Asia is Earth’s largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the Eastern and Northern Hemispheres. It shares the continental landmass of Eurasia with the continent of Europe and the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa. Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometers (17,212,000 sq mi), about 30% of Earth’s total land area and 8.7% of the Earth’s total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population,^[4] was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its overall large size and population but also dense and large settlements, as well as vast barely populated regions. Its 4.5 billion people (as of September 2018) constitute roughly 60% of the world’s population.

Being the biggest continent in the world, Asia includes 50 independent countries and occupies the eastern part of the single Eurasian landmass. Surrounded by the Arctic Ocean from the north, by the Pacific Ocean from the east and by the Indian Ocean from the south, it is separated from Africa by Suez Canal. The Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea separate Asia from Europe, farther the overland border runs through the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains. This boundary crosses through the territory of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, so these states are in both continents.

Armenia and Cyprus geographically are in Asia, but politically and culturally they also are considered as a part of Europe.

The largest of the Asian countries by area is Russia, which occupies about 30% of the total territory of the continent. The smallest one of the independent states is the Maldives. It is an archipelago of islands famous for its beach resorts.

The most visited by tourists country in this region is China as a huge cultural center, followed by no less popular destinations like India, Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey.