Asia - wikipedia Asia For other uses, see Asia ( disambiguation ). Asia Area 44,579,000 km ( 17,212,000 sq mi ) Population 4,462,676,731 ( 1st ) Population density 100 / km ( 260 / sq mi ) Demonym Asian Countries 48 UN members 6 other states Dependencies List Akrotiri and Dhekelia British Indian Ocean Territory Christmas Island Cocos ( Keeling ) Islands Hong Kong Macau Non-UN states List Abkhazia Nagorno - Karabakh Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Taiwan Internet TLD. asia Largest cities Metropolitan areas of Asia List of cities in Asia List Bangkok Beijing Busan Davao Delhi Dhaka Guangzhou Hanoi Ho Chi Minh Hong Kong Incheon Jakarta Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Manila Mumbai Osaka Pyongyang Shanghai Shenzhen Singapore Seoul Tehran Tokyo Asia ( / ˈeɪʒə, ˈeɪʃə / ( listen ) ) is Earth 's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the Eastern and Northern Hemispheres. It shares the continental landmass of Eurasia with the continent of Europe and the continental landmass of Afro - Eurasia with both Europe and Africa. Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres ( 17,212,000 sq mi ), about 30 % of Earth 's total land area and 8.7 % of the Earth 's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its overall large size and population, but also dense and large settlements, as well as vast barely populated regions. Its 4.5 billion people constitute roughly 60 % of the world 's population. In general terms, Asia 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 western boundary with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. The most commonly accepted boundaries place Asia to the east of the Suez Canal, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black Seas. China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 CE. China was a major economic power and attracted many to the east, and for many the legendary wealth and prosperity of the ancient culture of India personified Asia, attracting European commerce, exploration and colonialism. The accidental discovery of America by Columbus in search for India demonstrates this deep fascination. 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 ( particularly East Asia ) as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, but overall population growth has since fallen. Asia was the birthplace of most of the world 's mainstream religions including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism ( or Daoism ), Jainism, Sikhism, Zoroastranism, as well as many other religions. Given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia -- a name dating back to classical antiquity -- may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within 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 desert in the Middle East, temperate areas in the east and the continental centre to vast subarctic and polar areas in Siberia. Contents 1 Definition and boundaries 1.1 Asia - Africa boundary 1.2 Asia -- Europe boundary 1.3 Asia -- Oceania boundary 1.4 Ongoing definition 2 Etymology 2.1 Bronze Age 2.2 Classical antiquity 3 History 4 Geography and climate 4.1 Climate change 5 Economy 6 Tourism 7 Demographics 7.1 Languages 7.2 Religions 7.2. 1 Abrahamic 7.2. 2 Indian and East Asian religions 8 Modern conflicts 9 Culture 9.1 Nobel prizes 10 Political geography 11 See also 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 Further reading 15 External links Definition and boundaries For more details on Asian borders, see Geography of Asia § Boundary, Boundaries between continents, List of transcontinental countries § Asia and Europe, and Copenhagen criteria. Asia - Africa boundary The boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia and the remainder of the country in Africa. Asia -- Europe boundary Statue representing Asia at Palazzo Ferreria, in Valletta, Malta The border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics. The Don River became unsatisfactory to northern Europeans when Peter the Great, king of the Tsardom of Russia, defeating rival claims of Sweden and the Ottoman Empire to the eastern lands, and armed resistance by the tribes of Siberia, synthesized a new Russian Empire extending to the Ural Mountains and beyond, founded in 1721. The major geographical theorist of the empire was actually a former Swedish prisoner - of - war, taken at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 and assigned to Tobolsk, where he associated with Peter 's Siberian official, Vasily Tatishchev, and was allowed freedom to conduct geographical and anthropological studies in preparation for a future book. In Sweden, five years after Peter 's death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Urals as the border of Asia. The Russians were enthusiastic about the concept, which allowed them to keep their European identity in geography. 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. 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. Asia -- Oceania boundary The border between Asia and the region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. The Maluku Islands in Indonesia are often considered to lie on the border of southeast Asia, with New Guinea, to the east of the islands, being wholly part of Oceania. 