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[update]), 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[update]. 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[update], 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.
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 |
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 |
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]
10 highest HDIs
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10 lowest HDIs
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