Asia is the largest and most populous continent on Earth. It covers about 44.6 million square kilometres — roughly 30% of the world's land — and is home to about 4.8 billion people, close to six in every ten people alive. It stretches from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea to the Pacific, and from the Arctic coast of Siberia to the islands of Indonesia south of the equator, taking in the world's highest point (Mount Everest, 8,849 m) and its lowest point on land (the shore of the Dead Sea, about 430 m below sea level).
The interactive map covers 49 countries, grouped into five regions: East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia (also called Southwest Asia or, with Iran, the Middle East). Click any country to open its profile, filter the map by region, or switch on a data overlay to compare population density, GDP per capita, climate, time zones, main languages or religions across the continent.
The 49 countries are the 47 UN member states that the UN geoscheme places in Asia, plus Palestine (a UN observer state) and Taiwan, which governs itself but is not a UN member. The regional groups also follow the UN scheme, with one point to watch: the UN puts Iran in Southern Asia, so it is counted in South Asia here, although it is very often treated as part of West Asia and the Middle East. Russia is not one of the 49. The UN classifies it as a European country, even though Siberia and the Russian Far East make up about three-quarters of its territory.
That explains why the totals in the map panel are lower than the figures for the continent as a whole. The 49 countries add up to 31,998,537 km² and about 4.83 billion people (UN estimates for 2025). The 44.6 million km² usually quoted for Asia also includes Asian Russia, about 13 million km² but only around 30 million people, as well as smaller pieces such as Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. In the other direction, countries that reach into Europe, such as Turkey and Kazakhstan, are counted here in full.
Within those borders the contrasts are enormous. Asia holds the world's two most populous countries, India and China, each with more than 1.4 billion people, and Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population. China is the largest country entirely in Asia, at about 9.6 million km², while the Maldives covers less than 300 km². Mongolia has about 2 people per km², Singapore more than 8,000. The continent was home to some of the earliest civilisations, in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Yellow River valley, and every major world religion began here. Its climates run from the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra to the deserts of Arabia and the Gobi and the high, cold Tibetan Plateau.
Beyond the country and regional pages, AsiaMap.net has reference pages that cut across borders. Use the capitals of Asia page to look up the capital of every country at once, or browse the major languages of Asia by family to see why related languages cluster together on the map. The religions of Asia page traces where each major religion began and where it is concentrated today. For natural geography, see the mountain ranges of Asia — the Himalayas, Karakoram, Tian Shan, and Caucasus — and the rivers of Asia, including the Yangtze, Mekong, Ganges, and Tigris-Euphrates that have shaped where people live for thousands of years.
Use the Asia distance calculator to find the distance and flight time between major Asian cities such as Tokyo to Singapore, Dubai to Delhi or Beijing to Bangkok. Settle debates with head-to-head country comparisons like India vs China and North Korea vs South Korea.
Browse complete rankings of all 49 Asian countries — by area, population, GDP per capita and more — or get quick answers to common questions about Asia, such as how many countries are in Asia, the largest country in Asia, and the richest country in Asia.
Every country page on AsiaMap.net, grouped into the five regions used on our maps. Each region heading links to its regional map.
Ready to check what you have learned? The Asia map quiz asks you to find all 49 countries on the map, and the Asia map game is a gentler drag-and-drop round of 10 countries at a time.