Maps
Mapped: Asia’s Population Patterns by Density
See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.
A Map of Asia’s Population Patterns by Density
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Nearly 60% of the world’s 8 billion population lives in Asia: a vast continent sprawling over 44 million km², home to sprawling megacities, high-altitude deserts, the world’s biggest plateau, and impenetrable rainforests.
We visualize Asia’s population patterns using data from WorldPop—a research group based out of the University of Southampton that tracks population growth and movement across the globe.
A spike on the map denotes higher population density.
Other figures in this article are sourced from World Population Review (population numbers) and the World Bank (area).
Ranked: Asia’s Countries By Population
Immediately the map visualizes at impressive scale a rather well-known fact: that India and China together account for 35% of the world’s population just by themselves.
Pakistan (ranked 4th in population) and Bangladesh (ranked 5th) together account for another 400 million people.
The role of the Himalayas in this distribution is understated: the mountain range is a source of ten major rivers, flowing to India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and China, providing fresh water to 1.3 billion people in its watershed.
Rank | Country | Population | Area |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 🇮🇳 India | 1,437,982,661 | 3,287,260 km² |
2 | 🇨🇳 China | 1,425,317,720 | 9,562,910 km² |
3 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 279,119,626 | 1,916,907 km² |
4 | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | 243,772,596 | 796,100 km² |
5 | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | 174,173,808 | 147,570 km² |
6 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 144,101,449 | 17,098,250 km² |
7 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 122,833,540 | 377,974 km² |
8 | 🇵🇭 Philippines | 119,106,224 | 300,000 km² |
9 | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | 99,308,524 | 331,340 km² |
10 | 🇮🇷 Iran | 89,626,661 | 1,745,150 km² |
11 | 🇹🇷 Turkey | 86,127,389 | 785,350 km² |
12 | 🇹🇭 Thailand | 71,863,281 | 513,120 km² |
13 | 🇲🇲 Myanmar | 54,849,472 | 676,590 km² |
14 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 51,756,284 | 100,430 km² |
15 | 🇮🇶 Iraq | 46,225,266 | 435,050 km² |
16 | 🇦🇫 Afghanistan | 43,026,322 | 652,860 km² |
17 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 37,473,929 | 2,149,690 km² |
18 | 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan | 35,522,965 | 448,924 km² |
19 | 🇾🇪 Yemen | 34,982,136 | 555,000 km² |
20 | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | 34,562,556 | 330,411 km² |
21 | 🇳🇵 Nepal | 31,136,781 | 147,180 km² |
22 | 🇰🇵 North Korea | 26,220,850 | 120,540 km² |
23 | 🇸🇾 Syria | 24,010,759 | 185,180 km² |
24 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | 23,942,522 | 36,197 km² |
25 | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | 21,933,155 | 65,610 km² |
26 | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | 19,764,158 | 2,724,900 km² |
27 | 🇰🇭 Cambodia | 17,071,236 | 181,040 km² |
28 | 🇯🇴 Jordan | 11,368,898 | 89,318 km² |
29 | 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan | 10,448,636 | 86,600 km² |
30 | 🇹🇯 Tajikistan | 10,277,238 | 141,379 km² |
31 | 🇦🇪 UAE | 9,569,300 | 98,648 km² |
32 | 🇮🇱 Israel | 9,272,228 | 22,070 km² |
33 | 🇱🇦 Laos | 7,736,681 | 236,800 km² |
34 | 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan | 6,807,948 | 199,950 km² |
35 | 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan | 6,573,631 | 488,100 km² |
36 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | 6,119,203 | 728 km² |
37 | 🇵🇸 Palestine | 5,494,963 | 6,025 km² |
38 | 🇱🇧 Lebanon | 5,257,501 | 10,450 km² |
39 | 🇴🇲 Oman | 4,692,824 | 309,500 km² |
40 | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | 4,337,703 | 17,820 km² |
41 | 🇬🇪 Georgia | 3,720,477 | 69,700 km² |
42 | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | 3,480,040 | 1,564,116 km² |
43 | 🇦🇲 Armenia | 2,777,979 | 29,743 km² |
44 | 🇶🇦 Qatar | 2,730,864 | 11,490 km² |
45 | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | 1,494,745 | 790 km² |
46 | 🇹🇱 Timor-Leste | 1,374,025 | 14,870 km² |
47 | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | 1,260,138 | 9,250 km² |
48 | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | 790,918 | 38,390 km² |
49 | 🇲🇻 Maldives | 518,765 | 300 km² |
50 | 🇧🇳 Brunei | 454,869 | 5,770 km² |
Note: Russia and Georgia are typically regarded as European countries for cultural reasons, despite their geographic locations. They have been included in the dataset for context only.
Other countries that are covered by red: Indonesia (ranked 4th in population), Japan (ranked 7th), and the Philippines (8th), are all some of Asia’s most populous countries.
They also have some of the world’s densest cities:
- Manila: 42,857 people/km²
- Mumbai: 28,195 people/km²
- Karachi: 24,000 people/km²
- Jakarta: 14,464 people/km²
Tokyo and Beijing—despite being some of the world’s largest cities by population—record lower densities in comparison, helped by their much larger administrative areas.
But when sorted by average population density across the entire country, the ranks look a little bit different.
Ranked: Asia’s Countries By Population Density
The city state of Singapore is the densest country in Asia, with more than 8,000 people/km². Far behind it, the similarly sized in area Bahrain has one-sixth the population and ranks second (1,892/km²) in Asia’s densest countries.
