Asia is the largest continent on Earth by both land area and population. It is home to 49 countries and roughly 4.7 billion people — more than half of everyone alive today. From the tropical jungles of Indonesia to the frozen tundra of Siberia, from the world's tallest mountains to the world's most densely packed mega-cities, Asia contains more variety than any other single region of the planet.
How Asia is usually divided
Geographers usually split Asia into six sub-regions. East Asia includes China, Japan, Korea and Mongolia. South Asia includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. South-East Asia covers Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and their neighbours. Central Asia is the band of countries ending in '-stan' — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and so on. Western Asia covers the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Israel and Türkiye. North Asia is the vast Siberian portion of Russia. Splitting the continent up this way makes its 49 countries far less intimidating to learn.
Mountains, deserts and great rivers
Asia contains the highest point on Earth — Mount Everest, at 8,849 metres on the Nepal–China border — and the lowest point on dry land — the shore of the Dead Sea, around 430 metres below sea level. The Himalayas form a wall of giant peaks separating the Indian subcontinent from the rest of the continent. To the north sits the Gobi Desert, one of the world's largest cold deserts, and beyond it the endless Siberian plain. Asia's great rivers — the Yangtze, the Mekong, the Ganges, the Indus, the Tigris and the Euphrates — have shaped human civilisation for thousands of years.
Cultures, religions and languages
Asia is the birthplace of every major world religion: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism all began here. It is also linguistically the most diverse continent on Earth, with thousands of languages spoken across its enormous landmass. Mandarin Chinese has the largest number of native speakers of any language in the world, and Hindi, Bengali, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Arabic each have hundreds of millions of speakers. For children, this makes Asia an endlessly fascinating place to explore.
What you'll find in this region
Here you'll find country facts for every Asian nation, an interactive map of Asia, a guide to the great deserts of Asia, and quizzes covering countries, capitals, flags and major landmarks like the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal. The Asian flag quiz is a particularly satisfying challenge — the flags of Asia are some of the most distinctive in the world.