Exploring Asia: A Continent of Contrasts And Diverse Regions
Map of Asia on the Globe. Image Credit: Koyos & Ssolbergj via wikimedia.org
Asia, a continent of contrast and diverse regions, is the world’s largest continent in terms of both population and land area. Over 44 million square kilometers, or roughly 30% of Earth’s total land area and 8% of Earth’s total surface area, are covered by it. Numerous early civilizations were founded on this continent, which has long been home to most of the world’s inhabitants.
With 4.75 billion inhabitants, it has more people than all other continents combined and accounts for about 62% of the global population. There are 48 countries in the continent in addition to three territories. Transcontinental nations with a large proportion of Asian citizens are included in the count. Russia, has 75% of its territory in Asia but only 22% of the overall population resides on the Asian side and the rest of the population resides on the European side. There would be 49 Asian countries if Russia were to be included in the region.
Europe and Africa share the continents of Eurasia and Afro-Eurasia, respectively, with Asia. The Pacific Ocean borders the Asian continent on the east, the Indian Ocean borders it on the south, and the Arctic Ocean borders it on the north.
With about 1.5 billion people, India has the largest population in Asia. It is the largest in the world as well.
The continent can be divided into five regions. Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, South East Asia, and West Asia.
Central Asia
The Central Asian region of Asia has five countries. All of these five countries were part of the Soviet Union before the Union dissolved on 26th Dec 1991. Central Asia is a subregion of Asia that ranges from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north, as well as from the Caspian Sea in the southwest, Eastern Europe in the northwest, Western China, and Mongolia in the east. It comprises Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Because all of Central Asia’s names conclude with the Persian suffix “stan,” which means “land of,” the region’s countries are collectively referred to as the “stans.”
Geographically, Central Asia is diverse, with large deserts (Kyzyl Kum, Taklamakan), high passes and mountains (Tian Shan), and steppes that are primarily grassland and treeless. The enormous steppe regions of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are regarded as one homogenous geographical zone known as the Eurasian Steppe, along with the steppes of Eastern Europe.
Central Asia is the least populated sub-region on the continent, with a population of approximately 75.1 million, much like in Eastern Asia. Uzbekistan, with a population of over 33 million, is the most populated nation in Central Asia. Turkmenistan, with a population of about 6 million, is the least populated nation in the sub-region.
The economy of Central Asian countries continued to grow due to domestic demand in the first half of 2023, but growth slowed in all countries but Kazakhstan and Tajikistan as compared to the same period in 2022. As import prices stabilized and some loosening of monetary policy was possible, inflation surged in Kazakhstan but declined in the other seven nations.
The development of important trading partners, oil prices, the rate of private transfers and remittances, and the number of visitors and migrants arriving from the Russian Federation are some of the external factors that continue to impact the forecast.
Islam is the most widely practiced religion in this part of Asia. The majority of Muslims in Central Asia are Sunni, while Tajikistan has a sizeable Shia population. Before the dawn of Islam, the two main religions in Central Asia were Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. Today, Zoroastrian influence may still be seen in events like Nowruz, which are observed in all five of the Central Asian states. Before Islam, Tengrism was the predominant religion among the Turkic peoples.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world. Its landmass is regarded as belonging to Europe to some extent. It is the largest country and, is one of the transcontinental nations that make up Central Asia. Kazakhstan is recognized by the UN as an Asian nation as the majority of its citizens live in Asia. With almost two million citizens,
In Central Asia, Kazakhstan is the country with the most foreign direct investments. More than 70% of all the investment drawn to Central Asia goes into the Kazakh economy. China is considered one of the major economic actors in Central Asia when it comes to the impact of major powers, particularly since Beijing introduced the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive development plan, in 2013.
Human rights organizations often characterize Kazakhstan’s human rights situation as deplorable and have labeled the country’s government as authoritarian. Due to its abundant mineral riches and its oil and gas industry, which accounts for 60% of the region’s GDP, the nation controls both the political and economic spheres in Central Asia.
Kazakhstan has the highest Human Development Index rating in the region. Although it is a democratic, unitary republic with a constitution in theory, in practice it is an authoritarian government without free elections. Nevertheless, after President Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned in 2019, there have been progressively greater attempts at political change and democratization.
Kazakhstan is a landlocked nation with territory on two continents, which stretches over both banks of the Ural River, which is thought to be the border dividing Europe and Asia.
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the capital and largest city of the country. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east and southeast. The population of Kyrgyzstan is 6.7 million and is the 4th-most populous country in Central Asia.
The country is located farther from the sea than any other country, and all its rivers empty into enclosed drainage systems. Over 80% of the territory is covered by the Tian Shan mountain range, with the other 20% comprising basins and valleys. Oftentimes people refer to Kyrgyzstan as “the Switzerland of Central Asia.”
The political setup in Kyrgyzstan is a democratic unicameral republic as specified in the constitution. There is a president and a prime minister in the executive branch. At the moment, the parliament is unicameral.
The 2003 referendum approved constitutional reforms that strengthened the president’s authority and undermined the role of the parliament and the Constitutional Court. 2005 saw parliamentary elections for a new unicameral legislature consisting of 75 seats, however, the process was widely perceived as being corrupt. Following a bloodless coup in 2005, President Akayev and his family left the country.
Kyrgyzstan is the second-poorest nation in Central Asia after Tajikistan. Nearly 23% of its people are living below the poverty line.
The country has a substantial amount of metal resources, including rare-earth metals and gold. Because most of the country is mountainous, fewer than 8 percent of the land is used for agriculture.
The majority religion in Kyrgyzstan is Islam. 90% of people are Muslims, most of them Sunnis; 7% are Christians, including 3% of Russian Orthodox; the other % practice various faiths.
Tajikistan
Tajikistan is a landlocked nation, just like the other nations in Central Asia. With an estimated population of 9,750,065 people, it has an area of 142,326 km2. The major city and capital of the nation is Dushanbe. Afghanistan borders it on the south, Kyrgyzstan borders it on the north, Uzbekistan borders it on the west, and China borders it on the east. The Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan is the only thing separating it from Pakistan.
Presidential Palace (Palace of Nations).- Rudaki Ave, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Image Credit: Rjruiziii via wikimedia.org
Tajikistan has a presidential republic system. It has four provinces. Along with Afghanistan and Iran, Tajikistan is one of the three Persian-speaking nations. The majority of its people are members of the Tajik ethnic group, who speak the first official language, Tajik. The official interethnic language is Russian. 96% of people in the state follow Islam, despite the state’s secular constitution.
The country saw ethnic and civil conflicts break out amongst several factions immediately after independence. During this period, nearly 500,000 people left the country due to persecution, worsening poverty, and more favorable economic prospects in the West or other former Soviet states.
However, Tajikistan’s economy experienced significant growth after the conflict. Based on data from the World Bank, Tajikistan’s GDP grew at an average annual rate of 9.6% between 2000 and 2007. As a result, Tajikistan’s standing among other nations in Central Asia improved.
A quarter of Tajikistan’s GDP comes from foreign remittances from large-scale immigrants remittances mostly working in Russia.
Three main sources of income for Tajikistan are cotton cultivation, aluminum production, and remittances from migrant laborers. 60% of agricultural output, 75% of rural residents are employed in the cotton industry, and 45% of irrigated arable land is used for cotton production. The state-owned Tajik Aluminum Company is the largest aluminum plant in Central Asia and among the largest globally.
Tajikistan views itself as a secular nation with religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution. Since 2009, the government has formally recognized Sunni Islam as practiced by the Hanafi school.
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is a landlocked nation in Central Asia that shares borders with Afghanistan to the southeast, Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the east, north, and northeast, Iran to the south and southwest, and the Caspian Sea from the west. Ashgabat is the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan is one of the six autonomous Turkic states. The population of Turkmenistan is 6.5 million.
Berdimuhamedow, who was elected president in 2007 under a non-democratic process, and his son Serdar, who emerged victorious in a subsequent 2022 presidential election that was deemed neither free nor fair by international observers, divide the power between them.
Its treatment of minorities, lack of journalistic and religious freedom, and poor human rights record have garnered much criticism from landlocked Islamic nations. Turkmenistan has been under the reign of oppressive authoritarian regimes since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
In an effort to keep its economy afloat, Turkmenistan has worked to improve its sales of cotton and gas. Turkmenistan has adopted a cautious approach to economic change. The nation has significant oil resources and the fourth-largest natural gas reserves in the world.
Ninety-three percent of the population is Muslim, six percent adhere to the Eastern Orthodox Church, and one percent identify as nonreligious.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is also a landlocked country with Kazakhstan to the north, Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Tajikistan to the southeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest. Uzbekistan is a member of the Organization of Turkic States and a part of the Turkic world. The population of Uzbekistan is roughly 36 million.
Although Russian is commonly spoken and understood, Uzbek is the language of the majority. The most common religion is Islam. But Uzbekistan has a presidential constitutional government and is a secular state.
Uzbekistan has emerged as the leading generator of electricity in Central Asia, thanks to its massive Soviet-era power plants and huge natural gas reserves. It is also one of the largest cotton producers in the world. Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, is the most populated city in Central Asia.
Uzbekistan has huge deposits of gold. It mines 85 tons of gold every year, ranking sixth in the world, and it is among the top ten countries with the largest copper deposits in the world. The country’s uranium production ranks seventh globally and twelfth for uranium deposits. With an annual production of 60 to 70 billion cubic meters (2.1–2.5 trillion cubic feet), the Uzbek national gas firm, Uzbekneftegaz, is ranked 11th globally for natural gas production. Uzbekistan possesses substantial unexplored oil and gas reserves.
A view of Po-i-Kalyan Mosque Bukhara, a cultural capital of Uzbekistan. Image Credit: Adam Jones v via wikimedia.org
In line with the country’s secular constitution, religious associations and organizations in Uzbekistan are to be kept separate from the state and treated equally under the law. The government is not allowed to meddle in religious organizations’ functioning. The majority religion in Uzbekistan is Islam; 96.7% of the country’s population is Muslim, and 2.5% of its people are Christians. Early in the 1990s, there were an estimated 93,000 Jews residing in the nation. The nation is home to a very small Zoroastrian population.
East Asia
East Asia is a geographically and ethnoculturally defined region of Asia. China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan are the contemporary states that make up East Asia. Two tiny coastline cities in southern China, Hong Kong, and Macau, are autonomous areas governed by China.
Two out of the world’s five communist countries are in East Asia: China and North Korea. North Korea is also among the most isolated countries in the world diplomatically. It is also known to possess nuclear weapons. It has far more rivals than friends in the international community. China and Russia have close ties with the communist regime of North Korea.
The population of East Asia is close to 1.6 billion. China, with 1.4 billion people, has the highest population, while Mongolia, with 3.30 million, is the least populated country in East Asia. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, has the highest population at 38.3 million. Beijing, the capital of China, and Shanghai, a commercial hub of China, are the second-largest populated countries, at 20 million each in East Asia.
Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and China are some of the biggest and wealthiest economies in the world. The Chinese economy is said to outrank the US economy by 2029. While Japan is the third-largest economy in the world,
East Asia shares borders with South Asia to the southwest, Southeast Asia to the south, Central Asia to the west, and Siberia and the Russian Far East to the north. The Pacific Ocean lies to the east, while Micronesia, an island group in the Pacific Ocean that is part of Oceania, is to the southeast.
China
China, also known as The People’s Republic of China (PRC), is in the East Asia region. With over 1.4 billion, it has the second-largest population in the world after India. It is also the second-largest economy after the US.
The total land area of China is nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third-largest country in the world by total land area. Beijing is the capital of China, while Shanghai is the financial center of the country.
