Asia

III

The People

The peoples of Asia are more diverse than those of any other continent, and they are highly concentrated in a small proportion of the total area, chiefly in southern and eastern Asia. Average population densities in the northern and interior areas are low by any standard, as are those in most parts of south-west Asia. Mongolia has the lowest population density of any country in the world— fewer than 2 people per sq km (5 per sq mi). People in these areas mainly live in river oases, such as the Tashkent oasis, where population densities are quite high. In Siberia, settlements are located primarily along the Trans-Siberian railway and its branches. In East Asia, South East Asia, and most of South Asia, people are crowded on to relatively small areas of riverine lowlands, where population densities can exceed 4,000 people per sq km (10,360 per sq mi). Singapore is the world's most densely populated country with an average of more than 4,400 people per sq km (11,410 per sq mi). In China 90 per cent of the country's 1.1 billion population is concentrated in the eastern third of the country. Even in highly industrialized Japan most people live in the limited lowland areas, where the largest cities are located.

A

Ethnology and Languages

Mongoloid peoples are predominant in East Asia and mainland South East Asia, but Malayo-Polynesian stock prevails in the archipelagos of South East Asia. In South Asia, about two-thirds of the population consists of Caucasoid stocks, resembling the peoples of the Middle East: Caucasoid peoples also dominate in south-west Asia and in much of Central Asia. In southern India darker-skinned people speaking Dravidian languages (see Indian languages: Dravidian Languages) are the dominant group. Mongoloid peoples inhabit the Himalayan and Tibetan area, extending through Mongolia into eastern Siberia. The primary ethnic group in Siberia is Caucasoid, of European origin (see Race).

Ethnicity rather than race is a more meaningful approach to the population diversity of Asia. Sinitic culture, and cultures that are influenced by that of China but possess their own languages, are characteristic of East Asia; these peoples include the Chinese, Tibetans, Mongols, Koreans, and Japanese. South East Asia is more diversified, although peninsular and archipelagic South East Asia is mainly Malay. Burmese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Khmer inhabit mainland South East Asia, along with a number of other ethnolinguistic groups. In South Asia, the peoples residing in the north speak a variety of Hindi-related Indo-European languages; but in the south the Dravidian languages of the indigenous people of the Indian Peninsula are most important. In south-west Asia, Persian (Farsi), Arabic, Turkish, and Hebrew are the important languages identifying various ethnic groups. Altaic languages are numerous in Central Asia and in western China, although Russian today is the dominant language in Siberia. See also Indo-Iranian Languages; Austronesian Languages; Semitic Languages; Sino-Tibetan Languages; Slavic Languages.

B

Demography

The total population of the continent exceeds 3.2 billion. East Asia alone contains about 1.3 billion people, South East Asia about 450 million, South Asia about 1.1 billion, South-west Asia about 200 million, and former Soviet Asia at least 100 million. The average population density of 71 people per sq km (182 per sq mi) is the second highest of any continent, but the population is very unevenly distributed.

For the most part, the people of Asia are rural dwellers, but urbanization has proceeded rapidly in recent decades. The urbanized population accounts for a majority in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. The Philippines and Malaysia also have relatively large urban populations. Except in the Sinitic world, and in parts of south-west and Central Asia, the large city is an innovation almost exclusively associated with the expansion of European colonization from the beginnings of the 16th century. The margins of South and South East Asia are dotted with large cities, most of which developed their present importance as a result of European economic and political domination; among these are Karachi, Mumbai, Colombo, Chennai, Kolkata, Rangoon (Yangon), George Town (Pinang), Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Phnom Penh, and Hanoi. Bangkok is not a former colonial centre, but it resembles the others in most other respects. Even in China, many of the larger coastal cities were strongly influenced by the European impact. In Japan, more than 75 per cent of the population is now urban. In most other countries the urban population ranges between 20 per cent and 40 per cent. In south-west and Central Asia, ancient traditions of city building were reinforced by Muslim culture, giving rise to cities such as Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, and İstanbul. Modern urbanization is reflected in such cities as Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tashkent, Beirut, and Ankara. Even so, in some countries of south-west and Central Asia, urban populations are a small proportion of the whole. Nevertheless, Asia accounts for more than half the world's urban population, and that proportion will increase in the future because Asian cities are growing at twice the rate of the overall populations.

The urban growth reflects both immigration and rapid population growth in most countries. The annual rate of population increase for the continent as a whole is about 1.8 per cent. Several countries have significantly lower growth rates, including Japan, China, and Singapore, and Taiwan. Although the demographic forecast is for large and rapid population increases in Asia, declining growth rates in China, the Philippines, and India suggest that a population explosion is unlikely. The populations of all Asian countries are young, however, which means continued population growth in the foreseeable future, as well as large numbers of entrants into the labour market each year in countries ill prepared to provide them with employment.

C

Religion

Asia fostered all the principal religions of the world and many minor ones as well. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam originated in south-west Asia; Buddhism and Hinduism in India; and the so-called Chinese religion, composed of Confucian and Daoist elements, as well as ancestor worship, in China. Although its historical impact, both direct and indirect, was great, Christianity is today practised by only a small number of Asians (most notably in the Philippines and South Korea). Buddhism is now a minority religion in its country of origin, India. However, it extends in two quite different forms, through interior Asia and into South East Asia, where it is the main religion (in the Theravada form) of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Mahayana Buddhism is also important in Japan, Vietnam, and China. Islam dominates in South-west and Central Asia, and is of major importance in South Asia, where both Pakistan and Bangladesh are predominantly Muslim. Indonesia, in South East Asia, is also predominantly Muslim. Several South-west Asian cities are important centres of religious pilgrimage, most prominently Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. See also Confucianism; Daoism.

IV

Patterns of Economic Development

Much of Asia is economically underdeveloped. The majority of the continent's population is employed in agriculture, but most agricultural activity is characterized by relatively low yields and labour productivity. Overall, a minority of people are employed in manufacturing, and urban centres and their industries are often not well integrated economically with the rural sector. Transport systems, both within countries and between them, are still poorly developed in many areas, but have improved markedly in recent years.

However, there are a growing number of exceptions to the generality. Japan has successfully modernized its economy, as have Israel, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and, to a lesser extent, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, and the oil states of the Arabian Peninsula. In general they have shown rates of economic growth averaging more than 5 per cent per year, well beyond their rates of population growth. However, although the oil-rich south-west Asian states have done well, income distribution has remained more concentrated than in the others. Fuelled by large-scale foreign investment, rapid privatization, and industrialization, the People's Republic of China achieved the fastest growth in Asia in the early 1990s. In 1992 the Chinese economy grew by an estimated 12 per cent, although per capita income levels remained relatively low. Vietnam and Laos, two of the poorest Asian countries, are also beginning to achieve significant economic growth and are attracting sizeable foreign investment.