Demographics of Asia

The continent of Asia covers 29.4% of the Earth's land area and has a population of around 4.5 billion (as of 2015), accounting for about 60% of the world population. The combined population of both China and India are estimated to be over 2.7 billion people as of 2015. Asian population is projected to grow to 5.26 billion by 2050, or about 54% of projected world population at that time.[1] Population growth in Asia was close to 1.2% p.a. as of 2015, with highly disparate rates, many West Asian countries showing growth rates above 2% p.a., and notably Pakistan at 2.4% p.a., offset by a growth rate below 0.5% p.a. in China.

Graph showing population by continent as a percentage of world population (1750 - 2005)
Map of countries by population density

Population

History

Population of Asia, 1–1820 A.D. (million)

Source: Maddison et al.[2]

Year[2] 1 1000 1500 1600 1700 1820
China 59.6 59.0 103.0 160.0 138.0 381.0
India 75.0 75.0 110.0 135.0 165.0 209.0
Japan 3.0 7.5 15.4 18.5 27.0 31.0
Korea 1.6 3.9 8.0 10.0 12.2 13.8
Indonesia 2.8 5.2 10.7 11.7 13.1 17.9
Indochina 1.1 2.2 4.5 5.0 5.9 8.9
Other East Asia 5.9 9.8 14.4 16.9 19.8 23.6
Iran 4.0 4.5 4.0 5.0 5.0 6.6
Turkey 6.1 7.3 6.3 7.9 8.4 10.1
Other West Asia 15.1 8.5 7.5 8.5 7.4 8.5
Total Asia 174.2 182.9 283.8 378.5 401.8 710.4

Shares of World Population, Asia, 1–1998 A.D. (per cent of world total)

Source: Maddison et al.[2]

Year[2] 1 1000 1500 1600 1700 1820 1870 1913 1950 1973 1998
Japan 1.3 2.8 3.5 3.3 4.5 3.0 2.7 2.9 3.3 2.8 2.1
China 25.8 22.0 23.5 28.8 22.9 36.6 28.2 24.4 21.7 22.5 21.0
India 32.5 28.0 25.1 24.3 27.3 20.1 19.9 17.0 14.2 14.8 16.5
Other Asia 15.9 15.4 12.7 11.7 11.9 8.6 9.4 10.3 15.5 17.3 19.8
Total Asia (excluding Japan) 74.2 65.4 61.3 64.8 62.1 65.3 57.5 51.7 51.4 54.7 57.4
World 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Economy

Economically, most of Asia is traditionally considered part of the Second World, with the significant exception of the industrialized First World countries of Israel, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Asian countries in the G-20 major economies include China, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Of these, Japan is also in the G8, and additionally China and India in the G8+5.

The Human Development Index of Asian countries range from Low to Very High category. The table below shows the 10 highest and lowest countries according to their Human Development Index scores based on the 2019 report.[3]

Ethnicities

References

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