China has a very diversified and large geography, with subtropical forests in the rainy south and the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in the north.
China and most of South and Central Asia are divided by the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, Karakoram, Pamir, and Tian Shan. Running from the Tibetan Plateau to the heavily populated eastern seaboard, the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers are the third and sixth longest rivers in the world, respectively. China’s Pacific coastline stretches 14,500 km (9,000 mi). The Eurasian Steppe is connected to China via the Kazakh border.
China’s huge landmass has a wide variety of landscapes. Broad grasslands predominate on the northern margins of the Inner Mongolian plateau, while huge and highly populated alluvial plains stretch along the shores of the Yellow and East China Seas in the east.
The central-east of China is home to the Yangtze and Yellow River deltas, two of the country’s major rivers, while the southern region is primarily made up of hills and low mountain ranges. The Xi, Mekong, Brahmaputra, and Amur are some of the other significant rivers. Large mountain ranges, the Himalayas foremost among them, are located to the west. In the more dry northern environments, such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert, there are high plateaus.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which adheres to Marxist–Leninist ideology, is the sole governing party of the People’s Republic of China.
According to the Chinese constitution, the state institutions “shall practice the principle of democratic centralism,” the PRC “is a socialist state governed by a people’s democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants,” and the Communist Party of China’s leadership is the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Nonetheless, the nation is frequently characterized as a dictatorship and an authoritarian one-party state. It has some of the strictest laws in the world in many areas, most notably those pertaining to the freedom of the press, the right to assemble, the right to form social organizations without interference, the right to practice any religion, and the freedom to use the Internet.
China claims the areas ruled by the Republic of China (ROC), a distinct political entity currently known as Taiwan, as part of its territory ever since it was founded. It views the islands the ROC controls in the South China Sea as belonging to Hainan Province and Guangdong Province, the island of Taiwan as its Taiwan Province, and the islands of Kinmen and Matsu as a component of Fujian Province. The complex relations across the Taiwan Strait make these assertions contentious.
Concerning the sovereignty of islands in the East and South China Seas, including the Senkaku Islands and the South China Sea Islands as a whole, China is also embroiled in maritime conflicts with several other nations.
China has land disputes with India and Bhutan. China and India went to war in 1962 over these disputes. Ever since then, both Chinese and Indian militaries have had several skirmishes at the border.
China’s economy is the largest in the world when it comes to purchasing power parity (PPP) and ranks second in the world overall in terms of nominal GDP. By nominal GDP, China makes up around 18% of the world economy in 2022. China’s economy is among the fastest-growing in the world, thanks to the start of economic reforms in 1978, the country’s growth has nearly exceeded 6 percent.
China’s GDP increased from $150 billion in 1978 to $17.96 trillion by 2022, according to the World Bank. China is home to the headquarters of 142 of the 500 largest corporations in the world.
China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, yet state persecution may occur to religious organizations that do not have official recognition. Around 74% of people are either nonreligious or follow Chinese folk beliefs, 16% are Buddhists, 2% are Christians, 1% are Muslims, and 8% follow other religions, per a 2014 study.
However, the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China’s government have launched several antireligious programs.
In China, there are up to 300 different living languages. The majority of the population speaks Mandarin.
Japan
Japan is an East Asian island nation. Situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, it has a western border with the Sea of Japan. To the north lies the Sea of Okhotsk, and to the south lies the East China Sea, the Philippine Sea, and Taiwan. Tokyo is the capital and largest city of the country, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.
Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with approximately 125 million people making up its ranking as the eleventh most populous nation worldwide. The majority of the country’s land is mountainous, with narrow coastal plains housing the majority of its highly urbanized people.
The 14,125 islands that make up Japan are spread out along Asia’s Pacific coast. It runs roughly 3000 km (1900 mi) from the Sea of Okhotsk to the East China Sea in a northeastern-to-southwest direction.
Japan is a unified nation with a constitutional monarchy, meaning that the Emperor’s authority is confined to ceremonial functions. The Japanese Prime Minister and his Cabinet, whose sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people, nonetheless exercise executive power.
Japan’s economy ranks fourth globally in terms of nominal GDP, behind the US, China, and Germany; it also ranks fourth globally in terms of PPP. Japan has a low unemployment rate of about 2.6% as of 2022.
The constitution of Japan provides freedom of religion. According to upper estimates, 84–96% of Japanese people practice Shinto, the country’s native religion. Buddhism is also practiced in Japan; individuals may identify as followers of either religion or as spiritual or non-religious.
In Japan, immigrants from other countries make up almost 90% of the Muslim population. There were an estimated 200,000 Muslims in Japan as of 2018, 43,000 of them were citizens of Japan. Ainu animist beliefs are among the other minority religions, along with Judaism, Bahá’í Faith, and Hinduism.
The majority of people in Japan write and speak Japanese as their first language, making it the de facto national tongue of the nation. As a language of commerce and worldwide communication, English has become increasingly important in Japan. Because of this, English is now more widely used in the educational system; by 2020, English studies will be required at all levels of the Japanese educational system.
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked nation that shares borders with China to the south and Russia to the north. With a population of about 3.3 million, it is the world’s most sparsely inhabited sovereign state, spanning an area of 1,564,116 square kilometers (603,909 square miles). Ulaanbaatar is the capital and largest city, it is home to roughly half of the country’s population.
Mongolia is a representative democratic republic with a semi-presidential system. The president is chosen directly by the people. The State Great Khural, the national assembly, has representatives chosen by popular vote. The president names the prime minister and the cabinet based on the prime minister’s recommendation. Numerous liberties, including complete freedom of expression and religion, are guaranteed by the Mongolian constitution.
Although the development of vast mineral reserves of copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold has emerged as a driver of industrial output, Mongolia’s economy has long been centered on agriculture and herding. In addition to mining (21.8%) and agriculture (16%), wholesale and retail trade and services, transportation and storage, and real estate sectors make up the majority of the GDP. Furthermore, one-fifth of the world’s raw cashmere is produced in Mongolia.
According to estimates, the size of the unofficial economy is at least one-third that of the official economy. In 2006, the PRC accounted for 29.8% of Mongolia’s imports and received 68.4% of Mongolia’s exports. The World Bank has classified Mongolia’s economy as lower-middle income. About 22.4% of people don’t make more than $1.25 each day in the US. The GDP per person in 2011 was $3,100. The percentage of the population living in poverty was projected to be 35.6% in 1998, 36.1% in 2002–2003, and 32.2% in 2006, notwithstanding the increase.
The official language of Mongolia is Mongolian. Nearly 95% of its population speaks Mongolian. There are other languages spoken throughout the country like Oirat and Buryat, along with a small number of Mongolic Khamnigan. Both Kazakh and Tuvan, two Turkic languages, are also spoken in the country’s west. As for religion, 53% follow Buddhism, and 39% are atheists.
North Korea
North Korea, also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a Communist country in East Asia. It covers the northern part of the Korean Peninsula and shares boundaries with South Korea to the south at the Korean Demilitarized Zone and China and Russia to the north at the Yalu (Amnok) and Tumen rivers. Given that both Koreas claim the whole Korean Peninsula, the border between North and South Korea is disputed. The Yellow Sea forms the country’s western border, while the Sea of Japan defines its eastern border.
North Korea, maybe far more than any other communist government, has stayed firmly committed to communist ideology. The country follows Juche, an indigenous brand of communism that encourages self-sufficiency and complete independence from the rest of the world. As a result, North Korea is recognized as one of the world’s most isolated countries. The state holds entire control over the country’s economy, according to Juche’s philosophy. North Korea is a totalitarian regime. they are headed by the Kim family.
Like South Korea, North Korea asserts that it is the rightful ruler of the entire Korean peninsula and its neighboring islands. The largest city and capital of North Korea is Pyongyang. The population of North Korea is 24 million.
The nation has the poorest record for human rights worldwide. Although independent observers have called North Korea’s democratic elections “sham elections,” the country is officially recognized as an “independent socialist state” that organizes fair elections. North Korea’s only legitimate political movement, the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea, is headed by the Workers’ Party of Korea, the country’s ruling party.
Nationalization of the economy is widespread. Tax payments were formally discontinued in 1974, and the state provides substantial subsidies for housing and food, as well as free healthcare and education. Though most people in Pyongyang shop at small-scale jangmadang marketplaces, department stores, and supermarkets offer a wide range of commodities. The usage of foreign currency and jangmadang were outlawed in 2009 in an effort by the government to slow down the growing free market.
Of the 12.6 million workers in North Korea, 65% are employed in industry and services. Machine manufacturing, military hardware, chemicals, metallurgy, mining, textiles, food processing, and tourism are examples of major industries. One of the few industries in which North Korea outperforms its southern neighbor is the production of coal and iron ore, producing around ten times as much of each. Significant oil reserves have been confirmed by several oil exploration companies in the Sea of Japan off the coast of North Korea and in the region south of Pyongyang.
Officially, North Korea is an atheist nation. The freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution, but this provision is constrained by the prohibition against using religion as a pretext to overthrow the government, bring in foreign forces, or undermine the established social order.
As such, religious practice is severely constrained even in the face of ostensible constitutional guarantees. Additionally, proselytizing is forbidden because of worries about foreign influence. The number of official religions in North Korea is not clear.
However various organizations have concluded that 73% of people are irreligious (58% agnostic, 15% atheist), 13% practice Chondoism, 12% practice Korean shamanism, 1.5% are Buddhists, and less than 0.5% follow other religions like Christianity, Islam, or Chinese folk religion.
Despite certain dialectal distinctions, North and South Korea speak the same language, which is Korean. The Pyongan dialect, known as the cultured language by North Koreans, is distinguished from South Korean dialects, particularly the Seoul dialect, known as the standard language, which is considered decadent due to its usage of loanwords from Chinese and European languages, especially English.
Chinese Hancha letters and words having Manchu, Chinese, or Western origins have been removed from munhwa. Only the Hangul phonetic alphabet, created by Sejong the Great, is used in written language.
South Korea
Located in East Asia, South Korea is formally known as the Republic of Korea (ROK). It shares a border with North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone and makes up the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. The Sea of Japan defines the nation’s eastern boundary, while the Yellow Sea forms its western one.
The Seoul Declaration of 1943 called for the liberation of a unified peninsula; but, as tensions between the US and the USSR increased, Korea was split into North and South Korea as separate governmental entities in 1948. The former head of the Korean Provisional Government, Syngman Rhee, was appointed as the leader of the South by the United States, which also provided its assistance.
In May 1948, the recently established Republic of Korea held its first presidential election, which Rhee won. The Soviet Union supported Kim Il-sung, a former communist activist and anti-Japanese guerrilla who was named premier of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in September, in the North.
The Korean War, the first significant hostilities of the Cold War, began in June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea and lasted until 1953. The Soviet Union had lost its veto power at the time since it had boycotted the UN.
Because of this, the UN was able to become involved in a civil war when it was clear that the superior North Korean troops would bring the entire nation together. China and the Soviet Union supported North Korea, and millions of Chinese soldiers later joined in. The battle ultimately came to a standstill after suffering enormous losses among civilians in both the north and the south of Korea. Rhee’s party advocated the One-People Principle during the conflict, an attempt to create a submissive populace through authoritarian appeals to nationalism and ethnic homogeneity.
The government of South Korea asserts its exclusive right to rule over the entire peninsula and its neighboring islands. Of its 51.96 million inhabitants, around half reside in the Seoul Capital Area, which is the world’s fourth most populous metropolitan area. Daegu, Busan, and Incheon are a few more significant cities.
The 1987 constitution of South Korea preserves a unitary presidential republic with a unicameral legislature known as the National Assembly. The Republic of Korea’s Constitution establishes the framework of the South Korean government.
