Among non-European empires, the [[Ottoman Empire]] controlled Anatolia, most of the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans from the mid 16th century onward, while in the 17th century, the [[Manchu]] conquered China and established the [[Qing dynasty]]. The Islamic [[Mughal Empire]] (preceded by the [[Delhi Sultanate]] of the 13th to early 16th century)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Story of India |publisher=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/timeline/5/ |access-date=8 August 2024 |website=www.pbs.org}}</ref> and the Hindu [[Maratha Empire]] controlled much of India in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sen |first1=Sailendra Nath |title=An Advanced History of Modern India |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXWiACEwPR8C&pg=PA1941-IA82 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422184802/https://books.google.com/books?id=bXWiACEwPR8C&pg=PA1941-IA82 |archive-date=22 April 2020 |isbn=978-0-230-32885-3 |year=2010 |publisher=Macmillan}}</ref>

{{Multiple image
| image1            = Robert Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757 by Francis Hayman.jpg
| image2            = China, the cake of kings and emperors, Le Petit Journal 1898.jpg
| total_width       = 350
| caption1          = The aftermath of the 1757 [[Battle of Plassey]], which eventually led to British India
| caption2          = An 1898 depiction of Western powers [[Foreign concessions in China|carving up China]]
| image3            = Victor Gillam A Thing Well Begun Is Half Done 1899 Cornell CUL PJM 1136 01.jpg
| caption3          = A depiction of America building [[Panama Canal|connections to the Pacific]] and its Filipino colony (left) after the 1898 [[Spanish–American War]]
| direction         = horizontal
| width2            = 120
| align             = left
}}

[[Western imperialism in Asia]] from the 18th to 20th centuries coincided with the [[Industrial Revolution]] in the West and the dethroning of India and China as the world's foremost economies.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=28 July 2023 |title=How India's Economy Will Overtake the U.S.'s |url=https://time.com/6297539/how-india-economy-will-surpass-us/ |access-date=31 August 2023 |magazine=Time |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071229/https://time.com/6297539/how-india-economy-will-surpass-us/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[British Empire]] first became dominant in South Asia, with most of the region being [[Company rule in India|conquered by British traders]] in the late 18th and early 19th centuries before falling under [[British Raj|direct British rule]] after a failed [[1857 revolt]]; the 1869 completion of the [[Suez Canal]], which increased British access to India, went on to [[New Imperialism|further European influence]] over Africa and Asia.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Behind the Enduring Relevance of the Suez Canal Is the Long Shadow of European Colonialism |url=https://thewire.in/history/suez-canal-relevance-europe-colonialism |access-date=9 August 2024 |magazine=The Wire}}</ref> Around this time, Western powers started to dominate China in what later became known as the [[century of humiliation]], with the British-supported [[History of opium in China#Growth of the opium trade|opium trade]] and later [[Opium Wars]] resulting in China being forced into an unprecedented situation of importing more than it exported.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Milestones: 1830–1860 – Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071219/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-1 |archive-date=31 August 2023 |access-date=31 August 2023 |website=history.state.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=28 September 2021 |title=For China, the history that matters is its 'century of humiliation' |url=https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3150233/china-history-matters-still-century-humiliation |access-date=31 August 2023 |work=South China Morning Post |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071219/https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3150233/china-history-matters-still-century-humiliation |url-status=live}}</ref>

Foreign domination of China was furthered by the [[Japanese colonial empire]], which controlled some of East Asia and briefly much of Southeast Asia (which had earlier been [[European colonisation of Southeast Asia|taken over]] by the British, Dutch and French in the late 19th century),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Southeast Asia, 1800–1900 A.D. |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/10/sse.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071219/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/10/sse.html |archive-date=31 August 2023 |access-date=31 August 2023 |website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History}}</ref> [[New Guinea]] and the [[Pacific islands]]; Japan's domination was enabled by its rapid rise that had taken place during the [[Meiji era]] of the late 19th century, in which it applied industrial knowledge learned from the West and thus overtook the rest of Asia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction: Race and Empire in Meiji Japan |url=https://apjjf.org/2020/20/Zohar.html |access-date=31 August 2023 |website=The Asia–Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071219/https://apjjf.org/2020/20/Zohar.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Huffman |first=James L. |author1-link=James Huffman (historian) |title=The Rise and Evolution of Meiji Japan |date=2019 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctvzgb64z |jstor=j.ctvzgb64z |isbn=978-1-898823-94-0 |s2cid=216630259}}</ref> One significant influence on Japan had been the United States, which had begun projecting influence across the Pacific after its early-to-mid-19th century [[westward expansion]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The United States and the Opening to Japan, 1853 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/opening-to-japan}}</ref> The [[Decline of the Ottoman Empire|breakup of the Ottoman Empire]] in the early 20th century led to the Middle East also being [[History of the Middle East#Modern Middle East|contested and partitioned]] by the British and French.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yakoubi |first=Myriam |date=4 January 2022 |title=The French, the British and their Middle Eastern Mandates (1918-1939): Two Political Strategies |journal=Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique. French Journal of British Studies |volume=XXVII |issue=1 |doi=10.4000/rfcb.8787 |issn=0248-9015 |s2cid=246524226 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Contemporary era ===
[[File:Soviet Union and China map including the three co-bordering countries.svg|thumb|The Soviet Union (in red) and China (yellow) controlled most of Asia in the late 20th century.]]
With the end of [[World War II]] in 1945 and the wartime ruination of Europe and imperial Japan, many countries in Asia were able to rapidly [[Decolonisation of Asia|free themselves]] of colonial rule.<ref>{{cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Dane | title=Decolonization: A Very Short Introduction | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=2016 | isbn=978-0-19-934049-1 | doi=10.1093/actrade/9780199340491.003.0003 |chapter=Global war's colonial consequence| pages=25–45 }}</ref> The [[independence of India]] came along with the [[Partition of India|carving out]] of a separate nation for the majority of [[South Asian Muslims]], which in 1971 [[Bangladesh Liberation War|further split]] into Pakistan and [[Bangladesh]];<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Dalrymple |first=William |date=22 June 2015 |title=The Mutual Genocide of Indian Partition |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423182031/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple |archive-date=23 April 2019 |access-date=31 August 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> The [[Cold War in Asia]] strained relations between India and Pakistan and affected Asia more generally.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=How the Cold War Shaped Bangladesh's Liberation War |url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/03/how-the-cold-war-shaped-bangladeshs-liberation-war/ |access-date=7 August 2024 |magazine=the Diplomat}}</ref> The [[end of the Cold War]] and the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union]] by 1991 saw the independence of the five modern Central Asian countries.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Foust |first=Joshua |date=16 December 2011 |title=No Great Game: The Story of Post-Cold War Powers in Central Asia |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/12/no-great-game-the-story-of-post-cold-war-powers-in-central-asia/250010/ |access-date=8 August 2024 |magazine=The Atlantic}}</ref>

