Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.9% of its land area) and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled.
Asia is traditionally defined as part of the landmass of Eurasia—with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe—located to the east of the Suez Canal, east of the Ural Mountains and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma-Manych Depression) and the Caspian and Black Seas. 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. Given its size and diversity, Asia—a toponym dating back to classical antiquity—is more a cultural concept incorporating a number of regions and peoples than a homogeneous physical entity (see Subregions of Asia, Asian people). The wealth of Asia differs very widely among and within its regions, due to its vast size and huge range of different cultures, environments, historical ties and government systems.
Etymology
The term "Asia" is originally a concept exclusively of
Western civilization. first attributed to
Herodotus (about 440 BC) in reference to
Anatolia or—in describing the Persian Wars—to the
Persian Empire, in contrast to
Greece and
Egypt. Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three women's names are used to describe one enormous and substantial land mass (
Europa,
Asia, and
Libya, referring to Africa), stating that most Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of
Prometheus (i.e.
Hesione), but that the
Lydians say it was named after Asias, son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe in
Sardis. Even before Herodotus,
Homer knew of two figures in the
Trojan War named
Asios; and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). In
Greek mythology, "Asia" (
Ἀσία) or "Asie" (
Ἀσίη) was the name of a
Nymph or
Titan goddess of
Lydia.
Usage of the term soon became common in ancient Greece, and subsequently by the ancient Romans. The ideas of Occidental (form Latin Occidens 'setting') and Oriental (from Latin Oriens for 'rising') are also European invention, synonymous with Western and Eastern. as there is no logical physical separation between them. Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass–or of Afro-Eurasia: geologically, Asia, Europe and Africa comprise a single continuous landmass (save the Suez Canal) and share a common continental shelf. Almost all of Europe and most of Asia sit atop the Eurasian Plate, adjoined on the south by the Arabian and Indian Plate and with the easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Cherskiy Range) on the North American Plate.
In geography, there are two schools of thought. One school follows historical convention and treats Europe and Asia as different continents, categorizing subregions within them for more detailed analysis. The other school equates the word "continent" with a geographical region when referring to Europe, and use the term "region" to describe Asia in terms of physiography. Since, in linguistic terms, "continent" implies a distinct landmass, it is becoming increasingly common to substitute the term "region" for "continent" to avoid the problem of disambiguation altogether.
Given the scope and diversity of the landmass, it is sometimes not even clear exactly what "Asia" consists of. Some definitions exclude Turkey, the Middle East, Central Asia and Russia while only considering the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent to compose Asia, especially in the United States after World War II. The term is sometimes used more narrowly in reference to the Asia-Pacific region, which does not include the Middle East, South Asia or Russia, but does include islands in the Pacific Ocean—a number of which may also be considered part of Australasia or Oceania, although Pacific Islanders are not considered Asian.
Political geography
Popular definitions
In many western countries, the term
Asian refers to only a subset of the population of Asian. See the pages
Asian people and
Orient for more details.
Countries and territories
The countries in this table are categorised according to the
scheme for geographic subregions used by the
United Nations, and data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are clearly indicated.