The government of South Korea is split into three branches: the executive, judicial, and legislative, just like the governments of many democratic republics. Although some executive branch ministries also perform local duties, the legislative and executive branches generally work at the federal level. The national and municipal levels are where the judicial branch is active. Local governments have their own legislative and executive branches and have a limited degree of autonomy. A constitutional democracy governs South Korea.
With its economy classified as the thirteenth-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the fourteenth-largest by GDP (PPP), it is regarded as both a regional power and a developed nation. The nation ranks ninth in the world for both imports and exports. With the second-largest standing army in the world by military and paramilitary troops, its armed forces are among the strongest in the world.
There is no official state religion, and the constitution guarantees religious freedom. As per the 2015 census findings, over half of South Korea’s population (56.1%) indicated that they were not associated with any religion. In a study conducted in 2012, 52% of respondents categorized themselves as “religious,” 31% as “not religious,” and 15% as “convinced atheists.”
The majority of those who identify as members of a religious group are Buddhists and Christians. As of the 2015 census, 19.7% of the population was classified as Protestants, 7.9% as Roman Catholics, and 15.5% as Buddhists, making up 27.6% of the total population. Other religions include the native Won Buddhist sect, Islam (130,000 Muslims, primarily migrant laborers from Bangladesh and Pakistan but also approximately 35,000 Muslims from Korea), and several indigenous religions, such as Cheondoism, Daejongism, Daesun Jinrihoe, Jeungsanism, etc.
The majority of linguists consider Korean, the official language of South Korea, to be a language isolate. There are a lot of Chinese loanwords included in it. Hangul is the native writing system used by Koreans. Certain Chinese Hanja characters are still used in certain contexts in South Korea, including print media and legal documentation.
There are five different dialects of the Korean language spoken in South Korea: the Seoul dialect, one language known as Jeju, and four other dialects known as Chungcheong, Gangwon, Gyeongsang, and Jeolla. Nowadays, practically every South Korean student studies English during their time in school.
Taiwan (Republic of China)
Located in East Asia, Taiwan is formally known as the Republic of China. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean at the meeting point of the East and South China Seas. To the northwest, Japan lies, to the northeast, are the Philippines, and to the south, is the People’s Republic of China.
Mountain ranges dominate the eastern two-thirds of the 168 islands that make up the ROC’s consolidated territories, which span 36,193 square kilometers. The western third of the territory is home to the majority of the country’s heavily urbanized population.
Together with Keelung and New Taipei City, the capital city of Taipei forms the largest metropolitan region. Taiwan is one of the world’s densest populated countries, with about 23.9 million people.
Taiwan’s political situation is divisive. According to the PRC’s “One China” concept, the PRC is the only legal government in China, and both mainland China and Taiwan are parts of China. The UN voted in 1971 to recognize the PRC instead of the ROC, meaning that the ROC no longer represents China as a member of the UN.
Up until 1991, when it stopped viewing the CCP as a rebel organization and acknowledged its authority over mainland China, the ROC insisted that it was the only authorized representation of China and its territory. The PRC claims Taiwan and will not establish diplomatic ties with nations that acknowledge the ROC.
To prevent or minimize official recognition of the ROC as a separate, sovereign state, Taiwan continues to participate in international fora as a non-state member, going by names like “Chinese Taipei.” Of the 193 UN members, Taiwan has formal diplomatic ties with twelve. Numerous others sustain informal diplomatic connections using representative offices and establishments that serve as de facto consulates and embassies.
The PRC proposed peaceful unification with Taiwan based on the “one country, two systems” approach implemented in Hong Kong. The PRC does not completely rule out using force, even as it strives for peaceful reunification. The possibility of a military confrontation in the event that the PRC’s Anti-Secession Law is followed—such as Taiwan announcing de jure independence—complicates the political landscape.
Relations with the PRC are handled by the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), whereas those with Taiwan are handled by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) of Taiwan. The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) of the PRC and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) of Taiwan, two private organizations both established in 1991, are used for various interactions.
Taiwan is either denied participation in international organizations in which the PRC is active or is permitted to participate on a non-state basis. In the country, the main political dispute is between groups that support pan-Chinese identity and eventual Chinese unification, and those who want formal international recognition and support Taiwanese identity; both groups have softened their stances in the twenty-first century in an effort to appeal to a wider audience.
The “Taiwan Miracle” was a period of tremendous economic expansion and modernization that began in Taiwan in the early 1960s. The Republic of China (ROC) changed from being a one-party state under martial law in the late 1980s and early 1990s to a multi-party democracy with democratically elected presidents since 1996. Taiwan’s export-driven industrial sector, which ranks 20th globally by PPP measures and 21st globally by nominal GDP, is centered on the production of chemicals, steel, machinery, and electronics. Taiwan is a highly developed nation. In terms of healthcare, human development, and civil freedoms, it is highly ranked.
Agriculture’s share of GDP has decreased from 32% in 1951 to less than 2% since 2001. Small and medium-sized businesses, compared to major commercial conglomerates, dominate the Taiwanese economy, in contrast to that of its neighbors, South Korea and Japan. Conventional labor-intensive businesses are gradually being replaced by more capital- and technology-intensive ones as they relocate abroad. In Taiwan, high-tech science parks have emerged.
Taiwan’s economy is now export-driven, capitalist, and dynamic, with the state’s role in global trade and investment steadily waning. Certain sizable industrial companies and banks that are held by the government are being privatized in line with this trend. Industrialization has primarily been driven by exports.
Taiwan’s Constitution guarantees people’s right to practice their religion and their beliefs freely. Taiwan has a high ranking for religious freedom on the International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy Indices, and the government respects religious freedom.
In Taiwan, Buddhism, Taoism, Yiguandao, Protestantism, and Roman Catholicism are the five most popular religions. Taiwan’s religious makeup is predicted to be as follows in 2020: 43.8 percent Folk religions, 21.2 percent Buddhist, 15.5 Others (including Taoism), 13.7 percent Unaffiliated, 5.8 percent Christian, and 1% Muslim, according to Pew Research. Taiwanese aborigines are a significant subset of the Christian population.
The foundation of Chinese and Taiwanese culture is Confucianism. The majority of Taiwanese people often incorporate their respective religions with the secular moral teachings of Confucianism.
Taiwan does not recognize any language as official language. However, the majority of people speak Mandarin, which is the main language used in business and education. Writing in Traditional Chinese is the norm.
South Asia
South Asia is the geographically, ethnically, and culturally defined southern sub-region of Asia. The modern South Asian states are usually understood to comprise Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
South Asia shares borders with Southeast Asia to the east, West Asia to the west, East Asia to the northeast, and Central Asia to the northwest. Geographically, the Indian subcontinent dominates it. To the south is the Indian Ocean, and to the north are the Himalayas, Karakoram, and Pamir Mountains.
Ten percent of the Asian continent, approximately 4.4 million km2 (1.7 million sq mi), is made up of the core countries of South Asia. According to the more inclusive definition, the region has 1.9 billion people, or around 25% of the global population, making it the most populous and densely populated geographical area in the world. India with 1.5 billion people has the largest population not only in the region but the whole world.
The majority of the South Asian countries are of the Islamic faith, whereas India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka have significant populations of Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims. India is home to the largest Hindu, Jain, Sikh, and Zoroastrian populations in the world.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a landlocked country bordering Iran to the west, Pakistan to the east, and Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, to the north. Afghanistan is connected to China through its narrow strip called the Wakhan corridor.
Since the 1970s Afghanistan has had coups, countercoups, foreign occupation, and ethnic and civil wars, which have led to a large scale of devastation and economic hardship. The nation has had to deal with high levels of poverty, child malnutrition, and terrorism as a result of the repercussions of conflict in recent decades. The Taliban now governs the country after the US withdrawal.
Afghanistan is called the graveyard of empires due to its resistance to the occupation forces. The world’s major powers, like the British, Soviet Russia, and the US and its allies, have invaded the country under various pretexts, but no superpower was able to hold on to the occupation.
Hasan Akhund, the acting prime minister, and Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader, head the Taliban administration. One of the four founders of the Taliban, Akhund served as the previous emirate’s deputy prime minister and was chosen as a middle ground between moderates and hardliners. A new cabinet including only men was formed, with Abdul Hakim Haqqani appointed as the minister of justice. The Taliban regime has not yet received UN recognition.
Kabul is the capital and largest city of the country. The population of Afghanistan according to the World Population Review is 40.2 million as of 2021.
Natural resources such as iron, zinc, copper, and lithium are abundant in Afghanistan. It ranks third in terms of saffron and cashmere production, and second in terms of cannabis resin production.
According to the Pew Research Center, 99.7% of Afghans are Muslims, with the majority believed to follow the Sunni Hanafi school of thought. Up to 90% of people identify as Sunni, 7% as Shia, and 3% as non-denominational.
There are various ethnolinguistic groupings among Afghans. Based on research data from multiple institutes, the majority ethnic group in the country is Pashtuns, who make up 42% of the population, followed by Tajiks, who make up 27%. Hazaras and Uzbeks make up the other two largest ethnic groups, each with 9% of the total. Ten further recognized ethnic groups are individually represented in the Afghan National Anthem.
Afghanistan’s official languages are Dari and Pashto, although bilingualism is highly prevalent. Dari, sometimes known as Eastern Persian since it is a dialect of Persian that is mutually intelligible with it (and is frequently referred to as “Farsi” by some Afghans, much like in Iran), serves as the primary language in Kabul and a large portion of the northern and northwest of the country
Bangladesh
Bangladesh is the seventh most populous country in the world. Bangladesh has land boundaries with Myanmar to the southeast, India to the west, north, and east, and the Bay of Bengal to the south. It is only barely divided from China by the Indian state of Sikkim in the north, and from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor.
Bangladesh which was part of India before the partition in 1947 became East Pakistan and was part of the Pakistan Union until 1971, when it was liberated from West Pakistan after a bloody civil war.
The constituent assembly adopted the constitution of Bangladesh on 4 November 1972, establishing a secular, multiparty parliamentary democracy. Bangladesh joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the UN, the OIC, and the Non-Aligned Movement.
Bangladesh has also seen military coups. Its founding father, Sheikh Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, was assassinated by the military, and martial law was imposed.
Bangladesh is one of the most densely inhabited nations of the world with over 170 million people living in an area of 148,460 square kilometers.
The political, economic, and cultural hub of the country is Dhaka, which also happens to be its capital and largest metropolis. The busiest port on the Bay of Bengal is the city of Chittagong, which is the second largest. Bengali is the official language.
Bangladesh’s economy has been growing at a rapid pace thanks to the garment industry, which is the country’s key export and employment sector.
After India, Bangladesh has the second-biggest economy in South Asia. When it comes to per capita income, the nation has surpassed both Pakistan and India. Bangladesh had South Asia’s second-largest foreign exchange reserves in 2022.
Although taxes only make up 7.7% of government revenue, the reserves have increased the government’s ability to spend. A significant amount of capital has been invested in the power industry.
Bangladesh was suffering from huge power issues. There were several daily blackouts but the nation attained 100% electricity in 2022 and has seldom blackouts.
About 51.3% of the GDP is generated by the service sector, which also employs 39% of the labor force. The industrial sector employs 20.4% of the labor force and contributes 35.1% of the GDP. Despite making up only 13.6% of the GDP, the agriculture industry employs 40.6% of the labor force. The nation is a significant producer of fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, rice, tea, and jute. Shrimps and lobsters are two of Bangladesh’s most famous exports.