Some Arab countries took economic advantage of massive oil deposits that were discovered in their territory, becoming globally influential,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oil Discovered in Saudi Arabia |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/oil-discovered-saudi-arabia/ |access-date=31 August 2023 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org |archive-date=3 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203035632/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/oil-discovered-saudi-arabia/ |url-status=live}}</ref> though stability in the Middle East has been affected since 1948 by the [[Arab–Israeli conflict]] and American-led [[United States foreign policy in the Middle East|interventions]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bazelon |first=Emily |date=1 February 2024 |title=The Road to 1948, and the Roots of a Perpetual Conflict |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/01/magazine/israel-founding-palestinian-conflict.html |access-date=8 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=America's Middle East Scorecard: Many Interventions, Few Successes |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/08/25/341892606/america-s-middle-east-scorecard-many-interventions-few-successes |work=NPR}}</ref> East Asian nations (along with Singapore in Southeast Asia) became economically prosperous with high-growth "[[tiger economies]]";<ref>{{Cite web |title=Economic Issues 1 – Growth in East Asia |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues1/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320132157/https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues1/ |archive-date=20 March 2023 |access-date=31 August 2023 |website=imf.org}}</ref> China, having undergone [[Chinese economic reform|market-driven reforms]] under [[Deng Xiaoping]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=China's Post-1978 Economic Development and Entry into the Global Trading System |url=https://www.cato.org/publications/chinas-post-1978-economic-development-entry-global-trading-system |access-date=9 August 2024 |website=The Cato Institute}}</ref> regained its place among the top two economies of the world by the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Saul |first=Derek |title=China And India Will Overtake U.S. Economically By 2075, Goldman Sachs Economists Say |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/12/06/china-and-india-will-overtake-us-economically-by-2075-goldman-sachs-economists-say/ |access-date=31 August 2023 |work=Forbes |archive-date=5 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705185916/https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/12/06/china-and-india-will-overtake-us-economically-by-2075-goldman-sachs-economists-say/ |url-status=live}}</ref> India has also grown significantly because of [[Economic liberalisation in India|economic liberalisation]] that started in the 1990s,<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 July 2016 |title=25 years of liberalisation: A glimpse of India's growth in 14 charts |url=https://www.firstpost.com/business/25-years-of-liberalisation-a-glimpse-of-indias-growth-in-14-charts-2877654.html |access-date=4 September 2023 |work=Firstpost |archive-date=4 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904005244/https://www.firstpost.com/business/25-years-of-liberalisation-a-glimpse-of-indias-growth-in-14-charts-2877654.html |url-status=live}}</ref> with extreme poverty now below 20%;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kumar |first=Manoj |date=17 July 2023 |title=One-tenth of India's population escaped poverty in 5 years – government report |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/india/one-tenth-indias-population-escaped-poverty-5-years-government-report-2023-07-17/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904034523/https://www.reuters.com/world/india/one-tenth-indias-population-escaped-poverty-5-years-government-report-2023-07-17/ |archive-date=4 September 2023 |access-date=4 September 2023 |work=Reuters}}</ref> India and China's rise has coincided with growing tensions between the two, with the [[Indo-Pacific]] now an actively contested area between China and counterbalancing forces.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Matamis |first=Joaquin |date=16 June 2024 |title=From the Mountains to the Seas: India-China Competition in the Wake of Galwan |url=https://www.stimson.org/2024/from-the-mountains-to-the-seas-india-china-competition-in-the-wake-of-galwan/ |access-date=8 August 2024 |work=Stimson Center}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kuo |first=Mercy A. |title=The Origin of 'Indo-Pacific' as Geopolitical Construct |url=https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/the-origin-of-indo-pacific-as-geopolitical-construct/ |access-date=8 August 2024 |magazine=The Diplomat}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Anaximander world map (mul).svg|The threefold division of the [[Old World]] into Europe, Asia and Africa has been in use since the 6th century BCE, due to [[Greek geographers]] such as [[Anaximander]] and [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]].
File:A new universal atlas of the world.Asia.jpg|1825 map of Asia by [[Sidney Edwards Morse]]
File:A Map of the Countries between Constantinople and Calcutta- Including Turkey in Asia, Persia, Afghanistan and Turkestan WDL11753.png|Map of western, southern, and central Asia in 1885<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11753/#institution=library-of-congress&page=17 |title=A Map of the Countries between Constantinople and Calcutta: Including Turkey in Asia, Persia, Afghanistan and Turkestan |website=Wdl.org |access-date=9 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017220525/https://www.wdl.org/en/item/11753/#institution=library-of-congress&page=17 |archive-date=17 October 2017 |year=1885}}</ref>
File:Modern Asia (1796).tif|The map of Asia in 1796, which also included the continent of [[Australia (continent)|Australia]] (then known as [[New Holland (Australia)|New Holland]])
File:Asien Bd1.jpg|1890 map of Asia
</gallery>

== Geography ==
{{Main|Geography of Asia}}
{{See also|:Category:Biota of Asia}}
[[File:Himalayas.jpg|thumb|The [[Himalayas|Himalayan]] range is home to some of the planet's highest peaks.]]
Asia is the largest continent on Earth. It covers 9% of the Earth's total surface area (or 30% of its land area), and has the longest coastline, at {{convert|62800|km|mi|0}}. Asia is generally defined as comprising the eastern four-fifths of Eurasia. It is located to the east of the [[Suez Canal]] and the [[Ural Mountains]], and south of the [[Caucasus Mountains]] (or the [[Kuma–Manych Depression]]) and the [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] and [[Black Sea]]s.<ref name="National Geographic-1999" /><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Asia |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9110518/Asia |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] Online |year=2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118141016/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9110518/Asia |archive-date=18 November 2008}}</ref> It is bounded on the east by the [[Pacific Ocean]], on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Asia is subdivided into 49 countries, five of them ([[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Russia]], [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Turkey]]) are [[transcontinental countries]] lying partly in Europe. Geographically, Russia is partly in Asia, but is considered a [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe|European nation]], both [[Russian culture|culturally]] and politically.

The [[Gobi Desert]] is in Mongolia and the [[Arabian Desert]] stretches across much of the Middle East. The [[Yangtze]] in China is the longest river in the continent. The Himalayas between Nepal and China is the tallest mountain range in the world. [[Tropical rainforest]]s stretch across much of southern Asia and coniferous and [[deciduous]] forests lie farther north.

<gallery>
File:Tundra in Siberia.jpg|[[Siberian]] [[tundra]]
File:Gunung Palung Jungle.jpg|[[Rainforest]] in [[Borneo]]
File:Kerala Backwaters, India.JPG|[[Kerala backwaters]]
File:Naadam rider 2.jpg|Mongolian [[steppe]]
File:1 li jiang guilin yangshuo 2011.jpg|[[South China Karst]]
File:Taman Negara, Malaysia, Panoramic view.jpg|[[Taman Negara]], [[Peninsular Malaysia]]
File:Akkem Valley 2011.jpg|[[Altai Mountains]]
File:Hunza Valley from Eagle Point.jpg|[[Hunza Valley]]
File:Baa atoll islands.JPG|[[Atolls of the Maldives]]
File:Red sand of the Wadi Rum desert.jpg|[[Wadi Rum]] in [[Jordan]]
</gallery>

=== Main regions ===
[[File:Detailed map of Asian regions.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Detailed map of Asian regions]]

There are various approaches to the regional division of Asia. The following subdivision into regions is used, among others, by the [[United Nations Statistics Division]] (UNSD). This division of Asia into regions by the United Nations is done solely for statistical reasons and does not imply any assumption about political or other affiliations of countries and territories.<ref>{{cite web |title=Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use (M49 Standard) |publisher=UN Statistics Division |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |access-date=2 May 2020 |archive-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830170949/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |url-status=live}} "Geographic Regions" anklicken Zitat: "The assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the United Nations."</ref>
* [[North Asia]] ([[Siberia]]){{Notetag|Siberia lies in Asia geographically, but is considered part of Europe culturally and politically.}}
* [[Central Asia]]
* [[West Asia]] (The [[Middle East]] or [[Near East]] and part of the [[Caucasus]])
* [[South Asia]] ([[Indian subcontinent]])
* [[East Asia]] ([[Far East]])
* [[Southeast Asia]] ([[East Indies]] and [[Indochina]])

=== Climate ===
{{Main|Climate of Asia}}
[[File:Koppen-Geiger Map Asia present.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Köppen climate classification|Köppen-Geiger climate classification]] map for Asia<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Beck |first1=Hylke E. |last2=Zimmermann |first2=Niklaus E. |last3=McVicar |first3=Tim R. |last4=Vergopolan |first4=Noemi |last5=Berg |first5=Alexis |last6=Wood |first6=Eric F. |author-link6=Eric Franklin Wood |title=Present and future Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1-km resolution |journal=Scientific Data |date=30 October 2018 |volume=5 |pages=180214 |doi=10.1038/sdata.2018.214 |pmid=30375988 |pmc=6207062 |bibcode=2018NatSD...580214B}}</ref>]]
Asia has extremely diverse climate features. Climates range from [[Arctic]] and [[subarctic]] in Siberia to tropical in southern India and Southeast Asia. It is moist across southeast sections, and dry across much of the interior. Some of the largest daily temperature ranges on Earth occur in western sections of Asia. The [[monsoon]] circulation dominates across southern and eastern sections, due to the presence of the Himalayas forcing the formation of a thermal low which draws in moisture during the summer. Southwestern sections of the continent are hot. Siberia is one of the coldest places in the [[Northern Hemisphere]], and can act as a source of arctic air masses for North America. The most active place on Earth for [[tropical cyclone]] activity lies northeast of the [[Philippines]] and south of Japan.

====Climate change====
{{excerpt|Climate change in Asia}}
{{Clear}}

== Politics ==
{{Main|Politics of Asia}}
{{See also|List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia}}
[[File:V-Dem_Democracy_Indices_2023_Asia.svg|alt=|thumb|Map of 2023 [[V-Dem Democracy Indices|V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index]] for Asia
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-break}}
{{Legend|#0c3091|0.900–1.000}}
{{legend|#2f5cd5|0.800–0.899}}
{{legend|#6bd2df|0.700–0.799}}
{{Col-break}}
{{legend|#c3eded|0.600–0.699}}
{{legend|#f9f8bb|0.500–0.599}}
{{legend|#fad45d|0.400–0.499}}
{{Col-break}}
{{legend|#da820f|0.300–0.399}}
{{legend|#a8261f|0.200–0.299}}
{{legend|#66000f|0.100–0.199}}
{{Col-break}}
{{legend|#240011|0.000–0.099}}
{{legend|#c0c0c0|No data}}
{{Col-end}}|upright=1.4]]
The most [[Democracy in Asia|democratic countries in Asia]] are [[Japan]], [[Taiwan]] and [[Israel]] according to the [[V-Dem Democracy indices]] in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://v-dem.net/documents/43/v-dem_dr2024_lowres.pdf |title=Democracy Report 2024, Varieties of Democracy |access-date=16 March 2024 |archive-date=12 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312185522/https://v-dem.net/documents/43/v-dem_dr2024_lowres.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