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 Malay 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. '' Ongoing definition Afro - Eurasia shown in green 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 is larger and more culturally diverse than Europe. It does not exactly correspond to the cultural borders of its various types of constituents. 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 or is no substantial physical separation between them. 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 ''. 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 ( except for the Suez Canal ) and share a common continental shelf. Almost all of Europe and the better part 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 Chersky Range ) on the North American Plate. Etymology Ptolemy 's Asia The English name `` Asia '' was originally a concept of Greek civilization. The place name `` Asia '' in various forms in a large number of modern languages is of unknown ultimate provenience. Its etymology and language of origin are uncertain. It appears to be one of the most ancient of recorded names. A number of theories have been published. English Asia can be traced through the formation of English literature to Latin literature, where it has the same form, Asia. Whether all uses and all forms of the name derive also from the Latin of the Roman Empire is much less certain. One of the first classical writers to use Asia as a name of the whole continent was Pliny. This metonymical change in meaning is common and can be observed in some other geographical names, such as Skandinavia ( from Scania ). Bronze Age Before Greek poetry, the Aegean Sea area was in a Greek Dark Age, at the beginning of which syllabic writing was lost and alphabetic writing had not begun. Prior to then in the Bronze Age the records of the Assyrian Empire, the Hittite Empire and the various Mycenaean states of Greece mention a region undoubtedly Asia, certainly in Anatolia, including if not identical to Lydia. These records are administrative and do not include poetry. The Mycenaean states were destroyed about 1200 BCE by unknown agents although one school of thought assigns the Dorian invasion to this time. The burning of the palaces baked clay diurnal administrative records written in a Greek syllabic script called Linear B, deciphered by a number of interested parties, most notably by a young World War II cryptographer, Michael Ventris, subsequently assisted by the scholar, John Chadwick. A major cache discovered by Carl Blegen at the site of ancient Pylos included hundreds of male and female names formed by different methods. Some of these are of women held in servitude ( as study of the society implied by the content reveals ). They were used in trades, such as cloth - making, and usually came with children. The epithet, lawiaiai, `` captives, '' associated with some of them identifies their origin. Some are ethnic names. One in particular, aswiai, identifies `` women of Asia. '' Perhaps they were captured in Asia, but some others, Milatiai, appear to have been of Miletus, a Greek colony, which would not have been raided for slaves by Greeks. Chadwick suggests that the names record the locations where these foreign women were purchased. The name is also in the singular, Aswia, which refers both to the name of a country and to a female of it. There is a masculine form, aswios. This Aswia appears to have been a remnant of a region known to the Hittites as Assuwa, centered on Lydia, or `` Roman Asia. '' This name, Assuwa, has been suggested as the origin for the name of the continent `` Asia ''. The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia, defeated by the Hittites under Tudhaliya I around 1400 BCE. Alternatively, the etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word ( w ) aṣû ( m ), which means ' to go outside ' or ' to ascend ', referring to the direction of the sun at sunrise in the Middle East and also likely connected with the Phoenician word asa meaning east. This may be contrasted to a similar etymology proposed for Europe, as being from Akkadian erēbu ( m ) ' to enter ' or ' set ' ( of the sun ). T.R. Reid supports this alternative etymology, noting that the ancient Greek name must have derived from asu, meaning ' east ' in Assyrian ( ereb for Europe meaning ' west ' ). The ideas of Occidental ( form Latin Occidens ' setting ' ) and Oriental ( from Latin Oriens for ' rising ' ) are also European invention, synonymous with Western and Eastern. Reid further emphasizes that it explains the Western point of view of placing all the peoples and cultures of Asia into a single classification, almost as if there were a need for setting the distinction between Western and Eastern civilizations on the Eurasian continent. Ogura Kazuo and Tenshin Okakura are two outspoken Japanese figures on the subject. Classical antiquity The province of Asia highlighted ( in red ) within the Roman Empire. Latin Asia and Greek Ἀσία appear to be the same word. Roman authors translated Ἀσία as Asia. The Romans named a province Asia, which roughly corresponds with modern - day