In 1972, after its independence from West Pakistan, Bangladesh was declared a secular state under its constitution. While establishing Islam as the official state religion, it also claims to be “secular in practice” and grants religious freedom. The constitution declares that individuals of all faiths should be treated equally and forbids discrimination and politics based on religion.
Islam is the most prevalent religion in the nation with around 91.1% of the population adhering to it. The majority of people who live in Bangladesh are Bengali Muslims, who follow Sunni Islam. The country has the third highest Muslim population worldwide. 7.9% of the population, primarily Hindu Bengalis, identify as Hindu. With 0.6% of the population, Buddhism is the third most popular religion.
The official and predominant language of Bangladesh is Bengali, which is spoken by more than 98% of the population as their native language. English plays an important role in Bangladesh’s judicial and educational affairs, due to the country’s history as part of the British Empire.
Tribal languages include the Chakma language, another native Eastern Indo-Aryan language, spoken by the Chakma people. Others are Garo, Meitei, Kokborok, and Rakhine. Among the Austroasiatic languages, the most spoken is the Santali language, native to the Santal people. The stranded Pakistanis and some sections of the Old Dhakaites often use Urdu as their native tongue.
Bhutan
Bhutan is a mountainous landlocked South Asian country situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. Nepal and Bangladesh are located near Bhutan but do not share a border with it. The country has a population of over 727,145 and a territory of 38,394 square kilometers (14,824 sq mi) and ranks 133rd in land area and 160th in population. Thimphu is the capital and largest city of the country.
Bhutan is a constitutional monarchy with a king as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of government. However, Bhutan underwent a transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck permitted the King to be removed from office by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly and gave the Council of Cabinet Ministers the majority of his administrative authority.
Early in 2005, a new constitution was proposed and Wangchuck declared in December 2005 that he would cede the throne to his son in 2008. He declared on December 9, 2006, that he would step down right away. The first national parliamentary elections were held in December 2007 and March 2008 after that. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 28, was crowned king on November 6, 2008.
Bhutan was among the last nations to adopt television when the government relaxed the ban on the Internet and television in 1999. The King warned that the “misuse” of this new technology could undermine traditional Bhutanese values, even as he praised television as a crucial step towards modernizing Bhutan and a significant factor in the nation’s gross domestic happiness.
The economy of Bhutan, which is among the smallest in the world, has expanded quickly recently, rising by 8% in 2005 and 14% in 2006. With an annual economic growth rate of 22.4 percent in 2007, Bhutan’s GDP was the second fastest-growing in the world.
The launch of the massive Tala Hydroelectric Power Station was mostly to blame for this. Bhutan had a per capita GDP of US$2,420 as of 2012. The Indian rupee is accepted as legal currency throughout the country and it is a fixed exchange rate for the ngultrum, the currency of Bhutan.
In addition to selling hydroelectric power to India, Bhutan’s economy is centered on forestry, agriculture, and tourism. 55.4 percent of the population makes their primary living from agriculture.
Animal husbandry and subsistence farming make up the majority of agrarian practices. A tiny cottage industry produces handicrafts, including weaving and the creation of religious art for domestic altars. Building roads and other infrastructure has become challenging and costly due to the terrain’s variation from hilly to ruggedly mountainous.
The majority of Bhutanese people are Ngalops and Sharchops, also referred to as Western and Eastern Bhutanese, respectively. The Ngalops control politics since they include the King and the ruling class, despite the Sharchops having a somewhat bigger population.
The state religion of Bhutan is Vajrayana Buddhism, which is practiced by an estimated two-thirds to three-quarters of its people. Not more than 12% of people identify as Hindu. The current legal framework guarantees fundamental freedom of religion; nonetheless, proselytizing is prohibited by a decision made by the royal government and by judicial interpretation of the Constitution.
The national language of Bhutan is Dzongkha (Bhutanese), one of the 53 languages that make up the Tibetan language family. The script is the same as traditional Tibetan and is known locally as Chhokey, which means “Dharma language”.
While Dzongkha is taught as the national language, English is the medium of instruction in Bhutan’s educational system. The 24 languages listed by Ethnologue as being spoken in Bhutan are all members of the Tibeto-Burman family, with the exception of Nepali, which is an Indo-Aryan language.
India
India, also known as Bharath or Hindustan, is the seventh-largest country in the world. India is the world’s largest populated country; its population is over 1.5 billion. India is not only the largest country in South Asia but also has the largest economy and military power. New Delhi is the capital of the country and Mumbai is the commercial hub and home to the world’s largest film industry.
India is the world’s most populated democracy since gaining independence in 1947 and is currently the seventh-largest country with a total area of 3,287,263 square kilometers (1,269,219 sq mi). It measures 3,214 km (1,997 mi) from north to south and 2,933 km (1,822 mi) from east to west. It shares land boundaries with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast.
India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime boundary with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. It is located in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
India is a parliamentary democracy. The constitution of India states that it is a secular country, and every individual has the right to free speech and can question the government without any intimidation by the state. All though it has been alleged that religious discrimination has been on the rise ever since the incumbent government of the right-wing party came to power, India’s basic tenets of secularism stand tall.
India, which was ruled by the British, gained independence in 1947; however, it came with a cost as the country was divided into two based on religion. East Pakistan and West Pakistan are one entity for Muslims, while the rest of India is another for seculars. But that did not remain the same for long as East Pakistan was liberated with help from India after a bloody revolt against West Pakistan.
India and Pakistan have been at odds, ever since their independence. There have been three wars over the disputed Kashmir region and one war of independence for East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. India also fought a war with China in 1962; since then, there have been several border skirmishes. India’s alliance with the US has made China nervous, and there is a sense of tension in the relationship. However, on the economic front, India remains a key market for Chinese goods.
The Indian economy was estimated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be valued at $3.46 trillion in 2022; by market exchange rates, it was the fifth largest economy, and by purchasing power parity (PPP), it was the third largest, at about $11.6 trillion. India’s GDP has grown at one of the highest rates in the world over the last 20 years, averaging 5.8% annually, with a peak of 6.1% in 2011–2012. Nonetheless, the nation is ranked 118th in terms of GDP per capita at PPP and 139th in terms of nominal GDP per capita worldwide.
India had the second-largest labor force in the world, with 525 million workers. 55% of GDP is generated by the service sector, 26.6% by the industrial sector, and 18.4% by the agriculture sector. Approximately 32 million Indians are employed abroad, mostly in the Gulf states, which is a huge foreign remittance source for the country. India received US$100 billion in foreign remittances in 2022, the largest amount in the world.
Rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes are among the main crops. Textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, steel, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and software are major industries. External trade accounted for a larger portion of India’s GDP, from 6% in 1985 to 24% in 2006.
According to data from the 2011 census, Hinduism has the highest percentage of adherents in India (79.80%), followed by Islam (14.23%); the remaining religions are Christianity (2.30%), Sikhism (1.72%), Buddhism (0.70%), Jainism (0.36%), and others (0.9%). India has the highest Muslim population for a country with a non-Muslim majority, ranking third in the world.
74% of speakers of Indian languages are fluent in Indo-Aryan, the most eastern branch of Indo-European languages; 24% speak Dravidian, which is native to South Asia and was widely spoken prior to the spread of Indo-Aryan languages; and 2% speak Austroasiatic, also known as Sino-Tibetan. India does not have a national tongue. The official language of the government is Hindi, which is spoken by the majority of people.
English is recognized as a “subsidiary official language” and is widely used in commerce and administration. It is also a vital language in education, particularly for undergraduate and graduate programs. Every state and union territory has one or more official languages; additionally, 22 “scheduled languages” are recognized by the constitution.
Nepal
Nepal is a landlocked country. It encompasses portions of the Indo-Gangetic Plain in addition to the Himalayas. It shares boundaries with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, India to the south, east, and west, and Bangladesh and Bhutan to the north and south, respectively, through the Siliguri Corridor and the Indian state of Sikkim.
Nepal is roughly trapezoidal, about 800 kilometers (500 mi) long and 200 kilometers (120 mi) wide, with an area of 147,516 km2 (56,956 sq mi). It is home to eight of the ten highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth, as well as lush plains and subalpine wooded hills. The largest city and capital of the country is Kathmandu.
Nepal is a democracy, and its power dynamics keep changing due to the large influence of China and India. Nepal is a multiparty system parliamentary republic. The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal was the previous name for Nepal until the government chose to use the name “Nepal” alone. It has seven national parties that are recognized by the federal parliament.
Nepal is a developing country and is ranked 162nd in terms of GDP per capita at PPP and 165th in terms of nominal GDP per capita worldwide. In 2019, Nepal recorded a gross domestic product (GDP) of $34.186 billion. With a projected 2.89% growth rate in 2021 and an estimated 6.6% growth rate in 2019.
Nepal has 17 million workers, making it the 37th largest labor force in the world. 27.59% of the GDP is accounted for by the primary sector, 14.6% by the secondary sector, and 57.81% by the tertiary sector. Nepal ranks 19th in the world when it comes to foreign remittances. The majority of the USD 8.1 billion forms 28.0% of GDP, which came from unskilled laborers working in millions of jobs mainly in India, the Middle East, and East Asia.
Key agricultural products include oilseeds, potatoes, pulses, sugarcane, jute, tobacco, milk, and meat from water buffaloes. Cereals include barley, maize, millet, paddy, and wheat. The tourism industry, carpets, textiles, tobacco, cement, brick, and minor rice, jute, sugar, and oilseed mills are among the major industries.
Nepal’s international trade had significant growth following the democratization of the country in 1951. Liberalization started in 1985 and accelerated after 1990. Nepal’s foreign trade increased twenty-three times from Rs 45.6 billion in 1990–1991 to Rs 1.06 trillion in the fiscal year 2016–17. India accounts for about 60% of Nepal’s trade. Ninety percent of the total is exports mostly comprised of paper products, carpets, pulses, handicrafts, leather, and medicinal herbs.
Nepal is a secular country. The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and culture. In Nepal, the largest religions by number of adherents are Hinduism (81.3%), followed by Buddhism (9%), Islam (4.4%), Kirant (3.1%), Christianity (1.4%), and Prakriti, or nature worship (0.5%). Nepal has the highest proportion of Hindus worldwide in terms of population. Not too long ago, Nepal was formally a Hindu kingdom.
With Nepali as its official language, Nepal is a multilingual, multiethnic, multireligious, and multicultural nation. The Indo-Aryan, Sino-Tibetan, and several indigenous language variants are the three main linguistic groups that makeup Nepal’s varied linguistic legacy. According to the 2011 census, the majority of the languages spoken in Nepal (percent spoken as native language) are Maithili (11.7%), Bhojpuri (6.0%), Tharu (5.8%), Tamang (5.1%), Nepal Bhasa (3.2%), Bajjika (3%) and Magar (3.0%), Doteli (3.0%), Urdu (2.6%), Awadhi (1.89%), and Sunwar.
Maldives
Maldives, also known as the Republic of Maldives, is an archipelagic nation in South Asia that is located in the Indian Ocean. The location of this Asian continent is approximately 750 kilometers (470 miles; 400 nautical miles) southwest of Sri Lanka and India.
The Maldives is one of the world’s most dispersed countries, with 1,192 coral islands arranged in a double chain of 26 atolls. The 26 atolls that make up the Maldives chain extend from Addu Atoll in the south to Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north across the equator. The islands are spread over approximately 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 sq mi), of which only 298 km2 (115 sq mi) is dry land. The Maldives stretches along a length of 871 km (541 miles) north to south and 130 km (81 miles) east to west.
The land area of all the islands combined is 298 square kilometers (115 sq mi), making the Maldives the smallest country in Asia and one of the world’s most widely scattered sovereign states. With a population of 521,021, it is also the second least populated country in Asia. The territory of the Maldives is approximately 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 sq mi) including the sea.
