India's total population reached nearly 1.43 billion people as of 2023, making the country by far the most populous throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Contrastingly, Micronesia had a total population of around 115 thousand people in the same year. The demographics of APAC Asia-Pacific, made up of many different countries and regions, is the most populated region across the globe. Being home to a significant number of megacities, and with the population ever-increasing, the region is unsurprisingly expected to have the largest urban population by 2050. However, as of 2021, the majority of Asia-Pacific countries had rural populations greater than 50 percent.  Population densities Despite China being the most populated country across the region, it fell in the middle of Asia-Pacific regions in terms of population density. On the other hand, Macao, Singapore, and Hong Kong all had the highest population densities across the Asia-Pacific region. These three Asia-Pacific regions also ranked among the top four densest populations worldwide.   

In 2022, India overtook China as the world's most populous country and now has almost 1.46 billion people. China now has the second-largest population in the world, still with just over 1.4 billion inhabitants, however, its population went into decline in 2023. Global population As of 2025, the world's population stands at almost 8.2 billion people and is expected to reach around 10.3 billion people in the 2080s, when it will then go into decline. Due to improved healthcare, sanitation, and general living conditions, the global population continues to increase; mortality rates (particularly among infants and children) are decreasing and the median age of the world population has steadily increased for decades. As for the average life expectancy in industrial and developing countries, the gap has narrowed significantly since the mid-20th century. Asia is the most populous continent on Earth; 11 of the 20 largest countries are located there. It leads the ranking of the global population by continent by far, reporting four times as many inhabitants as Africa. The Demographic Transition The population explosion over the past two centuries is part of a phenomenon known as the demographic transition. Simply put, this transition results from a drastic reduction in mortality, which then leads to a reduction in fertility, and increase in life expectancy; this interim period where death rates are low and birth rates are high is where this population explosion occurs, and population growth can remain high as the population ages. In today's most-developed countries, the transition generally began with industrialization in the 1800s, and growth has now stabilized as birth and mortality rates have re-balanced. Across less-developed countries, the stage of this transition varies; for example, China is at a later stage than India, which accounts for the change in which country is more populous - understanding the demographic transition can help understand the reason why China's population is now going into decline. The least-developed region is Sub-Saharan Africa, where fertility rates remain close to pre-industrial levels in some countries. As these countries transition, they will undergo significant rates of population growth

In 2022, the total population of all ASEAN states amounted to an estimated 673.02 million inhabitants. The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

ASEAN opportunity

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was founded by five states (Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore) in 1967 to improve economic and political stability and social progress among the member states. It was originally modelled after the European Union. Nowadays, after accepting more members, their agenda also includes an improvement of cultural and environmental conditions. ASEAN is now an important player on the global stage with numerous alliances and business partners, as well as more contenders wanting to join.

The major player in the South

Indonesia is not only a founding member of ASEAN, it is also its biggest contributor in terms of gross domestic product and is also one of the member states with a positive trade balance. In addition, it has the highest number of inhabitants by far. About a third of all people in the ASEAN live in Indonesia – and it is also one of the most populous countries worldwide. Among the ASEAN members, it is certainly the most powerful one, not just in numbers, but mostly due to its stable and thriving economy.

In 2023, there were around 8,129 inhabitants per square kilometer living in Singapore. In comparison, there were approximately two inhabitants per square kilometer living in Mongolia that year.

Chart and table of Asia population from 1950 to 2025. United Nations projections are also included through the year 2100.

In 2023, the mid-year population of Indonesia stood at more than 278 million people. Comparatively, the population of Timor-Leste stood at approximately 1.4 million people, while that of Brunei was at about half a million as of mid-2023.

This dataset provides values for UNEMPLOYMENT RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

This dataset provides values for GDP PER CAPITA reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

In 2023, approximately 86 percent of the population in Papua New Guinea were living in rural areas. In comparison, approximately eight percent of the population in Japan were living in rural areas that year. Urbanization and development Despite the desirable outcomes that urbanization entails, these rapid demographic shifts have also brought about unintended changes. For instance, in countries like India, rapid urbanization has led to unsustainable and crowded cities, with half of the urban population in India estimated to live in slums. In China, population shifts from rural to urban areas have aggravated regional economic disparities. For example, the migration of workers into coastal cities has made possible the creation of urban clusters of immense economic magnitude, with the Yangtze River Delta city cluster accounting for about a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product. Megacities and their future Home to roughly 60 percent of the world’s population, the Asia-Pacific region also shelters most of the globe’s largest urban agglomerations. Megacities, a term used for cities or urban areas with a population of over ten million people, are characterized by high cultural diversity and advanced infrastructure. As a result, they create better economic opportunities, and they are often hubs of innovation. For instance, many megacities in the Asia-Pacific region offer high local purchasing power to their residents. Despite challenges like pollution, income inequality, or the rising cost of living, megacities in the Asia-Pacific region have relatively high population growth rates and are expected to expand.