{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse;" |- style="background:#ececec;" ! Name of region andterritory, with flag ! Area(km²) ! Population(1 July 2008 est.) ! Population density(per km²) ! Capital |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Central Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 2,724,927 | style="text-align:right;"| 15,666,533 | style="text-align:right;"| 5.7 | Astana |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 198,500 | style="text-align:right;"| 5,356,869 | style="text-align:right;"| 24.3 | Bishkek |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 143,100 | style="text-align:right;"| 7,211,884 | style="text-align:right;"| 47.0 | Dushanbe |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 488,100 | style="text-align:right;"| 5,179,573 | style="text-align:right;"| 9.6 | Ashgabat |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 447,400 | style="text-align:right;"| 28,268,441 | style="text-align:right;"| 57.1 | Tashkent |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Eastern Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 1,092 | style="text-align:right;"| 7,008,300 | style="text-align:right;"| 6,417.9 | - |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 377,835 | style="text-align:right;"| 127,288,628 | style="text-align:right;"| 336.1 | Tokyo |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 25 | style="text-align:right;"| 460,823 | style="text-align:right;"| 18,473.3 | — |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 1,565,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 2,996,082 | style="text-align:right;"| 1.7 | Ulaan Baatar |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 120,540 | style="text-align:right;"| 23,479,095 | style="text-align:right;"| 184.4 | Pyongyang |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 9,640,821 | style="text-align:right;"| 1,322,044,605 | style="text-align:right;"| 134.0 | Beijing |- | (Taiwan) | style="text-align:right;"| 35,980 | style="text-align:right;"| 22,920,946 | style="text-align:right;"| 626.7 | Taipei |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 98,480 | style="text-align:right;"| 49,232,844 | style="text-align:right;"| 490.7 | Seoul |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Northern Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 17,075,400 | style="text-align:right;"| 142,200,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 26.8 | Moscow |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Southeastern Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 5,770 | style="text-align:right;"| 381,371 | style="text-align:right;"| 66.1 | Bandar Seri Begawan |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 676,578 | style="text-align:right;"| 47,758,224 | style="text-align:right;"| 70.3 | Naypyidaw |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 181,035 | style="text-align:right;"| 13,388,910 | style="text-align:right;"| 74 | Phnom Penh |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 15,007 | style="text-align:right;"| 1,108,777 | style="text-align:right;"| 73.8 | Dili |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 1,919,440 | style="text-align:right;"| 230,512,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 120.1 | Jakarta |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 236,800 | style="text-align:right;"| 6,677,534 | style="text-align:right;"| 28.2 | Vientiane |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 329,847 | style="text-align:right;"| 27,780,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 84.2 | Kuala Lumpur |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 300,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 92,681,453 | style="text-align:right;"| 308.9 | Manila |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 704 | style="text-align:right;"| 4,608,167 | style="text-align:right;"| 6,545.7 | Singapore |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 514,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 65,493,298 | style="text-align:right;"| 127.4 | Bangkok |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 331,690 | style="text-align:right;"| 86,116,559 | style="text-align:right;"| 259.6 | Hanoi |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Southern Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 647,500 | style="text-align:right;"| 32,738,775 | style="text-align:right;"| 42.9 | Kabul |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 147,570 | style="text-align:right;"| 153,546,901 | style="text-align:right;"| 1040.5 | Dhaka |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 38,394 | style="text-align:right;"| 682,321 | style="text-align:right;"| 17.8 | Thimphu |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 3,287,263 | style="text-align:right;"| 1,147,995,226 | style="text-align:right;"| 349.2 | New Delhi |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 300 | style="text-align:right;"| 379,174 | style="text-align:right;"| 1,263.3 | Malé |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 147,181 | style="text-align:right;"| 29,519,114 | style="text-align:right;"| 200.5 | Kathmandu |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 803,940 | style="text-align:right;"| 167,762,049 | style="text-align:right;"| 208.7 | Islamabad |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 65,610 | style="text-align:right;"| 21,128,773 | style="text-align:right;"| 322.0 | Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Western Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"|29,800 | style="text-align:right;"|3,299,000 | style="text-align:right;"|280.7 | Yerevan |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 86,660 | style="text-align:right;"| 8,845,127 | style="text-align:right;"| 