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Location: Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran
Population: 31,056,997 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50%, Pashtu (official) 35%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism |
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Location: Southwestern Asia, east of Turkey
Population: 2,976,372 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Armenian 97.7%, Yezidi 1%, Russian 0.9%, other 0.4% (2001 census) |
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Location: Southwestern Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Russia, with a small European portion north of the Caucasus range
Population: 7,961,619 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Azerbaijani (Azeri) 89%, Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% (1995 est.) |
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Location: Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India
Population: 147,365,352 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English |
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Location: Southern Asia, between China and India
Population: 2,279,723
note: other estimates range as low as 810,000 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects |
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Location: archipelago in the Indian Ocean, south of India, about one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia
Population: no indigenous inhabitants
note: approximately 1,200 former agricultural workers resident
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Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and Malaysia
Population: 379,444 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Malay (official), English, Chinese |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos
Population: 13,881,427
note: estimates for this country take into account the effects of excess morta
Languages: Khmer (official) 95%, French, English |
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Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam
Population: 1,313,973,713 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry) |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of Indonesia
Population: 1,493 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: English (official), Chinese, Malay |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, group of islands in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Indonesia, about halfway from Australia to Sri Lanka
Population: 574 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Malay (Cocos dialect), English |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, northwest of Australia in the Lesser Sunda Islands at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago; note - East Timor includes the eastern half of the island of Timor, the Oecussi (Ambeno) region on the northwest portion of the island of Timor, and the islands of Pulau Atauro and Pulau Jaco
Population: 1,062,777
note: other estimates range as low as 800,000 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Tetum (official), Portuguese (official), Indonesian, English
note: there are about 16 indigenous languages; Tetum, Galole, Mambae, and Kemak are spoken by significant numbers of people |
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Location: Southwestern Asia, bordering the Black Sea, between Turkey and Russia
Population: 4,661,473 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Georgian 71% (official), Russian 9%, Armenian 7%, Azeri 6%, other 7%
note: Abkhaz is the official language in Abkhazia |
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Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and China
Population: 6,940,432 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Chinese (Cantonese), English; both are official |
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Location: Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan
Population: 1,095,351,995 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean
Population: 245,452,739 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese |
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Location: Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula
Population: 127,463,611 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Japanese |
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Location: Central Asia, northwest of China; a small portion west of the Ural River in eastern-most Europe
Population: 15,233,244 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.) |
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Location: Central Asia, west of China
Population: 5,213,898 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Kyrgyz (official), Russian (official) |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam
Population: 6,368,481 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages |
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Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and China
Population: 453,125 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Cantonese 87.9%, Hokkien 4.4%, Mandarin 1.6%, other Chinese dialects 3.1%, other 3% (2001 census) |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, peninsula bordering Thailand and northern one-third of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia, Brunei, and the South China Sea, south of Vietnam
Population: 24,385,858 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai
note: in East Malaysia there are several indigenous languages; most widely spoken are Iban and Kadazan |
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Location: Southern Asia, group of atolls in the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India
Population: 359,008 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials |
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Location: Northern Asia, between China and Russia
Population: 2,832,224 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999) |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Bangladesh and Thailand
Population: 47,382,633
note: estimates for this country take into account the effects of excess morta
Languages: Burmese, minority ethnic groups have their own languages |
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Location: Southern Asia, between China and India
Population: 28,287,147 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Nepali 47.8%, Maithali 12.1%, Bhojpuri 7.4%, Tharu (Dagaura/Rana) 5.8%, Tamang 5.1%, Newar 3.6%, Magar 3.3%, Awadhi 2.4%, other 10%, unspecified 2.5% (2001 census)
note: many in government and business also speak English |
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Location: Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea
Population: 23,113,019 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Korean |
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Location: Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea, between India on the east and Iran and Afghanistan on the west and China in the north
Population: 165,803,560 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski, and other 8% |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam
Population: 89,468,677 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: two official languages - Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English; eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinan |
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Location: Northern Asia (the area west of the Urals is considered part of Europe), bordering the Arctic Ocean, between Europe and the North Pacific Ocean
Population: 142,893,540 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Russian, many minority languages |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, islands between Malaysia and Indonesia
Population: 4,492,150 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Mandarin 35%, English 23%, Malay 14.1%, Hokkien 11.4%, Cantonese 5.7%, Teochew 4.9%, Tamil 3.2%, other Chinese dialects 1.8%, other 0.9% (2000 census) |
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Location: Eastern Asia, southern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea
Population: 48,846,823 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school |
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Location: Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India
Population: 20,222,240
note: since the outbreak of hostilities between the government and armed Tamil
Languages: Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8%
note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population |
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Location: Eastern Asia, islands bordering the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, South China Sea, and Taiwan Strait, north of the Philippines, off the southeastern coast of China
Population: 23,036,087 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects |
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Location: Central Asia, west of China
Population: 7,320,815 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, southeast of Burma
Population: 64,631,595
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of e
Languages: Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects |
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Location: Southeastern Europe and Southwestern Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria
Population: 70,413,958 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Turkish (official), Kurdish, Dimli (or Zaza), Azeri, Kabardian
note: there is also a substantial Gagauz population in the Europe part of Turkey |
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Location: Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Kazakhstan
Population: 5,042,920 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |
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Location: Central Asia, north of Afghanistan
Population: 27,307,134 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% |
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Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia
Population: 84,402,966 (July 2006 est.)
Languages: Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
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