central - western Turkey. There was an Asia Minor and an Asia Major located in modern - day Iraq. As the earliest evidence of the name is Greek, it is likely circumstantially that Asia came from Ἀσία, but ancient transitions, due to the lack of literary contexts, are difficult to catch in the act. The most likely vehicles were the ancient geographers and historians, such as Herodotus, who were all Greek. Ancient Greek certainly evidences early and rich uses of the name. The first continental use of Asia is attributed to Herodotus ( about 440 BCE ), not because he innovated it, but because his Histories are the earliest surviving prose to describe it in any detail. He defines it carefully, mentioning the previous geographers whom he had read, but whose works are now missing. By it he means Anatolia and the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three women 's names were `` given to a tract which is in reality one '' ( 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 Asies, son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe at Sardis. In Greek mythology, `` Asia '' ( Ἀσία ) or `` Asie '' ( Ἀσίη ) was the name of a `` Nymph or Titan goddess of Lydia. '' In ancient Greek religion, places were under the care of female divinities, parallel to guardian angels. The poets detailed their doings and generations in allegoric language salted with entertaining stories, which subsequently playwrights transformed into classical Greek drama and became `` Greek mythology. '' For example, Hesiod mentions the daughters of Tethys and Ocean, among whom are a `` holy company '', `` who with the Lord Apollo and the Rivers have youths in their keeping. '' Many of these are geographic : Doris, Rhodea, Europa, Asia. Hesiod explains : `` For there are three - thousand neat - ankled daughters of Ocean who are dispersed far and wide, and in every place alike serve the earth and the deep waters. '' The Iliad ( attributed by the ancient Greeks to Homer ) mentions two Phrygians ( the tribe that replaced the Luvians in Lydia ) in the Trojan War named Asios ( an adjective meaning `` Asian '' ) ; and also a marsh or lowland containing a marsh in Lydia as ασιος. History Main article : History of Asia The Mongol Empire, ca. 1300. The gray area is the later Timurid Empire. 1890 map of Asia Map of western, southern, and central Asia in 1885 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 Yellow River 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 Silk Road connected many civilizations across Asia 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. Before the Mongol invasion, Song dynasty reportedly had approximately 120 million citizens ; the 1300 census which followed the invasion reported roughly 60 million people. The Black Death, one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road. The Russian Empire began to expand into 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. The Ottoman Empire controlled Anatolia, most of the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans from the mid 16th century onwards. In the 17th century, the Manchu conquered China and established the Qing dynasty. The Islamic Mughal Empire and the Hindu Maratha Empire controlled much of India in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively. Geography and climate Main articles : Geography of Asia and Climate of Asia See also : Category : Biota of Asia The Himalayan range is home to some of the planet 's highest peaks. Asia is the largest continent on Earth. It covers 8.8 % of the Earth 's total surface area ( or 30 % of its land area ), and has the largest coastline, at 62,800 kilometres ( 39,022 mi ). 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 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. Asia is subdivided into 48 countries, three of them ( Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey ) having part of their land in Europe. Asia has extremely diverse climates and geographic 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. The Gobi Desert is in Mongolia and the Arabian Desert stretches across much of the Middle East. The Yangtze River in China is the longest river in the continent. The Himalayas between Nepal and China is the tallest mountain range in the world. Tropical rainforests stretch across much of southern Asia and coniferous and deciduous forests lie farther north. Kerala backwaters Mongolian steppe South China Karst Altai Mountains Hunza Valley Climate change A survey carried out in 2010 by global risk analysis farm Maplecroft identified 16 countries that are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Each nation 's vulnerability was calculated using 42 socio, economic and environmental indicators, which identified the likely climate change impacts during the next 30 years. The Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were among the 16 countries facing extreme risk from climate change. Some shifts are already occurring. For example, in tropical parts of India with a semi-arid climate, the temperature increased by 0.4 ° C between 1901 and 2003. A 2013 study by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics ( ICRISAT ) aimed to find science - based, pro-poor approaches and techniques that would enable Asia 's agricultural systems to cope with climate change, while benefitting poor and vulnerable farmers. The study 's recommendations ranged from improving the use of climate information in local planning and strengthening weather - based agro-advisory services, to stimulating diversification of rural household incomes and providing incentives to farmers to adopt natural resource conservation measures to enhance forest cover, replenish groundwater and use renewable energy. Economy Main article : Economy of Asia Singapore has one of the busiest ports in the world and is the world 's fourth largest foreign exchange trading center. Rank Country GDP ( PPP, Peak Year ) millions of USD Peak Year China 23,122,027 2017 India 9,446,789 2017 Japan 5,405,072 2017 Russia 4,000,096 2017 5 Indonesia 3,242,966 2017 6 Turkey 2,132,717 2017 7 South Korea 2,026,651 2017 8 Saudi Arabia 1,789,264 2017 9 Iran 1,630,859 2017 10 Thailand 1,228,941 2017 Rank Country GDP ( nominal, Peak Year ) millions of USD Peak Year China 11,937,562 2017 Japan 6,203,213 2012 India 2,439,008 2017 Russia 2,297,125 2013 5 South Korea 1,529,743 2017 6 Indonesia 1,010,937 2017 7 Turkey 950,328 2013 8 Saudi Arabia 756,350 2014 9 Iran 577,214 2011 10 Taiwan 571,453 2017 Asia has the second largest nominal GDP of all continents, after Europe, but the largest when measured in purchasing power parity. As of 2011, the largest economies in Asia are China, Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia. Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of the top 5 being in Asia : Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai. Around 68 percent of international firms have office in Hong Kong. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of China 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 Israel, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Cyprus and the Philippines, and mineral - rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman. According to economic historian Angus Maddison in his book The World Economy : A Millennial Perspective, India had the world 's largest economy during 0 BCE and 1000 BCE. 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. 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 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 ). This ended in 2010 when China overtook Japan to become the world 's second largest economy. 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 / 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 Asian tigers, which have now all received developed country status, having the highest GDP per capita in Asia. Mumbai is one of the most populous cities on the continent. The city is an infrastructure and tourism hub, and plays a crucial role in the Economy of India. It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2020. By 2027, according to Goldman Sachs, China will have the largest economy in the world. Several trade blocs exist, with the most developed being the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 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 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 corporations, 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. According to Citigroup 9 of 11 Global Growth Generators countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Asia has four main financial centers : Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Call centers 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. In 2010, Asia had 3.3 million millionaires ( people with net worth over US $1 million excluding their homes ), slightly below North America with 3.4 million millionaires. Last year Asia had toppled Europe. Citigroup in The Wealth Report 2012 stated that Asian centa - millionaire overtook North America 's wealth 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. Tourism Wat Phra Kaeo in the Grand Palace is among Bangkok 's major tourist attractions. 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 international visitors. Demographics Main article : Demographics of Asia Historical populations Year Pop. ± % 1500 243,000,000 -- 1700 436,000,000 + 79.4 % 1900 947,000,000 + 117.2 % 1950 1,402,000,000 + 48.0 % 1999 3,634,000,000 + 159.2 % 2016 4,462,676,731 + 22.8 % Source : `` UN report 2004 data '' ( PDF ). The figure for 2016 is provided by the 2017 revision of the World Population Prospects. Graph showing population by continent as a percentage of world population ( 1750 - 2005 ) 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. 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. 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 ( 21 ) and Singapore ( 27 ). Afghanistan ( 155 ) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed. Languages Main article : Languages of Asia 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. Religions See also : Eastern philosophy, Religion in Asia, and List of Asian mythologies The Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem Pilgrims in the annual Hajj at the Kaabah in Mecca. Spring Temple Buddha in Lushan County, Henan, China is the world 's tallest statue. The Church of São António de Motael, Dili 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 respectively. Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Christians in the Old Testament in the narrative of Noah, is first found in Mesopotamian mythology, in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Likewise, the same story of Great Flood is presented to Muslims in the Holy Quran, again in the narrative of Noah, Who according to Islamic mythology was a Prophet and Built an Ark on Allah 's Command to save the True Believers from the Great Flood ( Great Calamity ). Hindu mythology also 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. Abrahamic The Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Bahá'í Faith originated in West Asia. Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel, the birthplace and historical homeland of the Hebrew nation which today consists equally of those Israelites who remained in Asia / North Africa and those who returned from diaspora in Europe, North America, and other regions, though sizable communities continue to live abroad. Jews are the predominant ethnic group in Israel ( 75.6 % ) numbering at about 6.1 million, although the levels of adherence to Jewish religion are unspecified. Outside of Israel there are small ancient communities of Jewish still live in Turkey ( 17,400 ), Azerbaijan ( 9,100 ), Iran ( 8,756 ), India ( 5,000 ) and Uzbekistan ( 4,000 ). Christianity is a widespread religion in Asia with more than 286 million adherents according to Pew Research Center in 2010, and nearly 364 million according to Britannica Book of the Year 2014. Constituting around 12.6 % of the total population of Asia. 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 Asian Russia, Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. Various Christian denominations have adherents in portions of the Middle East, as well as China and India. Saint Thomas Christians in India trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. Islam, which originated in Saudi Arabia, is the largest and most widely spread religion in Asia with at least 1 billion Muslims constituting around 23.8 % of the total population of Asia. With 12.7 % of the world Muslim population, the country currently with the largest Muslim population in the world is Indonesia, followed by Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey. Mecca, Medina and to a lesser extent Jerusalem are the holiest cities for Islam in all the world. These religious sites attract large numbers of devotees from all over the world, particularly during the Hajj and Umrah seasons. Iran is the largest Shi'a country. 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 Bahá'í activities in many Muslim countries has been severely suppressed by authorities. Lotus Temple is a big Baha'i Temple in India. Indian and East Asian religions The Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple in Delhi, according to the Guinness World Records is the World 's Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple 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 billion adherents. The faith represents around 25 % of Asia 's population and is the second 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. 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 % ), Thailand ( 95 % ), Burma ( 80 % -- 89 % ), Japan ( 36 % -- 96 % ), Bhutan ( 75 % -- 84 % ), Sri Lanka ( 70 % ), Laos ( 60 % -- 67 % ) and Mongolia ( 53 % -- 93 % ). Large Buddhist populations also exist in Singapore ( 33 % -- 51 % ), Taiwan ( 35 % -- 93 % ), South Korea ( 23 % -- 50 % ), Malaysia ( 19 % -- 21 % ), Nepal ( 9 % -- 11 % ), Vietnam ( 10 % -- 75 % ), China ( 20 % -- 50 % ), North Korea ( 1.5 % -- 14 % ), and small communities in 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 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. Taoism is easily syncretized with Mahayana Buddhism for many Chinese, thus exact religious statistics is difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated. Japanese wedding at the Meiji Shrine Hindu festival celebrated by Singapore 's Tamil community Orthodox cross procession in Novosibirsk Catholic procession of the Black Nazarene in Manila Muslim men praying in Turkey Modern conflicts US forces drop Napalm on suspected Viet Cong positions in 1965 Wounded civilians arrive at a hospital in Aleppo during the Syrian Civil War, October 2012 Some of the events pivotal in the Asia territory related to the relationship with the outside world in the post-Second World War were : The Chinese Civil War The Kashmir conflict The Insurgency in Northeast India The Korean War The French - Indochina War The Vietnam War The Indonesia -- Malaysia confrontation The Sino - Vietnamese War The Bangladesh Liberation War The Yom Kippur War The Iranian Revolution The Soviet war in Afghanistan The Iran -- Iraq War The Indonesian occupation of East Timor The Cambodian Killing Fields The Insurgency in Laos The Lebanese Civil War The Sri Lankan Civil War The Dissolution of the Soviet Union The Gulf War The Nepalese Civil War The India - Pakistan Wars The Nagorno - Karabakh War The War in Afghanistan The Iraq War The 2006 Thai coup d'état The Burmese Civil War The Saffron Revolution The Arab Spring The Arab -- Israeli conflict The Syrian Civil War The Sino - Indian War The 2014 Thai coup d'état The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Culture This section needs expansion with : More information about general cultural topics other than Nobel prizes. You can help by adding to it. ( June 2011 ) Main article : Culture of Asia Nobel Prizes Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, and became Asia 's first Nobel laureate The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali 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. 