The Maldives is headed by a president who has significant authority as head of state and head of government in the presidential constitutional republic of the Maldives. The People’s Majlis, or Parliament, approves the appointments made by the president, who leads the executive branch. He is in charge of the armed forces.
Members of the unicameral Majlis and the President of the Maldives have five-year mandates. Atoll populations dictate the total number of members. 77 members were elected in the 2014 election. Members of the People’s Majlis from all around the nation reside in Malé.
Maldives, with a population of 100,000, was among the world’s 20 poorest countries at the beginning of the 1970s. The trade of indigenous items with neighboring countries and East Asian countries, such as coir rope, ambergris (Maavaharu), and coco de mer (Tavakkaashi), was a major contributor to the economy during that period.
Initiating the 1980s with the relaxation of import limitations and more opportunities for the private sector, the Maldivian government embarked on a mostly successful economic reform program. The tourism industry, which would later become vital to the country’s growth, was just getting started at the time.
After the long Buddhist period of Maldivian history, Muslim traders introduced Islam. Maldivians converted to Islam by the mid-12th century. About 99% of the Population is Muslim. According to a study in 2020, 0.3% of the population is Christian split between Catholic and Protestant.
The official language of the country is Dhivehi, which is Indo-Aryan and closely related to Sri Lankan Sinhala. Found in the historical records of monarchs (raadhavalhi), the eveyla akuru script is the first known script used to write Dhivehi. Later, a script known as Dhives Akuru was in use for a very long time. Currently in use, the script is known as Thaana and is written from right to left.
The Maldivians speak English widely: “Once the country opened up to the outside world, English was implemented as a medium of instruction at the secondary and tertiary levels of education, and its government realized the potential that tourism offered, the English language became firmly established in the country.”
Pakistan
Pakistan, formally known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is one of the major powers in South Asia. With a population of about 241.5 million, it is the sixth most populous country in the world and will have the highest Muslim population by 2024. The capital of the country is Islamabad, and its main metropolis and financial hub is Karachi.
The second-largest nation in South Asia, Pakistan is ranked 33rd in terms of area. The total land area of Pakistan is 881,913 km2 (340,509 sq mi), which is almost equivalent to the combined land areas of France and the UK. In terms of overall area, it is the 33rd largest country, however the position fluctuates based on how the disputed region of Kashmir is calculated.
Pakistan shares land borders with Afghanistan and Iran to the west, China to the north, and India to the east. Its 1,046 km (650 mi) of coastline runs along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south. It chilly, winding Wakhan Corridor across Afghanistan divides it from Tajikistan. Pakistan holds a strategic position as it lies between Central Asia, the Middle East, and South Asia.
Pakistan is a democratic parliamentary federal republic. The country’s first democratic elections were held in 1970, 23 years after independence, signaling the country’s shift from military to democratic administration. However, Yahya Khan, the military general, and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the leader of West Pakistan’s largest political party, the Pakistan People’s Party, refused to cede control after the East Pakistani Awami League, which was dominated mostly by Bengalis, defeated the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which was based out of West Pakistan.
When the East Pakistanis protested against the military’s diktat and arrest of Awami League’s leader Sheikh Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, the military started a crackdown on the Bengalis. This led to East Pakistan’s Bengali Mukti Bahini forces declaring independence and waging a war of liberation in East Pakistan. In West Pakistan, however, this war was referred to as a civil war rather than a war of liberation.
East and West Pakistan, which came into being after the 1947 partition of India based on religion, broke again based on ethnicity. West Pakistan is now Pakistan, and East Pakistan is now an independent Bangladesh.
Pakistan (West Pakistan) today is a parliamentary democracy, however, and the elections are always staged and managed by the army. The candidate who is in the good books of the army wins the election and heads the government. The government is headed by the Prime Minister but the actual power lies with the army and the dreaded intelligence wing of the army, the ISI. Hence, the Pakistan Army is infamously called “the state within the state”.
Such is the irony of Pakistani politics and military interference in it that Prime Ministers are removed, jailed, and on one occasion even hanged for not toeing the army’s agenda. No Prime Minister has completed the scheduled five-year term in the history of Pakistan.
It won’t be wrong to compare Pakistan with North Korea and Pakistan’s military with the military Junta of Myanmar. Corrupt Generals in the army have ensured that they stay above accountability and have never let any individual with a clean track record head the government.
On the economic front, Pakistan had steady economic growth for the first two decades of its independence, but military coups, corrupt politicians, and the army’s interference in civilian matters have weakened the country and its economy. Of late, the country’s economy has gone from bad to worse, and it is also on the list of FATF, (Financial Action Task Force) an international organization that monitors terror financing.
Pakistan’s economy ranks 42nd in terms of nominal gross domestic product and 23rd in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). With a great potential to join the BRICs as the world’s largest economy in the twenty-first century, Pakistan is one of the Next Eleven, a group of eleven developing nations.
As of 2013, major imbalances in economy and macro management have emerged in fundamental services including rail transportation and electricity generation, following decades of societal instability. The Indus River serves as a growth center for the economy, which is regarded as semi-industrialized.
Parts of the country, especially Balochistan, have less developed areas coexisting with the diversified economies of major centers like Karachi in Sindh and Lahore in Punjab. Pakistan is the 106th most complicated economy in the world and the 67th largest exporter in the world, according to the Economic Complexity Index.
Pakistan has the tenth-largest labor market in the world and is one of the major producers of natural resources. In 2015–16, the 7 million-person Pakistani diaspora brought in US$19.9 billion to the country’s GDP. The US, GCC nations, Australia, Canada, Japan, the UK, Norway, and Switzerland are the main sources of remittances to Pakistan. Pakistan’s contribution to global exports is decreasing, as per the World Trade Organization; in 2007, it accounted for a mere 0.13% of total global exports. Agriculture as of 2015 accounts for only 20.9% of the GDP.
With a contribution to GDP of 19.74% and employment of 24% of the total, industry is the second largest economic sector. With 12.2% of GDP, large-scale manufacturing (LSM) accounts for 66% of the sectoral share and leads the overall manufacturing sector. Small-scale manufacturing, on the other hand, makes up 4.9% of the GDP. Afghanistan and the country’s real estate market are the key drivers of Pakistan’s cement industry’s rapid expansion.
The textile industry plays a crucial role in Pakistan’s manufacturing economy. Pakistan is the eighth-biggest textile exporter in Asia, making about 9.5% of the country’s GDP and employing about 15 million people (or about 30% of the 49 million people who work). With the third-largest spinning capacity in Asia, after China and India, Pakistan is the fourth-largest producer of cotton and contributes 5% of the world’s total spinning capacity.
With a GDP share of 55.8%, the services sector has become the primary engine of economic expansion. The services sector is expanding at a faster rate than both the industrial and agricultural sectors combined.
Islam is the state religion of Pakistan. The Constitution guarantees everyone the freedom to proclaim, practice, and spread their religion, subject to morals, public order, and the law.
Muslims comprise 96.47% of the population, followed by Hindus 2.14% and Christians 1.27%. Minorities that practice Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism are also present. In Pakistan, the Kalash people retain a distinct identity and religion through ancestor worship and animism.
Pakistan is home to a multilingual, multiethnic, and multicultural society. Even though Urdu is the national language and the language of over 75% of Pakistanis, estimates of the number of languages spoken in the nation vary from 75 to 85. Urdu is the lingua franca and a symbol of national unity. With English and Urdu serving as the nation’s official languages, it serves as the primary means of communication. Legal contracts, official business, and government all use English extensively.
The Punjabis (38.8% of the total population), Pashtuns (18.2%), Sindhis (14.6%), Saraikis (12.19%), Muhajirs (7.08%), and Balochs (3.02%) were the main ethnolinguistic groupings in the nation. Numerous ethnic minorities, including the Brahuis, Hindkowans, different Gilgit-Baltistan peoples, Kashmiris, Sheedis (who are of African heritage), and Hazaras, make up the remaining population. Gujarati speakers are also spread across Karachi.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, formally the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island nation in South Asia that was formerly known as Ceylon.
The country, which resembles a teardrop, is located southwest of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. The Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar divide Sri Lanka from the Indian subcontinent’s mainland. Its largest width is 139 miles (224 km), while its maximum length is 268 miles (432 km). Sri Lanka is 65,610 sq km (25,332 sq mi) in total, with 225 km (140 km) in the east and 435 km (270 mi) in the west. This territory includes 870 sq km (336 sq mi) of inland water. Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, is situated on the country’s southwest coast.
Sri Lanka is home to about 22 million people. The bulk of the population of the country is Sinhalese, with the largest minority group, the Sri Lankan Tamils, being centered in the country’s north. The capital of the country is Colombo.
Sri Lanka is a unitary state with a democratic republican form of government, with a semi-presidential administration. A two-thirds majority in parliament can change the majority of the constitution’s provisions. Changes to some fundamental aspects, such as language, religion, and the mention of Sri Lanka as a unitary state, need to be approved by a two-thirds majority and approved in a nationwide referendum.
The 225-member unicameral Parliament of Sri Lanka is composed of 29 proportionally elected members and 196 members chosen from 22 multi-seat constituencies. Members are chosen for five-year terms through universal suffrage. After four and a half years, the president is empowered to dissolve Parliament and call, postpone, or end a legislative session if he deems it necessary.
Sri Lanka has also seen a large amount of ethnic conflicts followed by bloody insurgency from 1983 to 2009. Ethnic tensions began to show in 1983 when the LTTE launched an intermittent insurgency against the government. Following an LTTE attack on 13 soldiers, which sparked a civil war, anti-Tamil riots broke out, purportedly encouraged by hard-line Sinhalese officials. As a result, over 150,000 Tamil people fled the island and sought safety abroad.
India’s foreign policy errors led to the country arming and training the LTTE. The Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the LTTE in 2009, ending the civil war and regaining control of the entire nation under Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency. Throughout the 26-year struggle, between 60,000 and 100,000 people died.
The country went bankrupt a few years ago and is still reeling due to its poor economy. Sri Lanka’s economic problems started in 2019, when a severe economic crisis was brought on by several factors, including a growing foreign debt, massive government budget deficits from tax cuts, a decline in foreign remittances, a food crisis brought on by a requirement for organic farming and a ban on chemical fertilizers, and many more. The current economic crisis in Sri Lanka has been formally recognized by the government to be the worst in the nation’s 73-year history.
The government’s economic policies were greatly impacted by post-independence socialism. A welfare state was founded, companies were nationalized, and colonial plantations were demolished. The free market economy, which included deregulation, privatization, and the encouragement of private enterprise, was established in 1977.
Industrialization has led to an increase in the significance of food processing, textiles, telecommunications, and finance, but the production and export of commodities such as tea, rubber, coffee, sugar, and others remain vital.
The major industries in the nation’s economy include apparel, tourism, rice & tea exports, and other agricultural goods. A significant portion of foreign exchange earnings comes from workers abroad, particularly in the Middle East, in addition to these economic sectors. In 2020, the industrial sector accounted for 26.2% of GDP, the service sector 59.7%, and the agricultural sector 8.4%. The economy is composed of 85% private sector. Sri Lanka’s main trading partners are China, India, and the US.
Buddhism is the predominant religion in Sri Lanka and it is the state’s responsibility to safeguard and promote the Buddha Sasana as stated in Chapter II, Article 9. Buddhism is practiced by over 70% of the population with the majority belonging to the Theravada school of thought. With a minority of Tamils, the majority of Buddhists are Sinhalese. The next two largest religions by population are Islam and Hinduism.
