Asia covers about 44,580,000 km², roughly 32.7% of the world's land and the 1st largest continent. It spans 52 countries and territories, from China (9,596,960 km²) down to Macao.
At true size Asia is about 1.5× the size of Africa. On old Mercator maps that gap shrank or swelled depending on latitude. On the new map it is simply true.
Mercator's distortion hits Asia unevenly: Kazakhstan is inflated about 2.3× at its latitude, while Singapore, near the equator, is drawn almost honestly. Old maps therefore made Asia's northern countries feel dominant while hiding the scale of its equatorial ones.
Asia: largest countries by true area
| Country | True area |
|---|
| China | 9,596,960 km² |
| India | 3,287,263 km² |
| Kazakhstan | 2,724,910 km² |
| Saudi Arabia | 2,149,690 km² |
| Indonesia | 1,904,569 km² |
| Iran | 1,648,195 km² |
Explore Asia further
China · India · Kazakhstan · Saudi Arabia · Indonesia · Iran · Mongolia · Pakistan · Turkey · Myanmar · Afghanistan · Thailand · Turkmenistan · Yemen · Uzbekistan · Iraq · Japan · Vietnam · Malaysia · Oman · Philippines · Laos · Kyrgyzstan · Syria · Cambodia · Bangladesh · Nepal · Tajikistan · North Korea · South Korea · Jordan · Azerbaijan · United Arab Emirates · Georgia · Sri Lanka · Bhutan · Taiwan · Armenia · Israel · Kuwait · Timor-Leste · Qatar · Lebanon · Cyprus · Palestine · Brunei · Northern Cyprus · Hong Kong · Bahrain · Singapore · Maldives · Macao