Study notes: Asia
Following Natural Earth, Russia is grouped with Europe in our data, and Egypt with Africa — keep that in mind when you practise by region.
Our data covers 49 countries in Asia. The largest by land area is China and the most populous is China.
Master the “-stans” as a block
Kazakhstan is the giant to the north. Below it sit Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan; Afghanistan and Pakistan lie further south. Uzbekistan is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world.
Split Southeast Asia in two
Mainland Southeast Asia runs Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam. Maritime Southeast Asia is the island world of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Timor-Leste.
Watch for planned capitals
Several capitals are not the largest city: Myanmar’s is Naypyidaw rather than Yangon, and Kazakhstan’s is Astana rather than Almaty. These are classic Pin Drop traps.
Keep going
Ready for a mixed challenge? Try today’s expedition, or practise Africa, Europe, North America, South America or Oceania.
Countries of Asia
Population estimates and capitals from Natural Earth; areas computed from its boundaries.
| Country | Capital | Population | Land area |
|---|---|---|---|
| AfghanistanBorders Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan +2 | Kabul | 38 million | 642,045 km² |
| ArmeniaBorders Turkey, Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan | Yerevan | 2.96 million | 29,558 km² |
| AzerbaijanBorders Turkey, Russia, Iran, Georgia +1 | Baku | 10 million | 86,403 km² |
| Bahrain | Manama | 1.64 million | 541 km² |
| BangladeshBorders India, Myanmar | Dhaka | 163 million | 135,650 km² |
| BhutanBorders India, China | Thimphu | 763,092 | 39,877 km² |
| BruneiBorders Malaysia | Bandar Seri Begawan | 433,285 | 5,672 km² |
| CambodiaBorders Vietnam, Thailand, Laos | Phnom Penh | 16.5 million | 181,363 km² |
| ChinaBorders Vietnam, Tajikistan, Russia, Pakistan +10 | Beijing | 1.40 billion | 9,371,233 km² |
| Cyprus | Nicosia | 1.2 million | 5,708 km² |
| GeorgiaBorders Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia | Tbilisi | 3.72 million | 69,305 km² |
| IndiaBorders Pakistan, Nepal, China, Myanmar +2 | New Delhi | 1.37 billion | 3,155,817 km² |
| IndonesiaBorders Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia | Jakarta | 270.6 million | 1,872,165 km² |
| IranBorders Turkmenistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq +3 | Tehran | 82.9 million | 1,622,833 km² |
| IraqBorders Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait +2 | Baghdad | 39.3 million | 437,451 km² |
| IsraelBorders Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine +1 | Jerusalem* | 9.05 million | 22,051 km² |
| Japan | Tokyo | 126.3 million | 370,098 km² |
| JordanBorders Syria, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Palestine +1 | Amman | 10.1 million | 88,860 km² |
| KazakhstanBorders Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan +1 | Nur-Sultan | 18.5 million | 2,712,784 km² |
| KuwaitBorders Saudi Arabia, Iraq | Kuwait City | 4.21 million | 17,330 km² |
| KyrgyzstanBorders Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, China | Bishkek | 6.46 million | 198,651 km² |
| LaosBorders Vietnam, Thailand, China, Cambodia +1 | Vientiane | 7.17 million | 228,947 km² |
| LebanonBorders Syria, Israel | Beirut | 6.86 million | 10,012 km² |
| MalaysiaBorders Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei | Kuala Lumpur | 31.9 million | 327,645 km² |
| Maldives | Malé | 530,953 | 66 km² |
| MongoliaBorders Russia, China | Ulaanbaatar | 3.23 million | 1,560,400 km² |
| MyanmarBorders Thailand, Laos, India, China +1 | Yangon | 54 million | 662,765 km² |
| NepalBorders India, China | Kathmandu | 28.6 million | 147,195 km² |
| North KoreaBorders South Korea, Russia, China | Pyongyang | 25.7 million | 122,494 km² |
| OmanBorders Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia | Muscat | 4.97 million | 312,071 km² |
| PakistanBorders Iran, India, China, Afghanistan | Islamabad | 216.6 million | 873,780 km² |
| PalestineBorders Jordan, Israel, Egypt | Ramallah* | 4.69 million | 6,333 km² |
| Philippines | Manila | 108.1 million | 290,305 km² |
| QatarBorders Saudi Arabia | Doha | 2.83 million | 11,074 km² |
| Saudi ArabiaBorders Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman +3 | Riyadh | 34.3 million | 1,925,845 km² |
| Singapore | Singapore | 5.7 million | 485 km² |
| South KoreaBorders North Korea | Seoul | 51.7 million | 97,154 km² |
| Sri Lanka | Colombo | 21.8 million | 66,043 km² |
| SyriaBorders Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel +1 | Damascus | 17.1 million | 185,971 km² |
| Taiwan | Taipei | 23.6 million | 35,998 km² |
| TajikistanBorders Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Afghanistan | Dushanbe | 9.32 million | 142,293 km² |
| ThailandBorders Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar | Bangkok | 69.6 million | 515,730 km² |
| Timor-LesteBorders Indonesia | Dili | 1.29 million | 15,021 km² |
| TurkeyBorders Syria, Iraq, Iran, Greece +4 | Ankara | 83.4 million | 779,822 km² |
| TurkmenistanBorders Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Afghanistan | Ashgabat | 5.94 million | 470,629 km² |
| United Arab EmiratesBorders Saudi Arabia, Oman | Abu Dhabi | 9.77 million | 71,279 km² |
| UzbekistanBorders Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan +1 | Tashkent | 33.6 million | 447,367 km² |
| VietnamBorders Laos, China, Cambodia | Hanoi | 96.5 million | 328,939 km² |
| YemenBorders Saudi Arabia, Oman | Sanaa | 29.2 million | 454,136 km² |
- * Israel: Jerusalem is the seat of government; its status as capital is not recognised by most countries.
- * Palestine: Ramallah is the administrative seat; East Jerusalem is the proclaimed capital.