Rank | Country | Population Density |
---|---|---|
1 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | 8,405 people/km2 |
2 | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | 1,892 people/km2 |
3 | 🇲🇻 Maldives | 1,729 people/km2 |
4 | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | 1,180 people/km2 |
5 | 🇵🇸 Palestine | 912 people/km2 |
6 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | 661 people/km2 |
7 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 515 people/km2 |
8 | 🇱🇧 Lebanon | 503 people/km2 |
9 | 🇮🇳 India | 437 people/km2 |
10 | 🇮🇱 Israel | 420 people/km2 |
11 | 🇵🇭 Philippines | 397 people/km2 |
12 | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | 334 people/km2 |
13 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 325 people/km2 |
14 | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | 306 people/km2 |
15 | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | 300 people/km2 |
16 | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | 243 people/km2 |
17 | 🇶🇦 Qatar | 238 people/km2 |
18 | 🇰🇵 North Korea | 218 people/km2 |
19 | 🇳🇵 Nepal | 212 people/km2 |
20 | 🇨🇳 China | 149 people/km2 |
21 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 146 people/km2 |
22 | 🇹🇭 Thailand | 140 people/km2 |
23 | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | 136 people/km2 |
24 | 🇸🇾 Syria | 130 people/km2 |
25 | 🇯🇴 Jordan | 127 people/km2 |
26 | 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan | 120 people/km2 |
27 | 🇹🇷 Turkey | 110 people/km2 |
28 | 🇮🇶 Iraq | 106 people/km2 |
29 | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | 105 people/km2 |
30 | 🇦🇪 UAE | 97 people/km2 |
31 | 🇦🇲 Armenia | 94 people/km2 |
32 | 🇰🇭 Cambodia | 94 people/km2 |
33 | 🇹🇱 Timor-Leste | 92 people/km2 |
34 | 🇲🇲 Myanmar | 81 people/km2 |
35 | 🇧🇳 Brunei | 79 people/km2 |
36 | 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan | 79 people/km2 |
37 | 🇹🇯 Tajikistan | 73 people/km2 |
38 | 🇦🇫 Afghanistan | 66 people/km2 |
39 | 🇾🇪 Yemen | 63 people/km2 |
40 | 🇬🇪 Georgia | 54 people/km2 |
41 | 🇮🇷 Iran | 51 people/km2 |
42 | 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan | 34 people/km2 |
43 | 🇱🇦 Laos | 33 people/km2 |
44 | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | 21 people/km2 |
45 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 17 people/km2 |
46 | 🇴🇲 Oman | 15 people/km2 |
47 | 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan | 13 people/km2 |
48 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 8 people/km2 |
49 | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | 7 people/km2 |
50 | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | 2 people/km2 |
Note: Russia and Georgia are typically regarded as European countries for cultural reasons, despite their geographic locations. They have been included in the dataset for context only.
Bangladesh, with 1,180 people/km², has the rare distinction of being a top five Asian country by both population and average population density.
Meanwhile, India is 9th in population density (437 people/km²), its large landmass bringing down the average considerably.
Similarly, China nearly breaks into the top 20 with a population density of 149 people/km². Despite its vast population, the country’s immense size presents a challenge, particularly in its western regions, which are largely inhospitable to substantial human settlement due to the presence of mountains, the Tibetan plateau, and two deserts.
At the bottom of the rankings, Mongolia (2 people/km²) and Kazakhstan (7 people/km²) are some of the least dense countries in the world.
Economy
Mapped: Southeast Asia’s GDP Per Capita, by Country
Indonesia, the region’s largest economy, makes the top five in this map exploring Southeast Asia’s GDP per capita levels.
Mapped: Southeast Asia’s GDP Per Capita, by Country
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
In 1937, as America navigated the Great Depression, Russian-born economist Simon Kuznets presented a novel idea on measuring a country’s economy. And thus, gross domestic product (GDP) was born.
Nearly eight decades later, measuring GDP, and GDP per capita—which helps make data comparable between populations—has become a benchmark statistic to compare and contrast countries’ economies and productivity.
In this map, we compare Southeast Asia’s GDP per capita levels. Data is in current U.S. dollars, sourced from the International Monetary Fund’s DataMapper tool, last updated April 2024.
Ranked: Southeast Asian Countries by GDP Per Capita
Singapore stands head-and-shoulders above the rest of the region with a per capita GDP past $88,000. It is also, incidentally, one of the richest nations in the world by this metric.
The 734 km² country has only 5.6 million residents and very few natural resources. However the country’s strategic location makes it a center for trade and commerce.
Country | GDP Per Capita |
---|---|
🇸🇬 Singapore | $88,450 |
🇧🇳 Brunei | $35,110 |
🇲🇾 Malaysia | $13,310 |
🇹🇭 Thailand | $7,810 |
🇮🇩 Indonesia | $5,270 |
🇻🇳 Vietnam | $4,620 |
🇵🇭 Philippines | $4,130 |
🇰🇭 Cambodia | $2,630 |
🇱🇦 Laos | $1,980 |
🇹🇱 Timor-Leste | $1,450 |
🇲🇲 Myanmar | $1,250 |
Note: Figures are rounded.
This is in sharp contrast to Brunei, Southeast Asia’s next richest country, with a per capita GDP of $35,110.
Oil is a critical part of Brunei’s economy, making it both very wealthy, but landing it in a vulnerable, resource-dependent position. Oil and gas revenues contribute half the country’s entire revenue receipts.
Two countries known for their large tourism sectors, Malaysia and Thailand rank third and fourth, at $13,310 and $7,810 respectively.
Finally, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, and the world’s fourth-most populous country Indonesia, rounds out the top five with a GDP per capita of $5,270.
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