In the middle of 2023, about 60 percent of the global population was living in Asia.The total world population amounted to 8.1 billion people on the planet. In other words 4.7 billion people were living in Asia as of 2023. Global populationDue to medical advances, better living conditions and the increase of agricultural productivity, the world population increased rapidly over the past century, and is expected to continue to grow. After reaching eight billion in 2023, the global population is estimated to pass 10 billion by 2060. Africa expected to drive population increase Most of the future population increase is expected to happen in Africa. The countries with the highest population growth rate in 2024 were mostly African countries. While around 1.47 billion people live on the continent as of 2024, this is forecast to grow to 3.9 billion by 2100. This is underlined by the fact that most of the countries wit the highest population growth rate are found in Africa. The growing population, in combination with climate change, puts increasing pressure on the world's resources.

As of February 2025, India was the country with the largest offline population worldwide. The South Asian country had over 651 million people without internet connection. China ranked second, with around 311.9 million people not connected to the internet. Despite these large shares of the disconnected population in these countries, China and India ranked first and second, respectively, as countries with the highest number of internet users worldwide. Internet access in Africa In 2023, Africa lagged behind other global regions regarding internet penetration rate, as only 37 percent of the continent’s population accessed the web. In contrast, around 91 percent of Europe’s population were internet users. This is heavily influenced by the infrastructure development in the region. However, some improvements are forecasted, as by 2028, the internet penetration rate in Africa will be at an estimated 48.15 percent. Global internet access challenges: disruptions and restrictions Government internet shutdowns around the world are another challenge for internet access. Between 2015 and the first half of 2023, 172 local internet connection disruptions occurred due to protests globally. Moreover, according to a 2023report on internet freedom, almost four out of ten global internet users were deprived of essential freedoms on online platforms. In 2023, 76 new restrictions on internet usage were implemented worldwide. Asia led in imposing these restrictions, accounting for approximately 55 cases across various countries in the region.

There are approximately 8.16 billion people living in the world today, a figure that shows a dramatic increase since the beginning of the Common Era. Since the 1970s, the global population has also more than doubled in size. It is estimated that the world's population will reach and surpass 10 billion people by 2060 and plateau at around 10.3 billion in the 2080s, before it then begins to fall. Asia When it comes to number of inhabitants per continent, Asia is the most populous continent in the world by a significant margin, with roughly 60 percent of the world's population living there. Similar to other global regions, a quarter of inhabitants in Asia are under 15 years of age. The most populous nations in the world are India and China respectively; each inhabit more than three times the amount of people than the third-ranked United States. 10 of the 20 most populous countries in the world are found in Asia. Africa Interestingly, the top 20 countries with highest population growth rate are mainly countries in Africa. This is due to the present stage of Sub-Saharan Africa's demographic transition, where mortality rates are falling significantly, although fertility rates are yet to drop and match this. As much of Asia is nearing the end of its demographic transition, population growth is predicted to be much slower in this century than in the previous; in contrast, Africa's population is expected to reach almost four billion by the year 2100. Unlike demographic transitions in other continents, Africa's population development is being influenced by climate change on a scale unseen by most other global regions. Rising temperatures are exacerbating challenges such as poor sanitation, lack of infrastructure, and political instability, which have historically hindered societal progress. It remains to be seen how Africa and the world at large adapts to this crisis as it continues to cause drought, desertification, natural disasters, and climate migration across the region.

Urban population (% of total population) in South Asia was reported at 36.33 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. South Asia - Urban population (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on March of 2025.

In 2023, the median age of the population in Thailand was 39.7 years, which was the oldest median age across Southeast Asia. Comparatively, the median age of Timor-Leste's population was 21 years in 2023.

Poverty headcount ratio at $5.50 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $5.50 a day at 2011 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

description: This data set updates and expands the NOAA Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN) of quality controlled meteorological records, focusing on the Northern Tien Shan and Pamir Mountain Ranges of Central Asia. It is compiled primarily from meteorological measurements conducted by the National Hydrometeorological Services (NHMS) of the Central Asian countries. Precipitation data are monthly sums bias corrected for gauge type and for wetting, but not for wind. The correction factors, K1 for gauge type, K2 for wind, and K3 for wetting, are included as separate files. Temperature data are monthly means, for example, the mean of daily temperatures for that month, where daily temperature is defined as the average of all observations for each calendar day. For many stations, average maximum and average minimum temperature are supplied as well. These are derived from daily maximum and minimum temperatures. The station metadata for this data set are station histories, population, vegetation, and topography. Data were subjected to rigorous quality control and homogenieity assessment procedures, consistent with those used for the GHCN.There are records from 298 stations. The period of record covered by each station is variable, and in the period from 1985 to 1995, there was a sharp reduction in the number of operating stations. The earliest record is from 1879. Records are updated through 2003 where data are available. Most stations have almost 100 years of observations. Records are from stations in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.The data are stored as tab-delimited ASCII text format, Microsoft Excel, and PDF, and are availabe via FTP.; abstract: This data set updates and expands the NOAA Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN) of quality controlled meteorological records, focusing on the Northern Tien Shan and Pamir Mountain Ranges of Central Asia. It is compiled primarily from meteorological measurements conducted by the National Hydrometeorological Services (NHMS) of the Central Asian countries. Precipitation data are monthly sums bias corrected for gauge type and for wetting, but not for wind. The correction factors, K1 for gauge type, K2 for wind, and K3 for wetting, are included as separate files. Temperature data are monthly means, for example, the mean of daily temperatures for that month, where daily temperature is defined as the average of all observations for each calendar day. For many stations, average maximum and average minimum temperature are supplied as well. These are derived from daily maximum and minimum temperatures. The station metadata for this data set are station histories, population, vegetation, and topography. Data were subjected to rigorous quality control and homogenieity assessment procedures, consistent with those used for the GHCN.There are records from 298 stations. The period of record covered by each station is variable, and in the period from 1985 to 1995, there was a sharp reduction in the number of operating stations. The earliest record is from 1879. Records are updated through 2003 where data are available. Most stations have almost 100 years of observations. Records are from stations in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.The data are stored as tab-delimited ASCII text format, Microsoft Excel, and PDF, and are availabe via FTP.

