Both in terms of landmass and population, Asia is the world’s biggest continent. It’s home to both the highest point on Earth (Mount Everest in Nepal) and the lowest (the Dead Sea, which borders Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan). Oceania is the smallest continent in terms of landmass, but it includes more than 10,000 islands.
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In the News, 2021: ASIA & OCEANIA
TOTAL COUNTRIES: 48
TOTAL POPULATION: 4.4 billion
LARGEST CONTINENT
Asia
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Chinese tourists at the Great Wall of China
60%
PERCENTAGE of the world’s population that lives in Asia. It has the world’s two most populous countries: China, with 1.4 billion people, and India with 1.3 billion people. India’s population is projected to top China’s by 2022.
Source: Statista
Travelscape Images/Alamy Stock Photo
DOWN UNDER
Australia is the world’s largest inhabited island. It’s home to the 1,250-mile-long Great Barrier Reef (above). The reef is at serious risk of destruction from climate change.
Aditya Irawan/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Friday prayers at a mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia
MOST MUSLIMS
Indonesia is the nation with the most Muslims in the world—about 227 million. Islam arrived in this part of Southeast Asia in the 13th century via traders from India, and Indonesians often layered its beliefs atop existing Buddhist or Hindu practices. Today, more than 85 percent of Indonesians are Muslim.
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