== List of states and territories ==
{{Main|List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia}}
{{Asia Labelled Map}}
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" scope="col" | Symbol
! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" scope="col" | Flag
! Name
! [[List of countries by population|Population]]{{UN Population|ref}}<br />({{UN Population|Year}})
! [[List of countries and dependencies by area|Area]]<br />(km<sup>2</sup>)
! Capital
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Arms of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Afghanistan|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Afghanistan|link=Flag of Afghanistan}}
| [[Afghanistan]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Afghanistan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 652,864
| [[Kabul]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Armenia|text=none|link=Coat of arms of Armenia}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Armenia|link=Flag of Armenia}}
| [[Armenia]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Armenia}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 29,743
| [[Yerevan]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Azerbaijan|text=none|link=National emblem of Azerbaijan}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Azerbaijan|link=Flag of Azerbaijan}}
| [[Azerbaijan]]{{NoteTag|name=transcon|[[Transcontinental country]]}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Azerbaijan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 86,600
| [[Baku]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Bahrain|text=none|link=Coat of arms of Bahrain}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Bahrain|link=Flag of Bahrain}}
| [[Bahrain]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Bahrain}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 760
| [[Manama]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:National emblem of Bangladesh.svg|20px|link=National Emblem of Bangladesh|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Bangladesh|link=Flag of Bangladesh}}
| [[Bangladesh]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Bangladesh}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 147,570
| [[Dhaka]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Bhutan.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Bhutan|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Bhutan|link=Flag of Bhutan}}
| [[Bhutan]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Bhutan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 38,394
| [[Thimphu]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Brunei.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Brunei|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Brunei|link=Flag of Brunei}}
| [[Brunei]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Brunei Darussalam}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 5,765
| [[Bandar Seri Begawan]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Royal arms of Cambodia.svg|20px|link=Royal arms of Cambodia|alt=Arms]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Cambodia|link=Flag of Cambodia}}
| [[Cambodia]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Cambodia}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 181,035
| [[Phnom Penh]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:National Emblem of the People's Republic of China (2).svg|20px|link=National Emblem of the People's Republic of China|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|China|link=Flag of China}}
| [[China]] (PRC)
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|China}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 9,596,961
| [[Beijing]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Cyprus|text=none|link=Coat of arms of Cyprus}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Cyprus|link=Flag of Cyprus}}
| [[Cyprus]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Cyprus}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 9,251
| [[Nicosia]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Egypt|text=none|link=Coat of arms of Egypt}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Egypt|link=Flag of Egypt}}
| [[Egypt]]{{NoteTag|name=transcon|[[Transcontinental country]]}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Egypt}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,001,449
| [[Cairo]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Georgia (country)|text=none|link=Coat of arms of Georgia (country)}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Georgia (country)|link=Flag of Georgia (country)}}
| [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]{{NoteTag|name=transcon}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Georgia}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 69,700
| [[Tbilisi]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of India.svg|20px|link=State Emblem of India|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|India|link=Flag of India}}
| [[India]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|India}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,287,263
| [[New Delhi]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Pancasila.svg|20px|link=National emblem of Indonesia|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Indonesia|link=Flag of Indonesia}}
| [[Indonesia]]{{NoteTag|name=transcon}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Indonesia}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,904,569
| [[Jakarta]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Iran.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Iran|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Iran|link=Flag of Iran}}
| [[Iran]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Iran (Islamic Republic of)}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,648,195
| [[Tehran]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Iraq|text=none|link=Emblem of Iraq}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Iraq|link=Flag of Iraq}}
| [[Iraq]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Iraq}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 438,317
| [[Baghdad]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Israel|text=none|link=Emblem of Israel}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Israel|link=Flag of Israel}}
| [[Israel]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Israel}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 20,770
| [[Jerusalem]] ([[Status of Jerusalem|limited recognition]])
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Imperial Seal of Japan.svg|20px|link=Imperial Seal of Japan|alt=Seal]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Japan|link=Flag of Japan}}
| [[Japan]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Japan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 377,915
| [[Tokyo]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Jordan|text=none|link=Coat of arms of Jordan}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Jordan|link=Flag of Jordan}}
| [[Jordan]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Jordan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 89,342
| [[Amman]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Kazakhstan.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Kazakhstan|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Kazakhstan|link=Flag of Kazakhstan}}
| [[Kazakhstan]]{{NoteTag|name=transcon}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Kazakhstan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,724,900
| [[Astana]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Kuwait|text=none|link=Emblem of Kuwait}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Kuwait|link=Flag of Kuwait}}
| [[Kuwait]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Kuwait}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 17,818
| [[Kuwait City]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Kyrgyzstan.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Kyrgyzstan|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Kyrgyzstan|link=Flag of Kyrgyzstan}}
| [[Kyrgyzstan]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Kyrgyzstan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 199,951
| [[Bishkek]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Laos.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Laos|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Laos|link=Flag of Laos}}
| [[Laos]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Lao People's Democratic Republic}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 236,800
| [[Vientiane]]
|-
|
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Lebanon|link=Flag of Lebanon}}
| [[Lebanon]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Lebanon}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 10,400
| [[Beirut]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Arms of Malaysia.png|20px|link=Coat of arms of Malaysia|alt=Arms]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Malaysia|link=Flag of Malaysia}}
| [[Malaysia]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Malaysia}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 329,847
| [[Kuala Lumpur]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Maldives.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Maldives|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Maldives|link=Flag of Maldives}}
| [[Maldives]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Maldives}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 298
| [[Malé]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:State emblem of Mongolia.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Mongolia|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Mongolia|link=Flag of Mongolia}}
| [[Mongolia]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Mongolia}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,564,116
| [[Ulaanbaatar]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:State seal of Myanmar.svg|20px|link=State Seal of Myanmar|alt=Seal]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Myanmar|link=Flag of Myanmar}}
| [[Myanmar]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Myanmar}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 676,578
| [[Naypyidaw]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Nepal (alternative).svg|20px|link=Emblem of Nepal|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Nepal|link=Flag of Nepal}}
| [[Nepal]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Nepal}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 147,181
| [[Kathmandu]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of North Korea.svg|20px|link=Emblem of North Korea|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|North Korea|link=Flag of North Korea}}
| [[North Korea]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Dem. People's Republic of Korea}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 120,538
| [[Pyongyang]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:National emblem of Oman.svg|20px|link=National emblem of Oman|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Oman|link=Flag of Oman}}
| [[Oman]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Oman}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 309,500
| [[Muscat]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Pakistan|text=none|link=State emblem of Pakistan}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Pakistan|link=Flag of Pakistan}}
| [[Pakistan]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 211,103,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 881,913
| [[Islamabad]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Philippines|text=none|link=Coat of arms of the Philippines}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Philippines|link=Flag of the Philippines}}
| [[Philippines]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Philippines}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 343,448
| [[Manila]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Qatar (2022–present).svg|20px|Link=Emblem of Qatar|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Qatar|link=Flag of Qatar}}
| [[Qatar]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Qatar}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 11,586
| [[Doha]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Russia|text=none|link=Coat of arms of Russia}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Russia|link=Flag of Russia}}
| [[Russia]]{{NoteTag|Russia is a [[transcontinental country]] located in [[Eastern Europe]] and [[North Asia]], but is considered European historically, culturally, ethnically, and politically, and the vast majority of its population (78%) lives within its [[European Russia|European part]].}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Russian Federation}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 17,098,242
| [[Moscow]]{{NoteTag|Moscow is located in [[Europe]].}}
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Saudi Arabia.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Saudi Arabia|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Saudi Arabia|link=Flag of Saudi Arabia}}
| [[Saudi Arabia]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Saudi Arabia}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,149,690
| [[Riyadh]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Shield_of_Singapore.svg|20px|link=Coat of arms of Singapore|alt=Arms]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Singapore|link=Flag of Singapore}}
| [[Singapore]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Singapore}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 697
| [[Singapore]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of South Korea.svg|20px|link=Emblem of South Korea|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|South Korea|link=Flag of South Korea}}
| [[South Korea]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Republic of Korea}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 100,210
| [[Seoul]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Sri Lanka.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Sri Lanka|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Sri Lanka|link=Flag of Sri Lanka}}
| [[Sri Lanka]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Sri Lanka}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 65,610
| [[Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Coat of arms of Syria.svg|20px|link=Coat of arms of Syria|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Syria|link=Flag of Syria}}
| [[Syria]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Syrian Arab Republic}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 185,180
| [[Damascus]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Tajikistan.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Tajikistan|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Tajikistan|link=Flag of Tajikistan}}
| [[Tajikistan]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Tajikistan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 143,100
| [[Dushanbe]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Thailand.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Thailand|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Thailand|link=Flag of Thailand}}
| [[Thailand]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Thailand}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 513,120
| [[Bangkok]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Timor-Leste|text=none|link=National emblem of Timor-Leste}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Timor-Leste|link=Flag of Timor-Leste}}
| [[Timor-Leste]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Timor-Leste}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 14,874
| [[Dili]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| <!-- The Turkish Constitution doesn't specify an official coat of arms -->
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Turkey|link=Flag of Turkey}}
| [[Turkey]]{{NoteTag|Turkey is a [[transcontinental country]] located mainly in [[West Asia]] with a smaller portion in [[Southeastern Europe]].}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Turkey}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 783,562
| [[Ankara]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Turkmenistan.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Turkmenistan|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Turkmenistan|link=Flag of Turkmenistan}}
| [[Turkmenistan]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Turkmenistan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 488,100
| [[Ashgabat]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of the United Arab Emirates.svg|alt=Emblem|28x28px|link=Emblem of the United Arab Emirates]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|United Arab Emirates|link=Flag of the United Arab Emirates}}
| [[United Arab Emirates]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|United Arab Emirates}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 83,600
| [[Abu Dhabi]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Uzbekistan|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Uzbekistan|link=Flag of Uzbekistan}}
| [[Uzbekistan]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Uzbekistan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 447,400
| [[Tashkent]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Vietnam.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Vietnam|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Vietnam|link=Flag of Vietnam}}
| [[Vietnam]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Viet Nam}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 331,212
| [[Hanoi]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Insigne Iemeniae.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Yemen|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Yemen|link=Flag of Yemen}}
| [[Yemen]]{{NoteTag|name=transcon}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Yemen}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 527,968
| {{ubl|[[Sana'a]] ({{abbr|const.|constitutional capital}}; {{abbrlink|SPC|Supreme Political Council}} control)|[[Aden]] ({{abbr|prv.|provisional}} capital of {{abbrlink|PLC|Presidential Leadership Council}})}}
|}

Within the states mentioned above are several partially recognized countries with [[List of states with limited recognition|limited to no international recognition]]. None of them are members of the [[UN]], however Palestine has [[United Nations General Assembly observers|observer state status]]:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" | [[National symbol|Symbol]]
! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" | [[Flag]]
! Name
! [[List of countries by population|Population]]<br />
! [[List of countries and dependencies by area|Area]]<br />(km<sup>2</sup>)
! Capital
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Coat of arms of Abkhazia.svg|20px|link=Emblem of Abkhazia#Republic of Abkhazia|alt=Arms]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Abkhazia|link=Flag of Abkhazia#Republic of Abkhazia}}
| [[Abkhazia]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 242,862
| style="text-align:right;"| 8,660
| [[Sukhumi]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Coat of arms of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.svg|20px|link=Coat of arms of Cyprus#Northern Cyprus|alt=Arms]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Northern Cyprus|link=Flag of Northern Cyprus}}
| [[Northern Cyprus]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 326,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,355
| [[North Nicosia]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Emblem of Palestine.svg|20px|link=Coat of arms of Palestine|alt=Arms]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Palestine|link=Flag of Palestine}}
| [[Palestine]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN_Population|Palestine}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,025
| [[Jerusalem]] ([[Status of Jerusalem|limited recognition]])
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|South Ossetia|text=none|link=Coat of arms of South Ossetia#Republic of South Ossetia–the State of Alania}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|South Ossetia|link=Flag of South Ossetia}}
| [[South Ossetia]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 51,547
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,900
| [[Tskhinvali]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:National Emblem of the Republic of China.svg|20px|link=Blue Sky with a White Sun|alt=Emblem]]
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Linkflag|Taiwan|link=Flag of the Republic of China}}
| [[Taiwan]] (ROC)
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN Population|Taiwan}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 36,193
| [[Taipei]]
|}
{{Clear}}

== Economy ==
{{Main|Economy of Asia|List of Asian countries by GDP|List of countries in Asia-Pacific by GDP (nominal)|List of Asian and Pacific countries by GDP (PPP)}}
[[File:1 Singapore city skyline 2010 day panorama.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Singapore has one of the [[List of busiest container ports|busiest container ports in the world]] and is the world's fourth-largest [[foreign exchange]] trading hub.]]
Asia has the [[List of continents by GDP|largest continental economy]] in the world by both [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|GDP nominal]] and [[purchasing power parity|PPP]] values, and is the fastest growing economic region.<ref name="International Monetary Fund">{{cite web |author=International Monetary Fund |title=World Economic Outlook Database, April 2023 |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2023/April |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]] |access-date=7 May 2023 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413194731/https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2023/April |url-status=live}}</ref> {{as of|2025}}, [[China]] is by far the [[List of Asian countries by GDP|largest economy]] on the continent. It is followed by India, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan which are all ranked among the top 20 largest economies both by nominal and PPP values.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aneki.com/countries2.php?t=Largest_Economies_in_Asia&table=fb126&places=2&unit=*&order=desc&dependency=independent&number=5&cntdn=n&r=-201-202-203-204-205-206-207-208-209-210-211-212-116-214-215-216-217-218-219-220&c=asia&measures=Country--GDP&units=*--$*&decimals=*--* |title=Largest_Economies_in_Asia |website=Aneki.com |access-date=9 November 2017 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730041726/https://www.aneki.com/countries2.php?t=Largest_Economies_in_Asia&table=fb126&places=2&unit=%2A&order=desc&dependency=independent&number=5&cntdn=n&r=-201-202-203-204-205-206-207-208-209-210-211-212-116-214-215-216-217-218-219-220&c=asia&measures=Country--GDP&units=%2A--%24%2A&decimals=%2A--%2A |url-status=live}}</ref> Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of the top 5 being in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, [[Tokyo]] and [[Seoul]]. Around 68% of international firms have an office in Hong Kong.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cfoinnovation.com/content/hong-kong-singapore-tokyo-worlds-top-office-destinations |title=Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo World's Top Office Destinations |work=CFO innovation ASIA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807011203/http://www.cfoinnovation.com/content/hong-kong-singapore-tokyo-worlds-top-office-destinations |archive-date=7 August 2011 |access-date=21 July 2011}}</ref>

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economy of China<ref>{{citation |ssrn=916768 |title=Five Years of China WTO Membership: EU and US Perspectives About China's Compliance With Transparency Commitments and the Transitional Review Mechanism |date=4 August 2006 |last1=Farah |first1=Paolo Davide}}</ref> had an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. According to economic historian [[Angus Maddison]], India had the world's largest economy for much of the past three millennia prior to the 19th century, accounting for 25% of the world's industrial output.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a-JGGp2suQUC&q=angus+maddison |title=Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD: Essays in Macro-Economic History |isbn=978-0-19-164758-1 |last1=Maddison |first1=Angus |date=20 September 2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=30 May 2021 |archive-date=24 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924191955/https://books.google.com/books?id=a-JGGp2suQUC&dq=angus+maddison&hl=en |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHJGz3HiJbcC&pg=PA261 |title=Development Centre Studies the World Economy Historical Statistics: Historical Statistics |isbn=978-9264104143 |last1=Angus |first1=Maddison |date=2003 |publisher=OECD |access-date=30 May 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414054608/https://books.google.com/books?id=rHJGz3HiJbcC&pg=PA261 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/economicsworldhi00bair_0 |isbn=978-0-226-03463-8 |title=Economics and world history: Myths and paradoxes |year=1995 |last1=Bairoch |first1=Paul |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theworldeconomy.org/MaddisonTables/MaddisontableB-18.pdf |title=Table B–18. World GDP, 20 Countries and Regional Totals, 0–1998 A.D. |website=theworldeconomy.org |date=17 September 2006 |access-date=20 September 2021 |archive-date=22 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722202625/http://www.theworldeconomy.org/MaddisonTables/MaddisontableB-18.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> China was the [[Economic history of China|largest and most advanced economy]] on earth for much of recorded history and shared the mantle with India.<ref>{{cite web |last=Nalapat |first=M. D. |date=11 September 2001 |title=Ensuring China's "Peaceful Rise" |url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/SRR/Volume14/nalapat.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110045822/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/SRR/Volume14/nalapat.html |archive-date=10 January 2010 |access-date=1 June 2010 |publisher=Bharat-rakshak.com}}</ref><ref name="Eric.ed.gov-2000">{{Cite book |url=http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED460052&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED460052 |title=Dahlman, Carl J; Aubert, Jean-Eric. China and the Knowledge Economy: Seizing the 21st century. WBI Development Studies. World Bank Publications. Accessed 30 January 2008 |publisher=Eric.ed.gov |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304235359/http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED460052&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED460052 |archive-date=4 March 2008 |isbn=978-0-8213-5005-8 |date=2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_PNTJQTR |title=The Real Great Leap Forward |newspaper=The Economist |date=30 September 2004 |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227234147/http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_PNTJQTR |archive-date=27 December 2016}}</ref> For several decades in the late twentieth century Japan was the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the [[Soviet Union]] (measured in net material product) in 1990 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as the [[European Union]] (EU), the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA) or [[APEC]]). This ended in 2010 when China overtook Japan to become the world's second largest economy. In 2025, India overtook Japan in terms of nominal GDP to become the [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|World's 4th largest]] and [[List of Asian countries by GDP|Asia's 2nd largest]] economy.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP by currency exchange rates was almost as large as that of the rest of Asia combined.<ref name="International Monetary Fund" /> In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of the US as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 [[yen]]/US$. Economic growth in Asia since [[World War II]] to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the [[Pacific Rim]], known as the [[Four Asian Tigers]], which are now all considered developed economies, having among the highest GDP per capita in Asia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.emergingdragon.com/ |title=Rise of Japan and 4 Asian Tigers from |publisher=emergingdragon.com |access-date=1 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100422013118/http://www.emergingdragon.com/ |archive-date=22 April 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="International Monetary Fund" />