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 ( 1933 ), as well as the biographies of her parents of their time in China, The Exile and Fighting Angel, all of which earned her the Literature prize in 1938. 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. 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 ''. 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 ''. Japan has won the most Nobel Prizes of any Asian nation with 24 followed by India which has won 13. Amartya Sen, ( born 3 November 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, Malala yousafzai, 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 and Malala yousafzai, ( Pakistan ), Arafat ( Palestinian Territories ), Kim ( South Korea ), and 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 PhD in economics from Vanderbilt University, United States. He is internationally known for the concept of micro credit which allows poor and destitute people 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. Political geography Main article : Politics of Asia See also : List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia From 1841 to 1997, Hong Kong was a British colony. Iran China Saudi Arabia Japan Kazakhstan India Mongolia Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Vietnam Singapore South Korea North Korea Afghanistan Pakistan Thailand Laos Cambodia East Timor Brunei Myanmar Bhutan Bangladesh Nepal Taiwan Uzbekistan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Oman Yemen UAE Qat. Bah. Kuw. Iraq Jordan Israel Syria Turkey Georgia Azer. Armenia Cyp. Egypt Maldives Sri Lanka Russia H.K. Macau Flag Name Population ( 2016 ) Area ( km2 ) Capital Afghanistan 34,656,032 647,500 Kabul Armenia 2,924,816 29,743 Yerevan Azerbaijan 9,725,376 86,600 Baku Bahrain 1,425,171 760 Manama Bangladesh 162,951,560 147,570 Dhaka Bhutan 797,765 38,394 Thimphu Brunei 423,196 5,765 Bandar Seri Begawan Cambodia 15,762,370 181,035 Phnom Penh China ( PRC ) 1,403,500,365 9,596,961 Beijing Cyprus 1,170,125 9,251 Nicosia East Timor 1,268,671 14,874 Dili Egypt 95,688,681 1,010,408 Cairo Georgia 3,925,405 69,700 Tbilisi India 1,324,171,354 3,287,263 New Delhi Indonesia 261,115,456 1,904,569 Jakarta Iran 80,277,428 1,648,195 Tehran Iraq 37,202,572 438,317 Baghdad Israel 8,191,828 20,770 Jerusalem ( disputed ) Japan 127,748,513 377,915 Tokyo Jordan 9,455,802 89,342 Amman Kazakhstan 17,987,736 2,724,900 Astana Kuwait 4,052,584 17,818 Kuwait City Kyrgyzstan 5,955,734 199,951 Bishkek Laos 6,758,353 236,800 Vientiane Lebanon 6,006,668 10,400 Beirut Malaysia 31,187,265 329,847 Kuala Lumpur Maldives 427,756 298 Malé Mongolia 3,027,398 1,564,116 Ulaanbaatar Myanmar 52,885,223 676,578 Naypyidaw Nepal 28,982,771 147,181 Kathmandu North Korea 25,368,620 120,538 Pyongyang Oman 4,424,762 309,500 Muscat Pakistan 193,203,476 796,095 Islamabad Palestine 4,790,705 6,220 Ramallah ( Jerusalem ) ( claimed ) Philippines 103,320,222 300,000 Manila Qatar 2,569,804 11,586 Doha Russia 143,964,513 17,098,242 Moscow Saudi Arabia 32,275,687 2,149,690 Riyadh Singapore 5,622,455 697 Singapore South Korea 50,791,919 100,210 Seoul Sri Lanka 20,798,492 65,610 Colombo Syria 18,430,453 185,180 Damascus Tajikistan 8,734,951 143,100 Dushanbe Thailand 68,863,514 513,120 Bangkok Turkey 79,512,426 783,562 Ankara Turkmenistan 5,662,544 488,100 Ashgabat United Arab Emirates 9,269,612 83,600 Abu Dhabi Uzbekistan 31,446,795 447,400 Tashkent Vietnam 94,569,072 331,212 Hanoi Yemen 27,584,213 527,968 Sana'a Within the above - mentioned states are several partially recognized countries with limited to no international recognition. None of them are members of the UN : Flag Name Population Area ( km2 ) Capital Abkhazia 242,862 8,660 Sukhumi Nagorno - Karabakh 146,573 11,458 Stepanakert Northern Cyprus 285,356 3,355 Nicosia South Ossetia 51,547 3,900 Tskhinvali Taiwan ( ROC ) 23,556,706 36,193 Taipei See also Main articles : Outline of Asia and Index of Asia - related articles References to articles : Subregions of Asia Special topics : Asian Century Asian cuisine Asian furniture Asian Games Asian Monetary Unit Asian people Eastern world Eurasia Far East East Asia Southeast Asia South Asia Central Asia 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 Jump up ^ National Geographic Family Reference Atlas of the World. 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External links Find more aboutAsiaat Wikipedia 's sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Wikimedia Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Travel guide from Wikivoyage Learning resources from Wikiversity `` Display Maps ''. The Soil Maps of Asia. European Digital Archive of Soil Maps -- EuDASM. