East Asia Map
East Asia is one of the twenty-two subregions in which the UN divides the world. It consists of five countriesː China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea and Japan, plus two dependencies, Hong Kong and Macao, and an unrecognized country, the Republic of China, better known as Taiwan. It owns 26 of the 100 largest cities in the world: Canton, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Xiamen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shantou, Wuhan, Shenyang, Chongqing, Nanjing, Xi'an, Wenzhou, Qingdao, Harbin, Zhengzhou, Hefei, Dalian and Changsha, in China; Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, in Japan; Seoul in South Korea, Taipei (Taiwan) and Hong Kong.
It borders on North Asia, on the east with the Yellow Sea and Pacific Ocean, on the southeast with the South China Sea, on the south with South East Asia, on the southwest with South Asia and on the west with Central Asia. With 1 620 807 000 inhabitants In 2013 it is the second most populated region of the continent -behind South Asia- and with 12 million km², the second most extensive, behind North Asia. Map 2004.
There are mixed debates around the world whether these countries or regions should be considered in East Asia or not.
- Vietnam (officially part of Southeast Asia geographically, although culturally it is a part of the East Asian cultural sphere, politically, it is related to both Southeast Asia and East Asia).
- Far Eastern Federal District in Russia (often described as North Asia due to its location, although this part of Russia is often seen as more closely related to its East Asian neighbours).
- Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea.
In business and economics, "East Asia" is sometimes used to refer to a wide geographical area covering ten Southeast Asian countries in ASEAN, Greater China, Japan and Korea. However, in this context, the term "Far East" is used by the Europeans to cover ASEAN countries and the countries in East Asia. However, being a Eurocentric term, Far East describes the region's geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia. Alternatively, the term "Asia Pacific Region" is often used in describing East Asia, Southeast Asia as well as Oceania.
List of countries in East Asia with their political seat, national territorial area, number of inhabitants and population density.
| Country | Capital | Area | Population | Density |
| China | Beijing | 9,596,961 km² | 1,403,500.365 hab. (est. 2016) | 145/km² |
| Japan | Tokyo | 377,973 km² | 126,440,000 hab. (census 2018) | 334/km² |
| Mongolia | Ulan Bator | 1,566,000 km² | 3,081,677 hab. (est 2016) | 1.97/km² |
| North Korea | Pyonyang | 120,540 km² | 25,368,620 hab. (est 2016) | 549.1/km² |
| South Korea | Seoul | 100,363 km² | 51,446,201 hab. (est. 2017) | 507/km² |