A diverse range of cultures, languages, and ethnicities can be found in Sri Lanka. Sinhala and Tamil are the two official languages of Sri Lanka. According to the constitution, English is the connecting language. English is extensively utilized in academia, science, and business.
Other people who identify as Burghers speak Dutch and Portuguese Creole in varied degrees of skill, whereas few who identify as Malay speak an island-specific Creole Malay.
South East Asia
The geographical region of Southeast Asia, sometimes referred to as South East Asia or SEA, is made up of the areas east of the Indian subcontinent, northwest of mainland Australia, which is a part of Oceania, and south of mainland China. Southeast Asia shares borders with East Asia to the north, Australia and the Indian Ocean to the south, South Asia and the Bay of Bengal to the west, and Oceania and the Pacific Ocean to the east.
Southeast Asia comprises eleven nations. An estimated 673 million people are living in the subregion. Indonesia, an archipelago of numerous small and large islands, is the largest and most populated country in Southeast Asia. The population of Indonesia is more than 273.5 million.
Except for Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia, all of the other nations in South-Eastern Asia are island nations. With just 437 thousand people living there, the tiny Sultanate of Brunei is the least populous nation in Southeast Asia. With 13.3 million residents, Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is the most populated city in the subregion. The capitals of Indonesia and Thailand, Jakarta and Bangkok, respectively, are two more sizable cities in Southeast Asia.
The Southeast Asian nations have different political systems. Countries, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, have superior managerial capabilities and processes and are progressing further toward liberalization. In contrast, the transition economies of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar remain far behind in the pursuit of open and competitive societies, and they have a lot to learn about public management.
The world knows Myanmar, but not for good reasons. It has always been characterized by military junta rule and coups. Ethnic cleansing and religious persecution have been carried out by both the elected government and the military junta.
Except for Timor Leste, all the countries of this region are members of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations).
Southeast Asia is one of the world’s widest culturally diverse regions. The region is home to various ethnic groups and languages. Throughout history, colonial, Indian, Chinese, and Muslim cultures have all had a profound impact on Southeast Asia, shaping the political and cultural institutions of the region.
Southeast Asia is one of the most susceptible regions to climate change. It experiences heat waves, rising sea levels, droughts, floods, and increasingly severe and erratic weather patterns.
The region is characterized by intense seismic and volcanic activity and is located close to the meeting point of two geological plates. The main plate in the area is called the Sunda Plate, and it contains nearly all of Southeast Asia except Myanmar, northern Thailand, northern Laos, northern Vietnam, and northern Luzon in the Philippines.
Islam is one of the major faiths in Southeast Asia, with roughly 240 million followers, or 42% of the total population. The majority of these adherents are found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as in some areas of Southern Thailand and the Philippines. There are sizable minorities in the other states of Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia’s Muslim population is predominantly Sunni, adhering to the Shafi`i school of fiqh, or Islamic law. It is one of the six recognized religions in Indonesia, and the official religion of Brunei and Malaysia.
Brunei
Brunei, officially known as Brunei Darussalam is a Southeast Asian nation located on Borneo’s northern shore and made up of two disconnected portions. With the exception of its South China Sea coastline, the whole state of Sarawak, Malaysia, encircles it; the district of Limbang in Sarawak divides its area in half. Borneo’s sovereign states are limited to Brunei; Malaysia and Indonesia share the rest of the island.
The total area of Brunei is approximately 5,765 square kilometers (2,226 sq mi) on the island of Borneo. Together with Malaysia, it has a border of 381 km (237 mi) and 161 km (100 mi) of coastline with the South China Sea. There are 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) in its exclusive economic zone, and its territorial seas cover 500 square kilometers (193 sq mi).
The population of Brunie is close to 0.5 million, with almost 100,000 of them residing in Bandar Seri Begawan, which is the capital and largest city. Brunei is a monarchy and is ruled by the Sultan. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has been the head of Brunei since 1967. The Malay Islamic Monarchy’s national tradition and the constitution both oversee Brunei’s political structure. The three pillars of the Malay Islamic Monarchy are the governmental system established by the monarchy, the Islamic religion, and Malay culture. English common law and Islamic jurisprudence, including sharia, are combined to form the governance of Brunei.
Brunei has vast reserves of natural gas and petroleum that facilitate the nation’s prosperity. Brunei’s economic boom in the 1990s and 2000s led to the country’s industrialization; between 1999 and 2008, the GDP increased by 56%. By purchasing power parity, Brunei’s gross domestic output per capita places it seventh in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2011, the IMF calculated that Brunei was one of only two nations (the other being Libya) with a zero public debt-to-GDP ratio.
After Singapore, Brunei has the second-highest Human Development Index among the countries in Southeast Asia. Roughly 90% of its GDP comes from the extraction of natural gas and crude oil. With an average daily production of about 167,000 barrels (26,600 m3), Brunei ranks fourth among oil producers in Southeast Asia. In addition, Brunei is the ninth-largest gas exporter in the world, producing about 25.3 million cubic meters (890 million cubic feet) of liquified natural gas each day. Due to its abundant natural gas and petroleum resources, Forbes also lists Brunei as the fifth richest country in the world out of 182.
More than 80% of the population follows Sunni Islam, 7% Christianity, 7% Buddhism, and 5% other (including Indigenous beliefs. According to the religious law of Brunei, the right of non-Muslims to practice their faith is guaranteed by the 1959 Constitution. However, celebrations and prayers must be confined to places of worship and private residences. Upon adopting the Sharia Penal Code, the Ministry of Religious Affairs banned Christmas decorations in public places but did not forbid the celebration of Christmas in places of worship and private premises.
Standard Malay is the official language of Brunei, and it is written using both the Arabic (Jawi) and Latin (Rumi) alphabets. Brunei Malay, or Melayu Brunei, is the primary language spoken there. Despite being roughly 84% cognate and largely mutually intelligible with standard Malay, Brunei Malay differs significantly from both it and the other Malay dialects. The majority of people in Brunei speak English, which is also frequently used as an official language for commerce. From school to university education, English is the language of instruction and is utilized in commerce. Additionally, a large number of people speak Chinese, and the Chinese minority in Brunei speaks a variety of dialects.
Cambodia
Cambodia, formally the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Mainland Southeast Asia, spanning an area of 181,035 square kilometers (69,898 square miles), bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
Cambodia is completely enclosed by tropical regions, specifically between latitudes 10° and 15°N and longitudes 102° and 108°E. Its coastline stretches 443 kilometers (275 miles) along the Gulf of Thailand. A low-lying central plain, encircled by low mountains and uplands, with the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) and the upper portions of the Mekong River delta, define the landscape of Cambodia.
The population of Cambodia is 1.7 million. The capital and most populous city is Phnom Penh.
In Cambodia, the 1993 constitution serves as the framework for political activity. Operating as a parliamentary representative democracy, the government is a constitutional monarchy. The King of Cambodia is the head of state, and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The National Assembly advises and approves the king’s appointment of the prime minister. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister and ministerial appointees.
There is only one major party in Cambodia, the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Currently, the CPP holds 58 of the 62 Senate seats and 120 of the 125 National Assembly seats. Following the 2017 assault on free press and political dissent, Cambodia has been referred to be a de facto one-party state.
During the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1978, Cambodia saw ethnic cleansing and genocide of civilians. Estimates as to how many people were killed by the Khmer Rouge regime range from approximately 1 to 3 million; a cited figure is 2 million (about a quarter of the population)
Thanks to two decades of economic expansion, Cambodia is now a global leader in the fight against poverty. Because of its remarkable achievement, the World Bank Group has reclassified the nation of Southeast Asia, which survived a bloody civil war, as having a lower-middle income economy. IMF’s yearly average GDP growth from 2001 to 2010 was 7.7%, according to the Economist, placing it among the top ten countries in the world for average annual GDP growth.
Tourism was Cambodia’s fastest-growing sector, with tourists rising from 219,000 in 1997 to over 2 million in 2007. In 2004 exports were valued at US$1.6 billion, while inflation was 1.7%. The per capita GDP of Cambodia is $1,309 nominally and $4,022 PPP. The majority of rural households relied on agriculture and its associated subsectors for their livelihood. The main exports from Cambodia include rubber, fish, rice, lumber, and clothing.
Over 95% of the population in Cambodia practices Theravada Buddhism, which is the official religion of the nation and is represented by an estimated 4,392 monastery temples spread around the nation. Native American animism and Hinduism have a strong influence on Cambodian Buddhism.
Islam is followed by about 2% of the population. Cambodia’s Muslim population is reported to be 80% ethnic Cham.
The Austroasiatic language family includes the Khmer language as a member. Many older Cambodians still speak French, which was originally the official language of Indochina. Some institutions and universities that receive funding from the French government also use French as their medium of instruction.
A dialect spoken across Cambodia, Cambodian French is a holdover from the nation’s colonial past and is occasionally employed in official settings, especially in courts. English has been used more frequently since 1993 when it supplanted French as the primary foreign language. Many universities offer extensive English instruction, and the language is also heavily used in the press. Additionally, street signs are now bilingual in both Khmer and English.
Indonesia
Indonesia, a nation in southeast Asia, formally known as the Republic of Indonesia, is located between the Pacific and Indian oceans. Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and portions of Borneo and New Guinea are among the more than 17,000 islands that make up this archipelago.
At 1,904,569 square kilometers (735,358 square miles), Indonesia is the largest island nation in the world and the fourteenth largest nation overall. Indonesia is the most populated country with a majority of Muslims, with over 279 million inhabitants, making it the fourth most populous country in the world overall. Over half of all people in the country live in Java, the most populous island in the world.
In addition to its marine borders with Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and India, Indonesia also shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and the eastern portion of Malaysia. Indonesia has a sizable population and heavily populated areas, but it also has sizable wilderness areas that sustain some of the greatest levels of biodiversity in the world.
Indonesia is located between longitudes 95°E and 141°E and latitudes 11°S and 6°N. Stretching 5,120 kilometers (3,181 miles) from east to west and 1,760 kilometers (1,094 miles) from north to south, this transcontinental nation spans both Southeast Asia and Oceania, making it the largest archipelagic state in the world.
Around 6,000 of Indonesia’s 17,504 islands—of which 16,056 are officially recognized by the UN—are inhabited, according to the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investments Affairs of the nation. The islands are dispersed across both sides of the equator. The largest are Java, Borneo (shared with Malaysia and Brunei), Sulawesi, Sumatra, and New Guinea (shared with Papua New Guinea).
Indonesia has an elected legislature and is a presidential republic. Nine of its 38 provinces have special autonomy status. The world’s second-most populous urban area is Jakarta, the capital of the nation.
Following the fall of the New Order in 1998, political and governmental structures have undergone extensive revisions, with four constitutional amendments rebuilding the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Leading the list of these is the state’s continued unity despite granting authority and power to different regional entities.
Commander-in-chief of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI), head of state and government, and overseer of foreign policy, domestic governance, and policy-making are all positions held by the President of Indonesia. Up to two successive five-year terms are permissible for the president to hold.
The MPR is made up of two houses: the 136-member Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah, DPD) and the 575-member People’s Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR). The DPR oversees the executive branch and enacts laws. Its position in national administration has significantly expanded as a result of reforms since 1998, and the DPD is a new chamber for issues pertaining to regional management.
Indonesia has a mixed economy, meaning that both the government and the private sector are important. The nation, which is the only G20 member state in Southeast Asia, is categorized as a newly industrialized nation with the greatest economy in the area. Based on estimates for 2023, its nominal GDP ranks 16th in the world, while its PPP GDP ranks 7th, with expected values of US$4.393 trillion and US$1.417 trillion, respectively. The per capita GDP in PPP is US$15,835, while nominal per capita GDP is US$5,108.