102.736 | Baku |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 665 | style="text-align:right;"| 718,306 | style="text-align:right;"| 987.1 | Manama |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 9,250 | style="text-align:right;"| 792,604 | style="text-align:right;"| 83.9 | Nicosia |- | | style="text-align:right;"|69,700 | style="text-align:right;"|4,636,400 | style="text-align:right;"| 65.1 | Tbilisi |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 437,072 | style="text-align:right;"| 28,221,181 | style="text-align:right;"| 54.9 | Baghdad |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 1,648,195 | style="text-align:right;"| 70,472,846 | style="text-align:right;"| 42.8 | Tehran |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 20,770 | style="text-align:right;"| 7,112,359 | style="text-align:right;"| 290.3 | Jerusalem |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 92,300 | style="text-align:right;"| 6,198,677 | style="text-align:right;"| 57.5 | Amman |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 17,820 | style="text-align:right;"| 2,596,561 | style="text-align:right;"| 118.5 | Kuwait City |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 10,452 | style="text-align:right;"| 3,971,941 | style="text-align:right;"| 353.6 | Beirut |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 212,460 | style="text-align:right;"| 3,311,640 | style="text-align:right;"| 12.8 | Muscat |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 6,257 | style="text-align:right;"| 4,277,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 683.5 | Ramallah |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 11,437 | style="text-align:right;"| 928,635 | style="text-align:right;"| 69.4 | Doha |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 1,960,582 | style="text-align:right;"| 23,513,330 | style="text-align:right;"| 12.0 | Riyadh |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 185,180 | style="text-align:right;"| 19,747,586 | style="text-align:right;"| 92.6 | Damascus |- | | style="text-align:right;"| | style="text-align:right;"| | style="text-align:right;"| | Ankara |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 82,880 | style="text-align:right;"| 4,621,399 | style="text-align:right;"| 29.5 | Abu Dhabi |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 527,970 | style="text-align:right;"| 23,013,376 | style="text-align:right;"| 35.4 | Sanaá |- style="font-weight:bold;" | Total | style="text-align:right;"| 43,810,582 | style="text-align:right;"| 4,162,966,086 | style="text-align:right;"| 89.07 | |}
:Note: Part of Egypt (Sinai Peninsula) is geographically in Western Asia
Country name changes
Various Asian countries have undergone name changes during the previous century as the result of consolidations,
secessions, territories gaining
sovereignty and
regime changes.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%;" |- ! Previous Name !! Year !! Current Name |- | Dominion of India, formerly British India | 1950 | Republic of India |- | East Bengal province | 1905–1911 and 1947–19551955–19711971 | East Pakistan state Bangladesh, People's Republic of |- | Democratic Kampuchea | 1975 | Cambodia, Kingdom of |- | Empire of Great Qing of China | 19121949 | China, Republic ofChina, People's Republic of |- | Portuguese Timor | 19752002 | Timor Timur (province of Indonesia) East Timor, Democratic Republic of |- | Dutch East Indies | 1949 | Indonesia, Republic of |- | Persia | 19351979 | Iran, Iran, Islamic Republic of |- | Transjordan | 1946 | Jordan, Kingdom of |- | Kirghiz SSR (USSR) | 1991 | Kyrgyzstan, Republic |- | Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore | 19631965 | Malaysia (including Singapore)Malaysia and Singapore |- | Burma | 1989 | Myanmar, Union of |- | Muscat | 1971 | Oman, Sultanate of |- | Dominion of Pakistan | 1947–19561956–19701971 | West Pakistan, Islamic State ofIslamic Republic of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of |- | Islas de San Lorenzo, Spanish East Indies, Philippine Islands and Las Islas Filipinas | 1898, 1935, and 1946 | Philippines, Republic of the |- | Hejaz-Nejd, The Kingdom of | 1932 | Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of |- | Aden | 1970 | South Yemen, People's Republic of |- | Ceylon | 1972 | Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of |- | Tajik SSR (USSR) | 1991 | Tajikistan, Republic of |- | Siam | 1939 | Thailand, Kingdom of |- | Ottoman Empire | 1923 | Turkey, Republic of |- | Turkmen SSR (USSR) | 1991 | Turkmenistan |- | Trucial Oman and Trucial States | 1971 | United Arab Emirates |- | French Indo-China | 1949 | Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam |- | Yemen, People's Democratic and Southern Yemen | 1990 | Yemen, Republic of |}
Economy
has one of the
busiest ports in the world and is the world's fourth largest
foreign exchange trading centre.]] , one of the most populous cities in the continent, a hub for infrastructure & tourism plays a crucial role in the
Economy of India]] Asia has the third largest
nominal GDP of all continents, after North America and Europe, but the largest when measured in
PPP. As of 2010, the largest economies in Asia are
China,
Japan,
India,
South Korea and
Indonesia. is the largest city in
Siberia, with a population of about 1.5 million.]] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of the PRC and India have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. Other recent very high growth nations in Asia include
Malaysia, the
Philippines,
Pakistan,
Thailand,
Vietnam,
Mongolia,
Uzbekistan,
Cyprus, and mineral-rich nations such as
Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan,
Iran,
Brunei,
United Arab Emirates,
Qatar,
Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain and
Oman.
China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history, until the British Empire (excluding India) overtook it in the mid 19th century. Japan has had for only several decades after WW2 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 1986 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).
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP was almost as large (current exchange rate method) as that of the rest of Asia combined. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of the USA as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen/dollar. 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 Asian tigers, which have now all received developed country status, having the highest GDP per capita in Asia.
It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2020. In terms of GDP per capita, both nominal and PPP-adjusted, South Korea will become the second wealthiest country in Asia by 2025, overtaking Germany, the United Kingdom and France. By 2027, according to Goldman Sachs, China will have the largest economy in the world.
Trade blocs
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Asia-Europe Economic Meeting Association of Southeast Asian Nations Gulf Cooperation Council Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement Commonwealth of Independent States South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
Natural resources
Asia is the largest continent in the
world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as
petroleum,
forests, fish, water, rice, copper and silver.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in mainland
China,
Taiwan,
South Korea,
Japan,
India,
Philippines and
Singapore.
Japan and
South Korea continue to dominate in the area of
multinational corporations, but increasingly mainland
China, 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.
Financial and other services
Asia has four main financial centres:
Tokyo,
Hong Kong,
Singapore and
Shanghai.
Call centres 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 centres. Due to its large and extremely competitive
information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.
Early history
's empire at its greatest extent.]]
The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Central Asian steppes.
The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Huanghe shared many similarities. These civilizations 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 steppes. The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, 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 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 horsebound 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.
The Islamic Caliphate took over the Middle East and Central Asia during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. The Mongol Empire conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe.
Languages and literature
Asia is home to several
language families and many
language isolates. Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to
Ethnologue, more than 600 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 800 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces.
Nobel prizes
, of India, the first Asian
Nobel laureate.]]
The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali Indian poet, dramatist, and writer from Santiniketan, now in West Bengal, India, became in 1913 the first Asian Nobel laureate. He won his Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English, French, and other national literatures of Europe and the Americas. He is also the writer of the national anthems of Bangladesh and India.
Tagore is said to have named another Bengali Indian Nobel prize winner, the 1998 laureate in Economics, Amartya Sen. Sen's work has centered on global issues including famine, welfare, and third-world development. Amartya Sen was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK, from 1998 to 2004, becoming the first Asian to head an 'Oxbridge' College.
Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prizes include Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1966), Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (People's Republic of China, 2000) and Orhan Pamuk (Turkey, 2006).
Also, 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.
Sir 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 effect named after him".
Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Abdus Salam, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Robert Aumann, Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Daniel Kahneman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ada Yonath, Yaser Arafat, Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo of Timor Leste, Kim Dae-jung, and thirteen Japanese scientists. Most of the said awardees are from Japan and Israel except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Salam (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories) Kim (South Korea), Horta and Belo (Timor Leste).
In 2006, Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the establishment of Grameen Bank, a community development bank that lends money to poor people, especially women in Bangladesh. Dr. Yunus received his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University, United States. He is internationally known for the concept of micro credit which allows poor and destitutes with little or no collateral to borrow money. The borrowers typically pay back money within the specified period and the incidence of default is very low.