Japan’s largest city, greater Tokyo, had a staggering 37.27 million inhabitants in 2022, making it the most populous city across the Asia-Pacific region. India had the second largest city after Japan with a population consisting of approximately 32 million inhabitants. Contrastingly, approximately 400 thousand inhabitants populated Papua New Guinea's largest city in 2022.

A megacity region Not only did Japan and India have the largest cities throughout the Asia-Pacific region but they were among the three most populated cities worldwide in 2023. Interestingly, over half on the world’s megacities were situated in the Asia-Pacific region. However, being home to more than half of the world’s population, it does not seem surprising that by 2025 it is expected that more than two thirds of the megacities across the globe will be located in the Asia Pacific region. Other megacities are also expected to emerge within the Asia-Pacific region throughout the next decade. There have even been suggestions that Indonesia’s Jakarta and its conurbation will overtake Greater Tokyo in terms of population size by 2030.

Increasing populations Increased populations in megacities can be down to increased economic activity. As more countries across the Asia-Pacific region have made the transition from agriculture to industry, the population has adjusted accordingly. Thus, more regions have experienced higher shares of urban populations. However, as many cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul have an aging population, this may have an impact on their future population sizes, with these Asian regions estimated to have significant shares of the population being over 65 years old by 2035.

This statistic shows the 20 countries with the highest population growth rate in 2024. In SouthSudan, the population grew by about 4.65 percent compared to the previous year, making it the country with the highest population growth rate in 2024. The global population Today, the global population amounts to around 7 billion people, i.e. the total number of living humans on Earth. More than half of the global population is living in Asia, while one quarter of the global population resides in Africa. High fertility rates in Africa and Asia, a decline in the mortality rates and an increase in the median age of the world population all contribute to the global population growth. Statistics show that the global population is subject to increase by almost 4 billion people by 2100. The global population growth is a direct result of people living longer because of better living conditions and a healthier nutrition. Three out of five of the most populous countries in the world are located in Asia. Ultimately the highest population growth rate is also found there, the country with the highest population growth rate is Syria. This could be due to a low infant mortality rate in Syria or the ever -expanding tourism sector.

Plasmodium vivax is the geographically most widespread human malaria parasite. To analyze patterns of microsatellite diversity and population structure across countries of different transmission intensity, genotyping data from 11 microsatellite markers was either generated or compiled from 841 isolates from four continents collected in 1999–2008. Diversity was highest in South-East Asia (mean allelic richness 10.0–12.8), intermediate in the South Pacific (8.1–9.9) Madagascar and Sudan (7.9–8.4), and lowest in South America and Central Asia (5.5–7.2). A reduced panel of only 3 markers was sufficient to identify approx. 90% of all haplotypes in South Pacific, African and SE-Asian populations, but only 60–80% in Latin American populations, suggesting that typing of 2–6 markers, depending on the level of endemicity, is sufficient for epidemiological studies. Clustering analysis showed distinct clusters in Peru and Brazil, but little sub-structuring was observed within Africa, SE-Asia or the South Pacific. Isolates from Uzbekistan were exceptional, as a near-clonal parasite population was observed that was clearly separated from all other populations (FST>0.2). Outside Central Asia FST values were highest (0.11–0.16) between South American and all other populations, and lowest (0.04–0.07) between populations from South-East Asia and the South Pacific. These comparisons between P. vivax populations from four continents indicated that not only transmission intensity, but also geographical isolation affect diversity and population structure. However, the high effective population size results in slow changes of these parameters. This persistency must be taken into account when assessing the impact of control programs on the genetic structure of parasite populations.

Across Asia, Malaysia had the highest internet adoption rate at around 97.7 percent, followed by South Korea. Worldwide, more than 65 percent of the population is using the internet. Compared to the rest of the world, internet penetration in Asia was still lower than the global average in the past few years. Southeast Asia is leading the way Southeast Asia had the highest internet penetration rates. In China, the internet penetration amounted to only around 78 percent. Nevertheless, in terms of head count, the country has the most internet users in the region with about 991 million. Among the ASEAN states, Indonesia and the Philippines had the biggest internet populations. Countries lagging behind South Asian countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan had low internet penetration rates, mainly due to high internet fees for fixed broadband and mobile networks in these countries. The low literacy rates were also a contributing factor.