[[File:Mumbai skyline BWSL.jpg|alt=|thumb|Mumbai is one of the most populous cities in Asia, as well as an economic and tourism hub.]]
Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as [[petroleum]], [[forest]]s, [[fish]], [[water]], [[rice]], [[copper]] and [[silver]]. Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in China, [[Taiwan]], South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of [[multinational corporation]]s, but increasingly the PRC and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fairless |first=Tom |title=Rich Countries Are Becoming Addicted to Cheap Labor |url=https://www.wsj.com/economy/business-immigrant-low-skilled-labor-addiction-bf009a83 |access-date=4 June 2024 |work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Global firms are eyeing Asian alternatives to Chinese manufacturing |url=https://www.economist.com/business/2023/02/20/global-firms-are-eyeing-asian-alternatives-to-chinese-manufacturing |access-date=4 June 2024 |newspaper=The Economist}}</ref>

According to [[Citigroup]] in 2011, 9 of 11 [[3G countries|Global Growth Generators]] countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sme.com.ph/sme-news/news.php?newsid=2324 |title=Philippine potential cited |work=SME |date=24 February 2011 |access-date=1 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110424124759/https://www.sme.com.ph/sme-news/news.php?newsid=2324 |archive-date=24 April 2011}}</ref> Asia has three main financial centers: Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. [[Call center]]s and [[business process outsourcing]] (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centers. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 October 2021 |title=India growing as offshore outsourcing hub even for non-IT roles: Randstad India |url=https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/india-growing-as-offshore-outsourcing-hub-even-for-non-it-roles-randstad-india-310773-2021-10-28 |access-date=4 June 2024 |work=Business Today}}</ref>

Trade between Asian countries and countries on other continents is largely carried out on the sea routes that are important for Asia. Individual main routes have emerged from this. The main route leads from the Chinese coast south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the [[Strait of Malacca]] via the Sri Lankan Colombo to the southern tip of India via Malé to East Africa [[Mombasa]] (see also: [[Indo-Pacific]]), from there to [[Djibouti]], then through the Red Sea over the [[Suez Canal]] into Mediterranean (see also: [[Indo-Mediterranean]]), there via Haifa, Istanbul and [[Athens]] to the upper Adriatic to the northern Italian hub of [[Trieste]] with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe or further to [[Barcelona]] and around Spain and France to the European northern ports. A far smaller part of the goods traffic runs via [[Cape Route|South Africa to Europe]]. A particularly significant part of the Asian goods traffic is carried out on the [[Pacific Rim]], toward [[Los Angeles]] and [[Long Beach]]. The melting of the Arctic is also paving the way for [[Arctic shipping routes|new shipping routes]] from Northeast Asia to Europe and North America.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 September 2024 |title=Melting Arctic ice could transform international shipping routes, study finds |url=https://www.brown.edu/news/2022-06-22/arctic |access-date=20 November 2024 |work=Brown University}}</ref> The land route to Europe are the subject of construction projects, comparatively smaller in scope. smaller in terms of scope. Intra-Asian trade, including sea trade, is growing rapidly.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.futurenautics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/GlobalMarineTrends2030Report.pdf |title=Global Marine Trends 2030 Report |access-date=26 January 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412162434/https://www.futurenautics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/GlobalMarineTrends2030Report.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/maritime-trade |title=Maritime Trade |access-date=26 January 2021 |archive-date=19 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319005146/https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/maritime-trade |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Harry G. Broadman. "Afrika's Silk Road" (2007), pp. 59.</ref><ref>Harry de Wilt. Is One Belt, One Road a China crisis for North Sea main ports? in World Cargo News, 17 December 2019.</ref><ref>Bernhard Simon: Can The New Silk Road Compete With The Maritime Silk Road? in The Maritime Executive, 1 January 2020.</ref><ref>Jean-Marc F. Blanchard "China's Maritime Silk Road Initiative and South Asia" (2018).</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.joc.com/maritime-news/trade-lanes/intra-asia |title=INTRA-ASIA |access-date=26 January 2021 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126022043/https://www.joc.com/maritime-news/trade-lanes/intra-asia |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2010, Asia had 3.3&nbsp;million millionaires (people with net worth over US$1 million excluding their homes), slightly below North America with 3.4 million millionaires. In 2011, Asia topped Europe in number of millionaires.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-news/asian-pacific/asias-millionaire-population-overtakes-europe/article2072205/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110625124306/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-news/asian-pacific/asias-millionaire-population-overtakes-europe/article2072205/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 June 2011 |title=Asia has more millionaires than Europe |location=Toronto}}</ref>
Citigroup in The Wealth Report 2012 stated that the total wealth of people in Asia with over $100 million in assets exceeded that of their North American counterparts for the first time, as the world's "economic center of gravity" continued moving east. At the end of 2011, there were 18,000 Asian people mainly in Southeast Asia, China and Japan who have at least $100 million in disposable assets, while North America with 17,000 people and Western Europe with 14,000 people.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-27/citigroup-study-shows-asian-rich-topping-north-american.html |title=Citigroup Study Shows Asian Rich Topping North American |date=28 March 2012 |publisher=Bloomberg |first=Sanat |last=Vallikappen |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114212900/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-27/citigroup-study-shows-asian-rich-topping-north-american.html |archive-date=14 January 2015}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right; float:left; border:1px solid #aaa; margin:10px"
|-
! Rank
! Country
! [[List of IMF ranked countries by past and projected GDP (nominal)|GDP]] <small>(nominal, Peak Year)</small><br /><small>millions of [[International dollar|USD]]</small>
! Peak Year
|-
| 1 ||align=left|{{flag|China}} ||19,231,705||2025
|-
| 2 ||align=left|{{flag|India}}||4,187,017||2025
|-
| 3 ||align=left|{{flag|Japan}}||4,186,431||2012
|-
| 4 ||align=left|{{flag|Russia}}||2,076,396||2022
|-
| 5 ||align=left|{{flag|South Korea}} ||1,790,322||2021
|-
| 6 ||align=left|{{flag|Turkey}} ||1,437,406||2025
|-
| 7 ||align=left|{{flag|Indonesia}} ||1,429,743||2025
|-
| 8 ||align=left|{{nowrap|{{flag|Saudi Arabia}}}} ||1,108,571||2022
|-
| 9 ||align=left|{{flag|Taiwan}} ||804,889||2025
|-
| 10 ||align=left|{{flag|Israel}}||583,361||2023
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right; float:left; border:1px solid #aaa; margin:10px"
|- style="background:#dbdbdb;"
! Rank
! Country
! [[List of countries by past and projected GDP (PPP)|GDP]] <small>(PPP, Peak Year)</small><br /><small>millions of [[International dollar|USD]]</small>
! Peak Year
|-
| 1 ||align=left|{{flag|China}} ||40,716,448||2025
|-
| 2 ||align=left|{{flag|India}} ||17,647,050||2025
|-
| 3 ||align=left|{{flag|Russia}}||7,191,718||2025
|-
| 4 ||align=left|{{flag|Japan}} ||6,741,192||2025
|-
| 5 ||align=left|{{flag|Indonesia}} |||5,009,483||2025
|-
| 6 ||align=left|{{flag|Turkey}}
||3,651,873||2025
|-
| 7 ||align=left|{{flag|South Korea}} ||3,365,052||2025
|-
| 8 ||align=left|{{flag|Egypt}} ||2,371,530||2025
|-
| 9 ||align=left|{{nowrap|{{flag|Saudi Arabia}}}} ||2,229,611||2025
|-
| 10 ||align=left|{{flag|Taiwan}} ||1,965,839||2025
|}
{{clear}}

=== Tourism ===
[[File:วัดพระศรีรัตนศาสดาราม-5.jpg|thumb|alt=A Thai temple complex with several ornate buildings, and a lot of visitors|[[Wat Phra Kaew]] in the [[Grand Palace]] is among [[Bangkok]]'s major tourist attractions.]]
{{Category see also|Tourism in Asia|Transport in Asia}}
With growing Regional Tourism with domination of Chinese visitors, [[MasterCard]] has released Global Destination Cities Index 2013 with 10 of 20 are dominated by Asia and Pacific Region Cities and also for the first time a city of a country from Asia ([[Bangkok]]) set in the top-ranked with 15.98 million international visitors.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.italianvenue.com/news/20135281339-milan-and-rome-named-among-the-most-widely-visited-cities-in-the-world-in-the-mastercard-global-destination-cities-index-report/ |title=Milan and Rome named among the most widely visited cities in the world in the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index report |date=28 May 2013 |website=Italianavenue.com |access-date=9 November 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017220531/http://www.italianvenue.com/news/20135281339-milan-and-rome-named-among-the-most-widely-visited-cities-in-the-world-in-the-mastercard-global-destination-cities-index-report/ |archive-date=17 October 2017}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