The largest sector of the economy, accounting for 43.4% of GDP in 2018, is services, followed by industry (39.7%) and agriculture (12.8%). At 47.7% of the labor force, it has employed more people than other sectors since 2009; it is followed by industry (21.9%) and agriculture (30.2%).
The government formally recognizes only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Indigenous religions are only partially acknowledged, even though the constitution guarantees religious freedom. In 2018, Indonesia became the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world with 231 million adherents (86.7%), of which 99% were Sunnis.
Christians make up the majority in numerous provinces in eastern Indonesia, accounting for about 10% of the country’s population. Most Buddhists are Chinese Indonesians, whereas most Hindus are Balinese.
The official language of the nation is Indonesian, a Malay dialect derived from its prestige dialect that served as the lingua franca for centuries throughout the archipelago.
There are almost 1,300 different native ethnic groups in the ethnically diverse nation of Indonesia.The majority of Indonesians are descended from Austronesian peoples, presumably from Taiwan, whose languages started in Proto-Austronesian. The Melanesians, who live in eastern Indonesia (the Maluku Islands, Western New Guinea, and the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands), are another significant group.
With 40.2% of the population, Javanese people make up the largest ethnic group and hold political sway. They can be found in significant quantities throughout the majority of provinces as well as in the central to eastern regions of Java. The next largest group is the Sundanese (15.4%), who are followed by the Malay, Batak, Madurese, Betawi, Minangkabau, and Bugis. Strong regional identities coexist with an identity as a nation in Indonesia.
Laos
Lao is the only landlocked nation in Southeast Asia is Laos. It is formally known as the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Laos, which is located in the center of the Indochinese Peninsula, is bordered to the northwest by Myanmar (Burma), to the east by Vietnam, to the southeast by Cambodia, and the west and southwest by Thailand. Vientiane is the largest and capital city in Vietnam.
Laos is located between latitudes 14° and 23°N (with a tiny portion south of 14°) and longitudes 100° and 108°E. The region’s densely forested terrain is primarily made up of rocky mountains, the tallest of which is Phou Bia at 2,818 meters (9,245 feet), with a small amount of lowlands and plateaus.
The Mekong River forms a substantial part of the western boundary with Thailand, and the mountains of the Annamite Range constitute much of the eastern border with Vietnam, and the Luang Prabang Range is the northwestern border with the Thai highlands. The Xiangkhoang Plateau lies to the north, while the Bolaven Plateau is located at the southernmost point.
Lao PDR is among the few socialist countries in the world that publicly supports communism. It is the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) that is the only recognized political party. Due to Laos’ one-party system, the party head, or general secretary, is the supreme leader and has complete control over the state and its affairs.
As of 22 March 2021, the head of state is President Thongloun Sisoulith. As of January 2021, he holds the de facto leadership of Laos as General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party. Sonexay Siphandone, the prime minister, is now in charge. The party uses its 61-member Central Committee and 11-member Politburo to decide on government policies.
The economy of Laos is reliant on trade and investment with its neighbors, Vietnam, Thailand, and China, particularly in the north. Pakxe has also enjoyed growth based on cross-border trade with Thailand and Vietnam. The Obama administration in the US proclaimed Laos to be free of Marxist-Leninist rule in 2009, even though the country’s government is still formally communist.
They also removed restrictions on Laotian businesses obtaining loans from the US Export-Import Bank. With US$5.395 billion invested in the Laotian economy since 1989, China remained the largest foreign investor as of 2016. Vietnam invested US$3.108 billion, making it the third highest investor and Thailand invested US$4.489 billion.
80% of jobs are still supported by subsistence farming, which still contributes half of the GDP. The country has the lowest percentage of arable land—4%—and the lowest percentage of permanent cropland—0.3%, both of which are utilized in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Just 28% of the overall area under cultivation in 2012 consisted of irrigated lands, which in turn made up only 12% of all agricultural land.
About 80% of all arable land is used for rice cultivation, making rice the main crop in agriculture. Rice is a self-sufficient crop for about 77% of Lao agricultural households. Of all the rice types in the Greater Mekong Subregion, Laos may have the most.
Mineral resources are abundant in Laos. Developing significant quantities of coal, gold, bauxite, tin, copper, and other valuable metals is a goal of the government, which views the mining sector as a vital business. Laos’s mining sector has drawn significant attention from foreign direct investments.
The state of Laos’s economy has greatly benefited from this industry. There are about 540 mineral deposits that have been found, investigated, and mined, including gold, copper, zinc, lead, and other minerals. The nation can also generate and export significant amounts of hydroelectric energy due to its hilly topography and abundance of water resources. Laos does import gas and petroleum.
Buddhists make up 66% of the population of Laos, followed by Christians (5%), Muslims (0.1%), Jews (0.1%), and other or traditional people (32.3%), the majority of whom are Satsana Phi practitioners. In Laos, Buddhism has always been one of the most significant social forces. Since Theravada Buddhism was introduced to the nation, native polytheism and Buddhism have coexisted amicably.
The official and majority language is Lao, a language of the Tai-Kadai language family. However, only slightly more than half of the population speaks Lao natively. The remainder, particularly in rural areas, speak ethnic minority languages. The Lao alphabet, which evolved sometime between the 13th and 14th centuries, was derived from the ancient Khmer script and is very similar to Thai script. Languages like Khmu (Austroasiatic) and Hmong (Hmong-Mien) are spoken by minorities, particularly in the midland and highland areas.
Several Laotian sign languages are used in areas with high rates of congenital deafness. French is used in government and commerce, and Laos is a member of the French-speaking organization of La Francophonie.
Malaysia
Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia. The South China Sea divides the federal constitutional monarchy into Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia, which is part of Borneo, and thirteen states and three federal territories. In addition to its marine borders with Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia, Peninsular Malaysia also shares a land border with Thailand. Along with Brunei and Indonesia, East Malaysia borders the Philippines and Vietnam on land and across the sea.
With a population of more than 33 million people, Malaysia is the 43rd most populated country in the world. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia is located at Tanjung Piai in the Malaysian state of Johor.
With 330,803 km² (127,724 sq mi) of total land area, Malaysia is the 66th largest country in the world. Geographical features like the Perlis River, the Golok River, and the Pagalayan Canal play a major role in defining the land borders, while some ocean limits are still up for debate.
In Southeast Asia, Malaysia is the only federal country with an elective constitutional monarchy system. The legislative Westminster system, which is a holdover from British control, serves as a close model for the current government. Known by his official title, Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the King is the head of state. Of the nine Malay states’ hereditary rulers, the King is chosen for a five-year tenure.
The selection process is not followed by the other four states, whose governors are nominated. From January 31, 2019, Abdullah from Pahang has held the role, which is rotated among the nine by informal arrangement. The selection of ministers and members of the upper house has been primarily ceremonial since 1994 when the constitution was changed.
The legislative branch of the federal government is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, which is also the largest city in the nation. The administrative center, or Putrajaya, serves as the location of the federal government’s judicial and executive branches’ respective seats. The executive branch includes the Cabinet, ministry, and agency.
State and federal legislatures each have a certain amount of legislative authority. The chamber of Representatives, which is the lower chamber, and the Senate, which is the upper house, make up the bicameral federal parliament. Single-member constituencies elect the 222 members of the House of Representatives for a maximum of five-year terms. Each of the 70 senators has a three-year tenure; the 13 state assemblies elect 26 senators, and the King appoints the 44 senators who are nominated by the prime minister.
The government is chosen by a first-past-the-post method, while the parliament is governed by a multiparty system. At least once every five years, there are elections for the legislature.
Malaysia is a recently industrialized, somewhat open, state-oriented market economy. Its nominal GDP ranks it as the 36th largest economy in the world, while its PPP ranks it 31st. 53.6% of the GDP was accounted for by the big service sector in 2017, 37.6% by the industrial sector, and approximately 8.8% by the minor agriculture sector. The official unemployment rate in Malaysia is a low 3.9%. Its foreign exchange reserves are the world’s 24th-largest. It boasts the 34th largest labor force in the world, with over 15 million workers. In terms of production, Malaysia’s automobile sector is the 22nd largest in the world.
Malaysia ranks 25th in terms of imports and 23rd in terms of exports worldwide. Nonetheless, disparities in wealth do persist across various ethnic communities. Approximately 25% of the population is Chinese, however, they own 70% of the nation’s market capitalization.
Chinese companies operating in Malaysia are a component of the wider bamboo network, which is a group of Chinese companies operating abroad in Southeast Asia that are related by blood and culture. Manufacturing and international trade are the main industries, with the nearby Strait of Malacca serving as a shipping route. Petroleum is a significant export from Malaysia, along with other natural and agricultural resources. In the past, Malaysia was the world’s top producer of palm oil, tin, and rubber.
The economy of the nation is heavily influenced by manufacturing, despite Malaysia’s economic structure shifting away from it, Malaysia continues to be one of the biggest palm oil producers in the world.
Islam is recognized as the “religion of the Federation” under the constitution, which also allows religious freedom. Ethnicity and religious beliefs have a strong correlation, according to data from the 2020 Population and Housing Census. A little over 63.5% of people follow Islam, 18.7% follow Buddhism, 9.1% follow Christianity, 6.1% follow Hinduism, and 1.3% follow Confucianism, Taoism, and other traditional Chinese religions. 2.7% either gave no information, practiced another religion, or indicated no religion at all. The majority population of the states of Sarawak, Penang, and Kuala Lumpur’s federal area is non-Muslim.
Standardized Malay, or Malaysian Malay, is the official language of Malaysia and its national language. The government officially uses “Bahasa Melayu” (the Malay language) to refer to the official language, but both Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Melayu are still in use. The use of the traditional Jawi script is still permitted by the National Language Act of 1967, which designates the Latin (Rumi) script as the official script of the national language.
According to the National Language Act of 1967, English is still a widely used second language and may be used for specific official objectives. In Sarawak, English and Malay are both recognized as official state languages. English used to be the de facto administrative language, but during the 1969 race riots (the 13 May event), Malay took over.
English that is adapted from British English is called Malaysian English, or Malaysian Standard English. Along with Manglish, a colloquial version of English heavily influenced by Malay, Chinese, and Tamil, Malaysian English is frequently used in business.
Myanmar
Myanmar is a country in Southeast Asia, formally known as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, but often referred to as Burma until 1989. Approximately 55 million people live in this country, which is the biggest in terms of area in Mainland Southeast Asia. The Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal border it to the south and southwest. It has borders with Bangladesh and India to the northwest, China to the northeast, Laos and Thailand to the east and southeast, and Yangon (previously Rangoon) is the largest city in the country, while Naypyidaw is its capital.
The whole area of Myanmar is 262,000 square milesOne-quarter or 678,500 square kilometers. It is situated between longitudes 92° and 102°E and latitudes 9° and 29°N. One quarter of Myanmar’s overall perimeter is made up of 1,930 km (1,200 mi) of continuous coastline that runs along the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea to the southwest and south.
According to its 2008 constitution, Myanmar is a de facto unitary assembly-independent republic. However, in February 2021, the Tatmadaw overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian administration. The Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services, Min Aung Hlaing, took over as acting president of Myanmar in February 2021 after the country’s military proclaimed a one-year state of emergency. Hlaing also became the Prime Minister after serving as Chairman of the State Administration Council.
In September 2008, Myanmar’s military leadership drafted and published the country’s third constitution since independence. The country is administered as a parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature (with an executive president answerable to the legislature), with 25% of the legislators appointed by the military and the remainder elected in general elections.
