|
******************
| |
|
Asia is the largest
and most populous continent or region, depending on the definition. It
covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area, or 29.4% of its land area,
and it contains more than 60% of the world's human population. Asia
is traditionally defined as part of the landmass of Africa-Eurasia – with
the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe – lying east of the
Suez Canal, east of the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains
and the Caspian and Black Seas. |
In terms of gross domestic
product (PPP), the largest national economy within Asia is that of the
People's Republic of China. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies
of China and India have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual
growth rate of more than 7%. China has the world's second-largest economy
after the United States, followed by Japan and India.
However, in terms of exchange rates (nominal GDP), Japan has the largest
economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after
surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1986 and
Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such
as the EU, NAFTA or APEC). Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the
1990s had been concentrated in few countries of the Pacific Rim, and has
spread more recently to other regions.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's economy was almost as large as
that of the rest of the continent combined. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly
equalled that of the USA to tie the largest economy in the world for a day,
after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen. But since then,
Japan's currency has corrected and China has grown to be the second-largest
Asian economy, followed by India, in terms of exchange rates. It is expected
that China will surpass Japan in currency terms to have the largest nominal
GDP in Asia within a decade or two. |
| |
|
|
|
Afghanistan,
Bangladesh,
Bhutan,
Brunei,
Cambodia,
China,
East Timor,
India,
Indonesia,
Iran,
Iraiq,
Japan
Kazakhstan,
North - Korea,
South - Korea,
Kyrgyzstan,
Laos,
Malaysia,
Maldives,
Mongolia,
Myanmar,
Nepal,
Pakistan,
Philippines,
Singapore,
Sri Lanka,
Taiwan,
Tajikistan,
Thailand,
Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan,
Vietnam
|
|
Saudi Arabia |
| |
| |
******************
|