== Demographics ==
{{Main|Demographics of Asia}}
{{See also|List of Asian countries by population|List of Asian countries by life expectancy}}
{{Historical populations
|title       = Historical populations
|type        = Asia
|align       = right
|percentages = pagr
|footnote    = Source: [https://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbilpart1.pdf "UN report 2004 data" (PDF).]<br />The figure for {{UN Population|Year}} is provided by.{{UN Population|source}}
|1500|243000000
|1700|436000000
|1900|947000000
|1950|1402000000
|1999|3634000000
|2016|4462676731|graph-pos=bottom
}}
[[File:WorldPopulation.png|thumb|World population]] East Asia had by far the strongest overall [[Human Development Index]] (HDI) improvement of any region in the world, nearly doubling average HDI attainment over the past 40 years, according to the report's analysis of health, education and income data. China, the second highest achiever in the world in terms of HDI improvement since 1970, is the only country on the "Top 10 Movers" list due to income rather than health or education achievements. Its per capita income increased a stunning 21-fold over the last four decades, also lifting hundreds of millions out of income poverty. Yet it was not among the region's top performers in improving school enrollment and life expectancy.<ref name="2010 Human Development Report">{{cite news |url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/PR6-HDR10-RegRBAP-E-rev5-sm.pdf |title=2010 Human Development Report: Asian countries lead development progress over 40 years |publisher=UNDP |access-date=22 December 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121161015/http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/PR6-HDR10-RegRBAP-E-rev5-sm.pdf |archive-date=21 November 2010}}</ref><br />[[Nepal]], a South Asian country, emerges as one of the world's fastest movers since 1970 mainly due to health and education achievements. Its present [[life expectancy]] is 25 years longer than in the 1970s. More than four of every five children of school age in Nepal now attend primary school, compared to just one in five 40 years ago.<ref name="2010 Human Development Report" /><br /> Hong Kong ranked highest among the countries grouped on the HDI (number 7 in the world, which is in the "very high human development" category), followed by Singapore (9), Japan (19) and South Korea (22). [[Afghanistan]] (155) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed.<ref name="2010 Human Development Report" />

=== Languages ===
{{Main|Languages of Asia}}
Asia is home to several [[language families]] and many [[language isolate]]s. Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to [[Ethnologue]], more than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 400 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces.

=== Religions ===
{{See also|Eastern philosophy|Religion in Asia|List of Asian mythologies}}
Many of the world's [[major religions]] have their origins in Asia, including the five most practiced in the world (excluding [[irreligion]]), which are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion (classified as Confucianism and Taoism), and Buddhism. Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the [[Great Flood]] for example, as presented to Jews in the [[Hebrew Bible]] in the narrative of [[Noah]]—and later to Christians in the [[Old Testament]], and to Muslims in the [[Quran]]—is earliest found in [[Mesopotamian mythology]], in the [[Enûma Eliš]] and ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]''. [[Hindu mythology]] similarly tells about an [[avatar]] of [[Vishnu]] in the form of a [[Matsya|fish]] who warned [[Sraddhadeva Manu|Manu]] of a terrible flood. Ancient [[Chinese mythology]] also tells of a [[Great Flood (China)|Great Flood]] spanning generations, one that required the combined efforts of emperors and divinities to control.

==== Abrahamic ====
{{See also|Christianity in Asia|Islam in Asia}}
[[File:Westernwall2.jpg|thumb|The [[Western Wall]] and the [[Dome of the Rock]], [[Jerusalem]]]]
[[File:Church of the Nativity (7703592746).jpg|thumb|The [[Church of the Nativity]] in [[Bethlehem]]]]
[[File:Kaaba mirror edit jj.jpg|thumb|Pilgrims in the annual [[Hajj]] at the [[Kaabah]] in [[Mecca]]]]
The [[Abrahamic religions]] including [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], [[Druze faith]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Obeid |first=Anis |title=The Druze & Their Faith in Tawhid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FejqBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT1 |year=2006 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-5257-1 |page=1}}</ref> and [[Baháʼí Faith]] originated in West Asia.<ref>{{cite book |title=An Introduction to Middle East Politics: Continuity, Change, Conflict and Co-operation |first=Benjamin |last=MacQueen |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4462-8976-1 |page=5 |publisher=SAGE |quote=The Middle East is the cradle of the three monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Modern World: Civilizations of Africa, Civilizations of Europe, Civilizations of the Americas, Civilizations of the Middle East and Southwest Asia, Civilizations of Asia and the Pacific |first=Sarolta |last=Takacs |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-317-45572-1 |page=552 |publisher=Routledge}}</ref>

[[Judaism]], the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in [[Israel]], the indigenous homeland and historical birthplace of the [[Jews|Hebrew nation]]: which today consists both of those [[Jews]] who remained in [[Mizrahi Jews|the Middle East]] and those who returned from [[Jewish diaspora|diaspora]] in Europe, North America, and other regions;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html |title=The Jewish Population of the World |publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621102211/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html |archive-date=21 June 2010}}</ref> though various diaspora communities persist worldwide. Jews are the predominant ethnic group in [[Israel]] (75.6%) numbering at about 6.1&nbsp;million,<ref>{{cite news |first=Yoram |last=Ettinger |title=Defying demographic projections |url=http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3913 |access-date=29 October 2013 |newspaper=[[Israel Hayom]] |date=5 April 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191655/http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3913 |archive-date=29 October 2013}}</ref> although the levels of adherence to Jewish religion vary. Outside of Israel there are small ancient Jewish communities in [[Turkey]] (17,400),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Turkey.html |title=Turkey Virtual Jewish History Tour {{pipe}} Jewish Virtual Library |publisher=jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=15 December 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011161052/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Turkey.html |archive-date=11 October 2014}}</ref> [[Azerbaijan]] (9,100),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/azerbaijan-ethnic2009.htm |title=Ethnic composition of Azerbaijan 2009 |publisher=Pop-stat.mashke.org |date=7 April 1971 |access-date=22 December 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207161726/http://pop-stat.mashke.org/azerbaijan-ethnic2009.htm |archive-date=7 February 2012}}</ref> Iran (8,756),<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-woman-brutally-murdered-in-iran-over-property-dispute/ |title=Jewish woman brutally murdered in Iran over property dispute |newspaper=The Times of Israel |date=28 November 2012 |access-date=16 August 2014 |quote=A government census published earlier this year indicated there were a mere 8,756 Jews left in Iran |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819102713/http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-woman-brutally-murdered-in-iran-over-property-dispute/#ixzz3Ac6duaqw |archive-date=19 August 2014}} See [[Persian Jews#Iran]]</ref> India (5,000) and [[Uzbekistan]] (4,000),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/AJYB727.CV.pdf |title=World Jewish Population 2007 |access-date=18 July 2015 |archive-date=26 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326020910/http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/AJYB727.CV.pdf |url-status=dead}}, ''American Jewish Yearbook'', vol. 107 (2007), p. 592.</ref> among many other places. As of 2016, there are am estimated 14.4–17.5&nbsp;million (2016, est.)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jewishdatabank.org/Studies/details.cfm?StudyID=831 |title=World Jewish Population 2016 |website=Berman Jewish DataBank |access-date=24 March 2018 |archive-date=30 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930084907/http://www.jewishdatabank.org/Studies/details.cfm?StudyID=831 |url-status=live}}</ref> Jews alive in the world today, making them one of the smallest Asian minorities, at roughly 0.3–0.4& of the total population of the continent.

[[Christianity]] is a widespread religion in Asia, with more than 286&nbsp;million adherents in 2010 according to [[Pew Research Center]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-christians/ |title=Christians |date=18 December 2012 |work=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |access-date=13 March 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310002132/http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-christians/ |archive-date=10 March 2015}}</ref> and nearly 364&nbsp;million according to [[Britannica]] Book of the Year 2014.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LccRAwAAQBAJ&q=reconciled%20table%20%22worldwide%20by%20religion%22&pg=PA324 |title=Britannica Book of the Year 2014 |access-date=13 March 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429073722/https://books.google.com/books?id=LccRAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA324&q=reconciled%20table%20%22worldwide%20by%20religion%22&f=falsePew |archive-date=29 April 2016 |isbn=978-1-62513-171-3 |year=2014 |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> Christians constitute around 12.6% of the total population of Asia. In the Philippines and [[Timor-Leste]], [[Catholicism]] is the predominant religion;<ref name="Pew Research Center" /> it was introduced by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, respectively. In [[Armenia]] and Georgia, [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] is the predominant religion.<ref name="Pew Research Center" /> In the Middle East, such as in the [[Levant]], [[Anatolia]] and [[Fars (territory)|Fars]], [[Syriac Christianity]] ([[Church of the East]]) and [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] are prevalent minority denominations,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hindson |first1=Edward E. |last2=Mitchell |first2=Daniel R. |title=The Popular Encyclopedia of Church History |date=1 August 2013 |publisher=Harvest House |isbn=978-0-7369-4807-4 |page=225}}</ref> which are both [[Eastern Christian]] sects mainly adhered to [[Assyrian people]] or Syriac Christians. Vibrant indigenous minorities in [[West Asia]] are adhering to the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] and [[Eastern Orthodoxy]].<ref name="Pew Research Center" /> [[Saint Thomas Christians]] in India trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of [[Thomas the Apostle]] in the 1st century.<ref>''The Encyclopedia of Christianity'', Volume 5 by Erwin Fahlbusch. Wm. B. Eerdmans. 2008, p. 285. {{ISBN|978-0-8028-2417-2}}.</ref> Significant Christian communities also found in [[Central Asia]], [[South Asia]], [[Southeast Asia]] and [[East Asia]].<ref name="Pew Research Center">{{cite web |url=https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf |title=Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population |publisher=Pew Research Center |access-date=16 February 2022 |archive-date=9 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809110719/https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Islam]], which originated in the [[Hejaz]] located in modern-day Saudi Arabia, is the second largest and most widely-spread religion in Asia with at least 1&nbsp;billion Muslims constituting around 23.8% of the total population of Asia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/future-of-the-global-muslim-population-regional-asia/ |title=Region: Asia–Pacific |date=27 January 2011 |website=Pewforum.org |access-date=9 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010061404/http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/future-of-the-global-muslim-population-regional-asia/ |archive-date=10 October 2017}}</ref> With 12.7% of the world Muslim population, the country currently with the largest Muslim population in the world is Indonesia, followed by Pakistan (11.5%), India (10%), Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey. [[Mecca]], [[Medina]] and [[Holiest sites in Islam#Jerusalem|Jerusalem]] are the three holiest cities for Islam in all the world. The [[Hajj]] and [[Umrah]] attract large numbers of Muslim devotees from all over the world to Mecca and Medina. Iran is the largest [[Shia]] country.

