East Asian Countries 2026

Asia is a massive continent located in the western hemisphere as well as the northern hemisphere, with the sole exception of the lower third of Indonesia being part of the southern hemisphere. Since there are so many countries that make up Asia, the continent is divided up into When it comes to East Asia, there are five regions in Asia, including Central Asia, Western Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. In this article, our focus will be directed at East Asia. This region of Asia in particular is made up of China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. Let’s talk about four of the eight East Asian countries in more detail.

China

China is also called the People’s Republic of China or the PRC, China just so happens to be the most populated country not only in East Asia but of all countries in the world as well. The population size of China as of 2019 is around 1,418,934,815 people, and that number climbs by the minute, as more and more people are born in China every day.

While many countries have large population sizes, they often only account for below 1% of the global population. China, on the other hand, is the home of over 18% of all people on Earth. The country’s total area comes to a grand total of 3,624,807 square miles. If you divide the population of any area in general by the location’s total area, you’ll come up with a calculation referred to as the population density. Looking at China alone, the population density of the PRC is roughly 392 people per square mile of land.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is located alongside the much larger country of the People’s Republic of China. Officially referred to as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, which just goes to show how Hong Kong relates to China. Hong Kong is technically considered an island country. Though it is very near to the coastline of China, the country of Hong Kong is separated from the People’s Republic of China by the Pearl River along Hong Kong’s western border.

The boundaries of Hong Kong in the other cardinal directions are completely surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Within the confines of Hong Kong’s borders, you’ll find a total area of about

The number of people who currently reside in Hong Kong is approximately 7,476,849 people, which is a number that accounts for less than 1% of the global population, as we mentioned in our conversation about China’s population size.

Based on Hong Kong’s population size, the East Asian country ranks as the 104th largest country based on number of residents alone. The total area of Hong Kong is a total of 405 square miles, which is not a lot of space for nearly seven-and-a-half-million people to share. That said, Hong Kong’s population density is about 18,477 people for each square mile of land in Hong Kong.

Japan

Japan is an island country off the eastern coastline of the People’s Republic of China. Though Japan is considered to be an island in the Pacific Ocean, the country is also near the East China Sea, the Philippine Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk. There are over six thousand islands that are part of Japan, with the exact number being approximated as 6,852 islands in total. Four of the largest Japanese islands include Kyushu, Honshu, Hokkaido, and Shikoku. These islands are called the home islands of Japan because they account for the majority of Japan’s population. Only three percent of the population of Japan reside on the smaller islands.

As of 2019, Japan has a total population of 126,928,822 people. With a population of such a high magnitude, Japan is still only a very small portion of the world’s total population. There are more people on Earth than we can even fathom with our imaginations. Even though over 126,000,000 people sounds like an incredibly high number, this is still only 1.64% of the global population. With a total area of 140,755 square miles of land and water regions, Japan’s population density is just about 901 people for every square mile.

Macau

Macau is an East Asian country that is similar to Hong Kong in the sense that it lies off the coast of China. The Pearl River separates Macau from China as well, just like it does with Hong Kong. However, Macau — often called the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China — is an entirely separate country from Hong Kong. As the single most dense country regarding its population size in comparison to the total area of the country, Macau is more densely populated than you have ever experienced, unless you’ve lived in Macau before.

Macau is a country that encompasses only twelve square miles. That’s right. The country stretches for twelve square miles and that’s all there is to the country in terms of physical size. The population size of Macau is about 639,908 people. Once you know the total area and the population size of a country, you can calculate the population density of the area. The way you do so is by taking the population and dividing it by the total square mileage of the country. This calculation results in the population density, which basically tells you the ratio between the number of people in a country and the country’s square mileage. That said, for every square mile of land in Macau, there are 55,434 people trying to squeeze into the very close living quarters.