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011. `` Asia Maps ''. Perry - Castañeda Library Map Collection. University of Texas Libraries. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011. `` Asia ''. Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011. Bowring, Philip ( 12 February 1987 ). `` What is Asia ? ''. Eastern Economic Review. Columbia University Asia For Educators. 135 ( 7 ). 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Manchurian grassland Wild Fields Yedisan Muravsky Trail Ural Ural Mountains Volga region Idel - Ural Kolyma Transbaikal Pryazovia Bjarmaland Kuban Zalesye Ingria Novorossiya Gornaya Shoriya Tulgas Iranian Plateau Altai Mountains Pamir Mountains Tian Shan Badakhshan Wakhan Corridor Wakhjir Pass Mount Imeon Mongolian Plateau Western Regions Taklamakan Desert Karakoram Trans - Karakoram Tract Siachen Glacier North Inner Asia Northeast Far East Russian Far East Okhotsk - Manchurian taiga Extreme North Siberia Baikalia ( Lake Baikal ) Transbaikal Khatanga Gulf Baraba steppe Kamchatka Peninsula Amur Basin Yenisei Gulf Yenisei Basin Beringia Sikhote - Alin East Japanese archipelago Northeastern Japan Arc Sakhalin Island Arc Korean Peninsula Gobi Desert Taklamakan Desert Greater Khingan Mongolian Plateau Inner Asia Inner Mongolia Outer Mongolia China proper Manchuria Outer Manchuria Inner Manchuria Northeast China Plain Mongolian - Manchurian grassland North China Plain Yan Mountains Kunlun Mountains Liaodong Peninsula Himalayas Tibetan Plateau Tibet Tarim Basin Northern Silk Road Hexi Corridor Nanzhong Lingnan Liangguang Jiangnan Jianghuai Guanzhong Huizhou Wu Jiaozhou Zhongyuan Shaannan Ordos Loop Loess Plateau Shaanbei Hamgyong Mountains Central Mountain Range Japanese Alps Suzuka Mountains Leizhou Peninsula Gulf of Tonkin Yangtze River Delta Pearl River Delta Yenisei Basin Altai Mountains Wakhan Corridor Wakhjir Pass West Greater Middle East MENA Middle East Red Sea Caspian Sea Mediterranean Sea Zagros Mountains Persian Gulf Pirate Coast Strait of Hormuz Greater and Lesser Tunbs Al - Faw Peninsula Gulf of Oman Gulf of Aqaba Gulf of Aden Balochistan Arabian Peninsula Najd Hejaz Tihamah Eastern Arabia South Arabia Hadhramaut Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert Tigris -- Euphrates Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia Sawad Nineveh plains Akkad ( region ) Babylonia Canaan Aram Eber - Nari Suhum Eastern Mediterranean Mashriq Kurdistan Levant Southern Levant Transjordan Jordan Rift Valley Levantine Sea Golan Heights Hula Valley Gaza Strip West Bank Galilee Gilead Judea Samaria Arabah Anti-Lebanon Mountains Sinai Peninsula Arabian Desert Syrian Desert Fertile Crescent Azerbaijan Syria Palestine Iranian Plateau Armenian Highlands Caucasus Caucasus Mountains Greater Caucasus Lesser Caucasus North Caucasus South Caucasus Kur - Araz Lowland Lankaran Lowland Alborz Absheron Peninsula Anatolia Cilicia Cappadocia Alpide belt South Greater India Indian subcontinent Himalayas Hindu Kush Western Ghats Eastern Ghats Ganges Basin Ganges Delta Pashtunistan Punjab Balochistan Kashmir Kashmir Valley Pir Panjal Range Thar Desert Indus Valley Indus River Delta Indus Valley Desert Indo - Gangetic Plain Eastern coastal plains Western Coastal Plains Meghalaya subtropical forests Lower Gangetic plains moist deciduous forests Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows Doab Bagar tract Great Rann of Kutch Little Rann of Kutch Deccan Plateau Coromandel Coast Konkan False Divi Point Hindi Belt Ladakh Aksai Chin Gilgit - Baltistan Baltistan Shigar Valley Karakoram Saltoro Mountains Siachen Glacier Bay of Bengal Gulf of Khambhat Gulf of Kutch Gulf of Mannar Trans - Karakoram Tract Wakhan Corridor Wakhjir Pass Lakshadweep Andaman and Nicobar Islands Andaman Islands Nicobar Islands Maldive Islands Alpide belt Southeast Mainland Indochina Malay Peninsula Maritime Peninsular Malaysia Sunda Islands Greater Sunda Islands Lesser Sunda Islands Indonesian Archipelago Timor New Guinea Bonis Peninsula Papuan Peninsula Huon Peninsula Huon Gulf Bird 's Head Peninsula Gazelle Peninsula Philippine Archipelago Luzon Visayas Mindanao Leyte Gulf Gulf of Thailand East Indies Nanyang Alpide belt Asia - Pacific Tropical Asia Ring of Fire Regions of Europe North Nordic Northwestern Scandinavia Scandinavian Peninsula Fennoscandia Baltoscandia Sápmi West Nordic Baltic Baltic Sea Gulf of Bothnia Gulf of Finland Iceland Faroe Islands East Danubian countries Prussia Galicia Volhynia Donbass Sloboda Ukraine Sambia Peninsula Amber Coast Curonian Spit Izyum Trail Lithuania Minor Nemunas Delta Baltic Baltic Sea Vyborg Bay Karelia East Karelia Karelian Isthmus Lokhaniemi Southeastern Balkans Aegean Islands Gulf of Chania North Caucasus Greater Caucasus Kabardia European Russia Southern Russia Central Baltic Baltic Sea Alpine states Alpide belt Mitteleuropa Visegrád Group West Benelux Low Countries Northwest British Isles English Channel Channel Islands Cotentin Peninsula Normandy Brittany Gulf of Lion Iberia Al - Andalus Baetic System Pyrenees Alpide belt South Italian Peninsula