The [[Druze]] originated in West Asia, is a monotheistic religion based on the teachings of figures like [[Hamza ibn Ali]] and [[al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah]], and Greek [[philosophers]] such as [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]]. The number of [[Druze]] people worldwide is around one million. Around 45–50% live in [[Syria]], 35% to 40% live in [[Lebanon]], and less than 10% live in [[Israel]]. Recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.<ref>{{cite book |last=Colbert |first=C. Held |title=Middle East Patterns: Places, People, and Politics |publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-429-96200-4 |page=109 |quote=Worldwide, they number 1 million or so, with about 45 to 50 percent in Syria, 35 to 40 percent in Lebanon, and less than 10 percent in Israel. Recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.}}</ref>

The [[Baháʼí Faith]] originated in Asia, in Iran (Persia), and spread from there to the Ottoman Empire, Central Asia, India, and Burma during the lifetime of [[Bahá'u'lláh]]. Since the middle of the 20th century, growth has particularly occurred in other Asian countries, because Baháʼí activities in many Muslim countries has been [[Persecution of Baháʼís|severely suppressed]] by authorities. [[Lotus Temple]] is a big [[Baháʼí temple]] in India.

==== Indian and East Asian religions ====
{{See also|Eastern religions}}[[File:Akshardham Lotus.jpg|thumb|The [[Swaminarayan Hinduism|Swaminarayan]] [[Akshardham Temple]] in [[Delhi]], according to the [[Guinness World Record]]s, is the ''World's Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple''.<ref>{{cite news |first=Preeti |last=Jha |url=http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Guinness-comes-to-east-Delhi-Akshardham-worlds-largest-Hindu-temple/254631/ |title=Guinness comes to east Delhi: Akshardham world's largest Hindu temple |date=26 December 2007 |newspaper=[[The Indian Express]] |access-date=2 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228055300/http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Guinness-comes-to-east-Delhi-Akshardham-worlds-largest-Hindu-temple/254631/ |archive-date=28 December 2007}}</ref>]]
Almost all Asian religions have philosophical character and Asian philosophical traditions cover a large spectrum of philosophical thoughts and writings. [[Indian philosophy]] includes [[Hindu philosophy]] and [[Buddhist philosophy]]. They include elements of nonmaterial pursuits, whereas another school of thought from India, [[Cārvāka]], preached the enjoyment of the material world. The religions of [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Jainism]] and [[Sikhism]] originated in India, South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, [[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]] and [[Zen]] Buddhism took shape.

{{as of|2012}}, Hinduism has around 1.1&nbsp;billion adherents. The faith represents around 25% of Asia's population and is the largest religion in Asia. However, it is mostly concentrated in South Asia. Over 80% of the populations of both India and Nepal adhere to Hinduism, alongside significant communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and [[Bali]], Indonesia. Many overseas Indians in countries such as Burma, Singapore and Malaysia also adhere to Hinduism.
[[File:Angkor Wat reflejado en un estanque 02.jpg|thumb|The Angkor Wat in Cambodia, a Hindu-Buddhist temple and the largest religious monument in the world]]
Buddhism has a great following in mainland Southeast Asia and East Asia. Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the populations of Cambodia (96%),<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=Cambodia |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> [[Thailand]] (95%),<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=Thailand |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> [[Burma]] (80–89%),<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=burma |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> Japan (36–96%),<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=Japan |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> [[Bhutan]] (75–84%),<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=Bhutan |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> [[Sri Lanka]] (70%),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/index.php?fileName=pop43&gp=Activities&tpl=3 |title=The Census of Population and Housing of Sri Lanka-2011 |publisher=Department of Census and Statistics |access-date=29 July 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724072557/http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/index.php?fileName=pop43&gp=Activities&tpl=3 |archive-date=24 July 2013}}</ref> [[Laos]] (60–67%)<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=Laos |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> and [[Mongolia]] (53–93%).<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=Mongolia |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> [[Taiwan]] (35–93%),<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=Taiwan |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=China (includes Taiwan only): International Religious Freedom Report 2005 |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51508.htm |publisher=US Department of State: [[Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor]] |date=8 November 2005 |access-date=24 January 2008 |archive-date=26 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201226103042/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51508.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=China (includes Taiwan only): International Religious Freedom Report 2006 |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71337.htm |publisher=[[US Department of State]]: [[Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor]] |date=15 September 2006 |access-date=24 February 2008 |archive-date=17 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917184720/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71337.htm/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=China (includes Taiwan only): International Religious Freedom Report 2007 |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90134.htm |publisher=[[US Department of State]]: [[Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor]] |date=15 September 2006 |access-date=24 February 2008 |archive-date=25 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625070300/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90134.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> South Korea (23–50%),<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=South Korea |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> [[Malaysia]] (19–21%),<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=Malaysia |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> [[Nepal]] (9–11%),<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=Nepal |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> [[Vietnam]] (10–75%),<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=vietnam |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> China (20–50%),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/nationality/han/ |title=Chinese Han Nationality: Language, Religion, Customs |website=Travelchinaguide.com |access-date=9 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017220534/https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/nationality/han/ |archive-date=17 October 2017}}</ref> [[North Korea]] (2–14%),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/North-Korea.html |title=Culture of North Korea – Alternative name, History and ethnic relations |work=Countries and Their Cultures |publisher=Advameg |access-date=4 July 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805183929/http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/North-Korea.html |archive-date=5 August 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook |country=North Korea |access-date=9 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2792.htm |title=Background Note: North Korea |author=Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs |year=2009 |publisher=U.S. State Department |access-date=4 July 2009 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818233244/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2792.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> and small communities in India and Bangladesh. The Communist-governed countries of China, Vietnam and North Korea are officially atheist, thus the number of Buddhists and other religious adherents may be under-reported.

[[Jainism]] is found mainly in India and in overseas Indian communities such as the United States and Malaysia. [[Sikhism]] is found in Northern India and amongst overseas Indian communities in other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia. [[Confucianism]] is found predominantly in mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan and in overseas Chinese populations. [[Taoism]] is found mainly in mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. In many Chinese communities, Taoism is easily syncretised with [[Mahayana Buddhism]], thus exact religious statistics are difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated.

<gallery>
File:Traditional wedding at Meji-jingu 72570539 f30636e2ef o.jpg|[[Marriage in Japan#Weddings in Japan|Japanese wedding]] at the [[Meiji Shrine]]
File:A day of devotion – Thaipusam in Singapore (4316108409).jpg|[[Thaipusam|Hindu]] festival celebrated by Singapore's [[Tamil people|Tamil]] community
File:Bar Mitzvah Western Wall.jpg|[[Bar mitzvah]] at the Western Wall in Jerusalem
File:Feast of Black Nazarene, Quiapo, Manila.JPG|Catholic procession of the [[Black Nazarene]] in [[Manila]]
File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Nebi Shueib Festival.jpg|[[Israeli Druze|Druze]] dignitaries celebrating the [[Ziyarat al-Nabi Shu'ayb]] festival at the tomb of the prophet in [[Hittin]]
File:Echmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia (5047080550).jpg|Christian Armenians praying at the [[Etchmiadzin Cathedral]] in [[Vagharshapat]]
File:İstanbul 4258.jpg|Muslim men praying at the [[Ortaköy Mosque]] in [[Istanbul]]
File:Buddhist Monks performing traditional Sand mandala made from coloured sand.jpg|Buddhist Monks performing traditional Sand mandala made from coloured sand
</gallery>