The Dalai Lama has received approximately eighty-four awards over his spiritual and political career. On 22 June 2006, he became one of only four people ever to be recognized with Honorary Citizenship by the Governor General of Canada. On 28 May 2005, he received the Christmas Humphreys Award from the Buddhist Society in the United Kingdom. Most notable was the Nobel Peace Prize, presented in Oslo, Norway on 10 December 1989.
Beliefs
Mythology
Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Christians in the Old Testament, is first found in
Mesopotamian mythology, in the
Epic of Gilgamesh.
Hindu mythology tells about an
avatar of the
God Vishnu in the form of a
fish who warned
Manu of a terrible flood. In ancient
Chinese mythology,
Shan Hai Jing, the Chinese ruler
Da Yu, had to spend 10 years to control a deluge which swept out most of ancient China and was aided by the goddess
Nüwa who literally fixed the broken sky through which huge rains were pouring.
at the Kaabah in Mecca.]]
Religions
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 material world.
Christianity is also present in most Asian countries. monks in Thailand.]]
Abrahamic
The
Abrahamic religions of
Judaism,
Christianity,
Islam and
Baha'i Faith originated in
West Asia. Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel (which has the world's largest
Jewish population), though small communities exist in other countries, such as the
Bene Israel in India. In the Philippines and
East Timor,
Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the
Spaniards and the
Portuguese, respectively. In
Armenia,
Cyprus,
Georgia and
Russia,
Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. Various
Christian denominations have adherents in portions of the Middle East, as well as China and India. The world's largest Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in
Indonesia.
South Asia (mainly
Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh) holds 30% of Muslims. There are also significant Muslim populations in China,
Iran,
Malaysia, southern
Philippines (
Mindanao), Russia and most of West Asia and
Central Asia. The Bahá'í 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 the Bahá'í Faith's activities in many Muslim countries has been severely
suppressed by authorities.
Dharmic and Taoist
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.
Over 80% (80.6%) of the populations of both India and Nepal adhere to Hinduism, alongside significant communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bali. Many overseas Indians in countries such as Burma, Singapore and Malaysia also adhere to Hinduism.
Buddhism has a great following in mainland Southeast Asia and East Asia. Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the populations of Cambodia (98%), Thailand (95%), Burma (89%), Japan (84-96%), Bhutan (75%) Sri Lanka (69%) Laos (67%-98%) and Mongolia (50%). Large Buddhist populations also exist in Singapore (42.5%), Taiwan (35.1%) South Korea (23.2%), Malaysia(19.2%), Nepal(10.7%), Vietnam (9.3-80%) China(8-65)%, North Korea, (4.5%) Indonesia (<2%) India and Bangladesh. In many Chinese communities, Mahayana Buddhism is easily syncretized with Taoism, thus exact religious statistics is difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated. 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 oversea Indian communities such as India 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. Taoism is easily syncretized with Mahayana Buddhism for many Chinese, thus exact religious statistics is difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated.
Human Development
East Asia had by far the strongest overall
HDI performance 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.
PR 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 enrolment and life expectancy.
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 1970's.; 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.
[ Japan and South Korea ranked highest among the countries grouped on the HDI (number 11 and 12 in the world, which are in the “very high human development” category), followed by Hong Kong, China (SAR)(21) and Singapore (27). Afghanistan (155) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed.][ ]
See also
Asian Century Asian cuisine Asian furniture Asian Games Asian Monetary Unit Eastern world Far East Fauna of Asia Flags of Asia Middle East * Eastern Mediterranean * Levant * Near East Pan-Asianism Lists:
List of cities in Asia List of metropolitan areas in Asia by population List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia
References
"Asia". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online. 2005. New York: Columbia University Press. World Conflicts: Asia and the Middle East. Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. New York: Salem Press.
Further reading
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. Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.
External links
European Digital Archive on the Soil Maps of the World - EuDASM Map Asia Maps of Asia from the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library Philp Bowring, "What is Asia?" Columbia University Asia For Educators Category:Continents