Insular Italy Tuscan Archipelago Aegadian Islands Iberia Al - Andalus Baetic System Gibraltar Arc Southeastern Mediterranean Crimea Alpide belt Germanic Celtic Slavic countries Uralic European Plain Eurasian Steppe Pontic -- Caspian steppe Wild Fields Pannonian Basin Great Hungarian Plain Little Hungarian Plain Eastern Slovak Lowland Regions of Oceania Australasia Gulf of Carpentaria New Guinea Bonis Peninsula Papuan Peninsula Huon Peninsula Huon Gulf Bird 's Head Peninsula Gazelle Peninsula New Zealand South Island North Island Coromandel Peninsula Zealandia New Caledonia Solomon Islands ( archipelago ) Vanuatu Kula Gulf Australia Capital Country Eastern Australia Lake Eyre basin Murray -- Darling basin Northern Australia Nullarbor Plain Outback Southern Australia Maralinga Sunraysia Great Victoria Desert Gulf of Carpentaria Gulf St Vincent Lefevre Peninsula Fleurieu Peninsula Yorke Peninsula Eyre Peninsula Mornington Peninsula Bellarine Peninsula Mount Henry Peninsula Melanesia Islands Region Bismarck Archipelago Solomon Islands Archipelago Fiji New Caledonia Papua New Guinea Vanuatu Micronesia Caroline Islands Federated States of Micronesia Palau Guam Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru Northern Mariana Islands Wake Island Polynesia Easter Island Hawaiian Islands Cook Islands French Polynesia Austral Islands Gambier Islands Marquesas Islands Society Islands Tuamotu Kermadec Islands Mangareva Islands Samoa Tokelau Tonga Tuvalu Ring of Fire Polar regions Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula East Antarctica West Antarctica Eklund Islands Ecozone Extreme points Islands Arctic Arctic Alaska British Arctic Territories Canadian Arctic Archipelago Finnmark Greenland Northern Canada Northwest Territories Nunavik Nunavut Russian Arctic Sakha Sápmi Yukon North American Arctic Earth 's oceans and seas Arctic Ocean Amundsen Gulf Barents Sea Beaufort Sea Chukchi Sea East Siberian Sea Greenland Sea Gulf of Boothia Kara Sea Laptev Sea Lincoln Sea Prince Gustav Adolf Sea Pechora Sea Queen Victoria Sea Wandel Sea White Sea Atlantic Ocean Adriatic Sea Aegean Sea Alboran Sea Archipelago Sea Argentine Sea Baffin Bay Balearic Sea Baltic Sea Bay of Biscay Bay of Bothnia Bay of Campeche Bay of Fundy Black Sea Bothnian Sea Caribbean Sea Celtic Sea English Channel Foxe Basin Greenland Sea Gulf of Bothnia Gulf of Finland Gulf of Lion Gulf of Guinea Gulf of Maine Gulf of Mexico Gulf of Saint Lawrence Gulf of Sidra Gulf of Venezuela Hudson Bay Ionian Sea Irish Sea Irminger Sea James Bay Labrador Sea Levantine Sea Libyan Sea Ligurian Sea Marmara Sea Mediterranean Sea Myrtoan Sea North Sea Norwegian Sea Sargasso Sea Sea of Åland Sea of Azov Sea of Crete Sea of the Hebrides Thracian Sea Tyrrhenian Sea Wadden Sea Indian Ocean Andaman Sea Arabian Sea Bali Sea Bay of Bengal Flores Sea Great Australian Bight Gulf of Aden Gulf of Aqaba Gulf of Khambhat Gulf of Kutch Gulf of Oman Gulf of Suez Java Sea Laccadive Sea Mozambique Channel Persian Gulf Red Sea Timor Sea Pacific Ocean Arafura Sea Banda Sea Bering Sea Bismarck Sea Bohai Sea Bohol Sea Camotes Sea Celebes Sea Ceram Sea Chilean Sea Coral Sea East China Sea Gulf of Alaska Gulf of Anadyr Gulf of California Gulf of Carpentaria Gulf of Fonseca Gulf of Panama Gulf of Thailand Gulf of Tonkin Halmahera Sea Koro Sea Mar de Grau Molucca Sea Moro Gulf Philippine Sea Salish Sea Savu Sea Sea of Japan Sea of Okhotsk Seto Inland Sea Shantar Sea Sibuyan Sea Solomon Sea South China Sea Sulu Sea Tasman Sea Visayan Sea Yellow Sea Southern Ocean Amundsen Sea Bellingshausen Sea Cooperation Sea Cosmonauts Sea Davis Sea D'Urville Sea King Haakon VII Sea Lazarev Sea Mawson Sea Riiser - Larsen Sea Ross Sea Scotia Sea Somov Sea Weddell Sea Landlocked seas Aral Sea Caspian Sea Dead Sea Salton Sea Book Category VIAF : 315526119 LCCN : sh85008606 GND : 4003217 - 6 SELIBR : 139940 NDL : 00560427 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Asia&oldid=815764699 '' Categories : Asia Continents Hidden categories : All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from August 2017 Webarchive template wayback links Pages using web citations with no URL Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages Wikipedia indefinitely move - protected pages Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles with hAudio microformats Articles including recorded pronunciations ( English ) All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November 2017 Articles with unsourced statements from October 2011 Articles with unsourced statements from April 2010 Articles to be expanded from June 2011 All articles to be expanded Articles using small message boxes Use dmy dates from October 2013 Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Talk View source Contents About Wikipedia Wikibooks Wikinews Wikiquote Wikivoyage Languages Acèh Адыгэбзэ Адыгабзэ Afrikaans Akan Alemannisch አማርኛ Ænglisc Aragonés ܐܪܡܝܐ Armãneashti Arpetan অসমীয়া Asturianu Avañe'ẽ Авар Aymar aru Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Bamanankan বাংলা Bahasa Banjar Bân - 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Question: how many countries are there in asian continent
Answer: 48