== Culture ==
{{Main|Culture of Asia}}

The [[culture of Asia]] is a diverse blend of customs and traditions that have been practiced by the various ethnic groups of the continent for centuries. The continent is divided into six geographic sub-regions: [[Central Asia]], [[East Asian cultural sphere|East Asia]], [[North Asia]], [[South Asian ethnic groups|South Asia]], [[Southeast Asia]], and [[West Asia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |title=Geographic Regions |publisher=United Nations |access-date=31 March 2018 |archive-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830170949/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |url-status=live}}</ref> These regions are defined by their cultural similarities, including common religions, languages, and ethnicities. West Asia, also known as Southwest Asia or the [[Middle East]], has cultural roots in the ancient civilisations of the [[Fertile Crescent]] and [[Mesopotamia]], which gave rise to the [[Iran|Persian]], [[Arab world|Arab]], [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] empires, as well as the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Collon |first=Dominique |title=BBC – History – Ancient History in depth: Mesopotamia |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/mesopotamia_gallery.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102042221/https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/mesopotamia_gallery.shtml |archive-date=2 January 2023 |access-date=31 March 2018}}</ref> These civilisations, which are located in the [[Hilly flanks]], are among the oldest in the world, with evidence of farming dating back to around 9000&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Ian |title=Why the West rules – for now: the patterns of history, and what they reveal about the future |date=2011 |publisher=Profile |isbn=978-1846682087 |oclc=751789199}}</ref> Despite the challenges posed by the vast size of the continent and the presence of natural barriers such as deserts and mountain ranges, trade and commerce have helped to create a [[Pan-Asian]] culture that is shared across the region.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lTEeCgAAQBAJ&q=Indianized+kingdoms&pg=PA299 |title=Societies, Networks, and Transitions, Volume I: To 1500: A Global History |date=19 June 2014 |access-date=31 March 2018 |isbn=978-1285783086 |last1=Lockard |first1=Craig A. |publisher=Cengage |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326205006/https://books.google.com/books?id=lTEeCgAAQBAJ&q=Indianized+kingdoms&pg=PA299 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Nobel laureates ===
[[File:Tagore3.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Rabindranath Tagore]], winner of the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] in 1913, and Asia's first Nobel laureate]]

[[Rabindranath Tagore]], a [[Bengali literature|Bengali]] dramatist and author from [[Santiniketan]] (now in [[West Bengal]], India), won the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] in 1913, becoming the first Asian [[Nobel laureate]]. The prize was awarded for Tagore's  prose works and poetry, which had a significant additional impact on national literatures throughout the Western world. Tagore also authored both the Indian and Bangladeshi national anthems.

Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prize for literature include [[Yasunari Kawabata]] (Japan, 1968), [[Kenzaburō Ōe]] (Japan, 1994), [[Gao Xingjian]] (China, 2000), [[Orhan Pamuk]] (Turkey, 2006), and [[Mo Yan]] (China, 2012). Some may consider the American writer, [[Pearl S. Buck]], an honorary Asian Nobel laureate, having spent considerable time in China as the daughter of missionaries, and based many of her novels, namely ''[[The Good Earth]]'' (1931) and ''[[The Mother (1934 novel)|The Mother]]'' (1933), as well as the biographies of her parents for their time in China, ''[[The Exile (1936 book)|The Exile]]'' and ''[[Fighting Angel]]'', all of which earned her the Literature prize in 1938.

[[Mother Teresa]] of India and [[Shirin Ebadi]] of Iran were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their significant and pioneering efforts for [[democracy]] and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. Ebadi is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. Another Nobel Peace Prize winner is [[Aung San Suu Kyi]] from [[Burma]] for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Burma. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma (Myanmar) and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a [[Buddhist]] and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Chinese dissident [[Liu Xiaobo]] was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China" on 8 October 2010. He is the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China. In 2014, [[Kailash Satyarthi]] from India and [[Malala Yousafzai]] from Pakistan were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".

[[C.V. Raman]] is the first Asian to get a Nobel prize in Sciences. He won the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the [[Raman scattering|effect named after him]]".

Japan has won the most Nobel Prizes of any Asian nation with 24 followed by India which has won 13.{{update after|2025|1|25}}

[[Amartya Sen]] ({{b.|1933}}) is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and [[social choice theory]], and for his interest in the problems of society's poorest members.

Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include [[Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]], [[Abdus Salam]], [[Robert Aumann]], [[Menachem Begin]], [[Aaron Ciechanover]], [[Avram Hershko]], [[Daniel Kahneman]], [[Shimon Peres]], [[Yitzhak Rabin]], [[Ada Yonath]], [[Yasser Arafat]], [[José Ramos-Horta]] and Bishop [[Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo]] of [[Timor Leste]], [[Kim Dae-jung]], and 13 Japanese scientists. Most of the said awardees are from Japan and [[Israel]] except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Abdus Salam (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories), Kim (South Korea), and Horta and Belo (Timor Leste).{{update after|2025|1|25}}

In 2006, the Bangladeshi [[Muhammad Yunus]] of  was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the establishment of [[Grameen Bank]], a community development bank that lends money to poor people, especially women. He is known for the concept of micro credit which, allows poor and destitute people to borrow money. The borrowers pay back money within the specified period and defaulting is very low. Yunus also became the leader of an [[Yunus interim government|interim government]] after the [[2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Muhammad Yunus returns to Bangladesh to lead interim government |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/8/muhammad-yunus-returns-to-bangladesh-to-lead-interim-government |access-date=11 September 2024 |website=Al Jazeera}}</ref> The [[Dalai Lama]] received the Nobel Peace Prize, in [[Oslo]], Norway in 1989.<ref>{{cite web |author=His Holiness's Teachings at TCV |url=http://www.dalailama.com/biography/a-brief-biography |title=A Brief Biography – The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama |publisher=Dalailama.com |access-date=1 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525181231/http://www.dalailama.com/biography/a-brief-biography |archive-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Asia}}
<!-- {{Wikipedia-Books}} -->
{{Main|Outline of Asia|Index of Asia-related articles}}
* [[Asian Century]]
* [[Asian Games]]
* [[Asian Highway Network]]
* [[Asian Monetary Unit]]
* [[Asian Para Games]]
* [[List of cities in Asia]]
* [[Asian cuisine]]
* [[Asian furniture]]
* [[Eastern Mediterranean]]
* [[Eastern world]]
* [[Fauna of Asia]]
* [[Flags of Asia]]
* [[List of metropolitan areas in Asia by population]]
* [[Trans-Asian Railway]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist|30em}}
{{NoteFoot|30em}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite book |title=The myth of continents: a critique of metageography |first1=Martin W. |last1=Lewis |first2=Kären |last2=Wigen |publisher=University of California Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-520-20743-1 |location=Berkeley}}
* {{cite book |first1=Michael |last1=Ventris |first2=John |last2=Chadwick |title=Documents in Mycenaean Greek |edition=2nd |year=1973 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}

== Further reading ==
* Embree, Ainslie T., ed. ''Encyclopedia of Asian history'' (1988)
** [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofas0003unse/page/n5/mode/2up vol. 1 online]; [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofas0002unse/page/n5/mode/2up vol 2 online]; [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofas0003unse_l9c1/page/n5/mode/2up vol 3 online]; [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofas0000embr vol 4 online]
* Higham, Charles. ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations''. Facts on File library of world history. New York: Facts On File, 2004.
* Kamal, Niraj. "Arise Asia: Respond to White Peril". New Delhi: Wordsmith, 2002, {{ISBN|978-81-87412-08-3}}
* Kapadia, Feroz, and Mandira Mukherjee. ''Encyclopaedia of Asian Culture and Society.'' New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1999.
* Levinson, David, and Karen Christensen, eds. ''Encyclopedia of Modern Asia''. (6 vol. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002).
* {{cite book |last=Wang |first=Hui |title=The Politics of Imagining Asia |publisher=Harvard University Press |publication-place=Cambridge, Mass |date=31 March 2011 |isbn=978-0-674-05519-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_d9QajZdFwC}}

== External links ==
* {{GovPubs|Asia}}
* {{Britannica|38479}} 
* [https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/asia-human/ Asia: Human Geography] at the [[National Geographic Society]]
* [https://www.loc.gov/research-centers/asian/about-this-research-center/ Asian Reading Room] from the United States [[Library of Congress]]
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Asia | volume= 2 | pages = 320–358 |short= 1}}
* {{cite web |title=Display Maps |work=The Soil Maps of Asia |publisher=European Digital Archive of Soil Maps – EuDASM |url=http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esdb_archive/EuDASM/asia/indexes/idx_country.htm |access-date=26 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812114558/http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esdb_archive/EuDASM/asia/indexes/idx_country.htm |archive-date=12 August 2011}}
* {{cite web |title=Asia Maps |work=Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html |publisher=University of Texas Libraries |access-date=20 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718061834/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html |archive-date=18 July 2011 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite web |title=Asia |publisher=Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library |url=http://maps.bpl.org/search_advanced/?mtid=786 |access-date=26 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929144209/http://maps.bpl.org/search_advanced/?mtid=786 |archive-date=29 September 2011}}
* {{cite journal |title=What is Asia? |url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/geography/geo_whatis.html |first=Philip |last=Bowring |journal=Eastern Economic Review |volume=135 |number=7 |date=12 February 1987 |ref=none |access-date=22 April 2009 |archive-date=28 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728121004/http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/geography/geo_whatis.html |url-status=dead}}

{{Asia topics}}
{{Countries of Asia}}
{{Continents of the world}}
{{Regions of the world}}
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{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Asia| ]]
[[Category:Continents]]