According to the World Bank, Myanmar’s GDP grew at one of the quickest rates in the world in 2017 and nominally reached US$76.09 billion in 2019. The GDP was predicted to be purchasing power adjusted at US$327.629 billion in 2017. While they can legally rent, foreigners are not allowed to own property. Myanmar launched the Yangon Stock Exchange, the country’s first stock exchange, in December 2014. The informal economy’s proportion in Myanmar is one of the biggest in the world and is directly tied to corruption, smuggling, and illegal commercial operations. In addition, decades of civil war and upheaval have contributed to Myanmar’s current levels of poverty and lack of economic advancement.
The Thai border is the main route via which goods are transported (where most illegal drugs are shipped) Notably, Myanmar is among the world’s main opium suppliers. Rice accounts for almost 60% of the nation’s total cultivated land area, making it the primary agricultural product. 97% of all food grains produced are rice, measured in weight.
Myanmar is home to numerous religious communities. There are long-standing religious structures and orders in existence. Non-Buddhists find it difficult, if not impossible, to enlist in the military or secure government employment, which is the primary path to success in the nation.
Christians and Muslims are also subject to religious persecution. About 3,000 villages have been demolished in eastern Myanmar in the last ten years, making this persecution and targeting of civilians especially noteworthy. In order to avoid persecution, more than 200,000 Muslims have moved to Bangladesh by 2007. Estimates suggest that between 80% and 89% of people follow Buddhism. Ninety-seven percent of people in Myanmar identify as Buddhists, according to the 2014 Census. Most people are familiar with Theravāda Buddhism.
Four major language families are spoken in Myanmar: Tai-Kadai, Indo-European, Austroasiatic, and Sino-Tibetan. The most commonly spoken languages are Sino-Tibetan. Burmese, Karen, Kachin, Chin, and Chinese (mostly Hokkien) are among them. Shan is the main Tai-Kadai language. The three main Austroasiatic languages spoken in Myanmar are Mon, Palaung, and Wa. English and Pali, the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism, are the two main Indo-European languages. In total, more than a hundred languages are spoken. Many, if not all, of them, may have vanished after a few generations because many of them are only known to small tribes across the nation.
Philippines
The Philippines, formally known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a Southeast Asian archipelago nation. In the western Pacific Ocean, ,omprises of 7,641 islands, with a total size of 300,000 square kilometers (115,831 sq mi) of land (including inland bodies of water), which are essentially grouped in three primary geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
The Philippines is bordered to the east by the Philippine Sea and to the southwest by the Sulu Sea. It stretches 1,850 kilometers (1,150 mi) from the South China Sea to the Celebes Sea. The country’s 11 major islands are Luzon, Mindanao, Samar, Negros, Palawan, Panay, Mindoro, Leyte, Cebu, Bohol and Masbate, nearly 95 percent of its total land area. The Philippines has the fifth-longest coastline in the world, at 36,289 kilometers (22,549 mi), and its exclusive economic zone is 2,263,816 km2 (874,064 sq mi). Its marine borders are shared by Taiwan to the north, China to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, and Palau to the east and southeast.
It is the twelfth most populated country in the world, home to a wide variety of races and cultures. The most populous city in the nation is Quezon City, which is part of Metro Manila, and Manila serves as the capital.
The Philippines is a constitutional republic with a presidential system of administration and a democratic government. In addition to serving as commander in chief of the armed forces, the president also serves as head of state and head of government.
The eligible citizens elect the president directly to a six-year term in office. The president selects and leads members of the cabinet as well as representatives of other federal departments and organizations. The Senate, which has members elected to six-year terms, and the House of Representatives, which has members elected to three-year terms, make up the bicameral Congress. Famous families, such as political dynasties or celebrities, typically control the political landscape in the Philippines.
Representatives are chosen via party lists and legislative districts, while senators are elected at-large. The Supreme Court, which is made up of a chief justice and fourteen associate justices chosen by the president from nominations made by the Judicial and Bar Council, is the ultimate authority on matters pertaining to the judiciary.
Currently ranked 34th in the world, the Philippines’ nominal gross domestic product is expected to reach US$435.7 billion in 2023. The Philippine economy, which is still developing and primarily based on agriculture, is shifting toward industry and services as it becomes more industrialized. In 2022, there were approximately 49 million people working in the nation, and the unemployment rate was 4.3%. As of April 2023, gross international reserves were worth US$100.761 million. The debt-to-GDP ratio showed resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, falling to 60.9 percent at the end of 2022 from a 17-year high of 63.7 percent at the end of the third quarter of that year.
The top export destinations for the nation as of 2020 were China, the US, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Leading products exported from the nation were semiconductors, electrical transformers, insulated wiring, office equipment, and integrated circuits.
Despite the fact that the Philippines is a secular nation with religious freedom, the vast majority of Filipinos place a high value on religion and have a very low population of unbelievers. About 89% of people identify as Christians, making it the most common religion.
The nation is the largest Christian nation in Asia and home to the third-largest Roman Catholic population in the world. Iglesia ni Cristo, the Philippine Independent Church, and Seventh-day Adventistism are among the various Christian faiths that make up the remaining 78.8% of the population, according to 2020 census statistics. Between 5% and 7% of people identified as Protestants in 2010. The Philippines serves as a training ground for foreign priests and nuns and sends out a large number of Christian missionaries worldwide.
According to the 2020 census, Islam is the second most popular religion in the nation, making up 6.4% of the total population. The majority of Muslims are Sunni Muslims who reside in Mindanao and the neighboring islands.
The indigenous religions practiced by about 0.2 percent of the population[416] have customs and beliefs that are frequently assimilated into those of Islam and Christianity. Approximately 0.04% of people practice Buddhism, mostly Chinese-American Filipinos.
Nineteen of the 186 languages listed by Ethnologue for the Philippines are extinct, leaving only eighteen extant languages. As a subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which belong to the Austronesian language family, the majority of native languages are spoken in the Philippines. There are additional spoken forms of Spanish-based creole, called Chavacano.
The distinct vocabularies of numerous Philippine Negrito languages have withstood Austronesian acculturation. Languages used in the nation are English and Filipino. Most people in Metro Manila speak Filipino, which is a standardized form of Tagalog. Filipino and English are used in government, education, print, broadcast media, and business, typically with a third local language; code-switching between English and other local languages, notably Tagalog, is common.
The Philippine Constitution stipulates that learning Arabic and Spanish is optional. While Spanish loanwords are still found in Philippine languages, Spanish’s role as a lingua franca has significantly decreased since the late nineteenth century. In Islamic schools in Mindanao, Arabic is the main language taught.
The most common languages spoken in Philippines are Bikol, Ilocano, Tagalog, Binisaya, Hiligaynon, and Cebuano. As instructional media, 19 regional languages serve as auxiliary official languages.
Singapore
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West Asia
West Asia is the westernmost part of Asia, sometimes referred to as Western Asia or Southwest Asia. As per the definition provided by the majority of scholars, UN agencies, and other establishments, the subregion encompasses the following areas: Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, the Armenian Highlands, the Levant, the island of Cyprus, the Sinai Peninsula, and the southern portion of the Caucasus Region (Transcaucasia). The region is divided from Europe by the waterways of the Turkish Straits and the watershed of the Greater Caucasus, and it is divided from Africa by the Suez Canal in Egypt. To its northeast is Central Asia, and to its east is South Asia.
With a population of roughly 313 million, West Asia occupies an area of 5,994,935 km2 (2,314,657 sq mi). Thirteen of the twenty UN members that are either entirely or partially located in the region are Arab nations. With over 79 million, Turkey is the most populous nation in the region. These are followed by Yemen, with roughly 29 million people, then Saudi Arabia and Iraq, with roughly 33 million each.
Given that Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, is situated on a small portion of European soil, Turkey is also a transcontinental nation. Azerbaijan and Georgia are two more transcontinental nations in Western Asia. However, the majority of people living in these nations are in Asia.
With a little over 1.2 million people, Cyprus is the least populous nation in Western Asia. Cyprus is commonly regarded as a European nation from a political and economic standpoint, even though it is technically a part of Asia. It is included in the European Union.
The capital of Iraq, Baghdad, is home to over 8.7 million people, making it the most populous metropolis in West Asia. Riyadh and Ankara, the capitals of Saudi Arabia and Turkey are two other significant population hubs in the subregion.
The region borders Central Asia and South Asia to the northeast and east, and it is separated from Europe to the northwest and north by the Turkish Straits and the Greater Caucasus draining divide. To the southwest, it is separated from Africa by the Suez Canal. Situated south of Eastern Europe and east of Southern Europe is the region.
The eight primary seas that encircle the region are the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Sea.
The majority of the West Asian nations, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, are monarchies. In contrast, parliamentary democracies exist in Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, and Lebanon.
Syria is governed by a dictatorial regime and Yemen has various power centers due to the ongoing civil and ethnic war.
Though some countries in the region are developing at a rapid pace, wars, internal and sectarian conflicts, and sanctions have crippled the economies of Armenia, Syria, and Iraq.
One of the main issues in this region of the world that the international community has deliberately not addressed is the Israel-Palestine dispute. Because of the West’s unwavering support for Israel, especially the US, Israel can flagrantly violate human rights. Despite numerous UN resolutions, Israel—which occupies Palestine—has been charged with genocide and religious cleansing. The country has always been in a state of war due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the occupation of the West Bank, and illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands.
West Asia’s economy is diversified, and the region is growing economically. The largest economies in the region are those of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Since the region contains over half of the world’s oil reserves and over 40% of its natural gas reserves, petroleum is the main industry in the regional economy.
West Asia is the birthplace of four major religions, including the two biggest faiths in the world, Islam and Christianity, as well as Druze and Judaism. While Christianity and Judaism are not as prevalent as they once were, Islam is the most common religion in West Asia.
In Armenia and Georgia, Eastern Orthodoxy is the most common faith, while many old Eastern Christian communities still exist in Azerbaijan. More than 3 million people belonging to the Christian faith live in West Asia’s Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine.
There is a small minority of other faiths that live in West Asia such as Mandaeism, Shabakism, Zoroastrianism, Yarsanism, and Yazidism.
The three languages that predominate in West Asia are Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, each of which has a population of about 70 million. These are followed by smaller populations that speak Kurdish, Azerbaijani, Hebrew, Armenian, and Neo-Aramaic. Hebrew became the dominant language in Israel in the second half of the 20th century, but Neo-Aramaic (spoken by modern Arameans, Assyrians, and Chaldeans) and Greek both remain present in their respective territories as minority languages.
The dominance of Arabic and Turkish is the result of the medieval Arab and Turkic invasions, which began with the Islamic conquests of the 7th century AD. These invasions replaced the formerly dominant Aramaic in the region of Syria and Greek in Anatolia.
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Cyprus
- Georgia
- Iraq
- Israel
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Lebanon
- Oman
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- State of Palestine
- Syria
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
- Yemen
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Cyprus
Georgia
Iran
Iran, also known as Persia is located in the West. It borders Afghanistan to the east, Pakistan to the southeast, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan, and Iraq to the west and northwest. It is the seventeenth largest country in the world, with a size of 1.64 million square kilometers (0.63 million square miles).
Iran is the 17th most populous country in the world, home to almost 90 million people. With almost 16 million people living in its metropolitan region, Tehran is the country’s capital and largest metropolis.
Iran, like its neighbors Iraq and Afghanistan, has seen their ups and downs. The Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979 led to tectonic shifts in its internal and external policies. One of the results of the revolution was the siege of the US Embassy for nearly two years.
The US and its allies in the Middle East see Iran as their arch-enemy. Iran has a large amount of oil and gas deposits, and its economy depends on them. However, due to sanctions from Western countries, its economy is not as good as that of its oil-rich neighbors.
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
State of Palestine
Syria
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
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