Central Asia Map
Central Asia Map.
Central Asia is one of the twenty-two subregions in which the UN divides the world. It consists of five countriesː Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Its largest cities are Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).
There are several definitions of what constitutes Central Asia, sometimes for ethnic reasons Mongolia, Afghanistan, Northern Pakistan, Northeast Iran, North West India, and Western China are included. Sometimes the definition of what is Central Asia is further expanded to include other parts of China such as Qinghai, Tibet, Gansu and Inner Mongolia as well as southern Siberia. The fact that the five ex-Soviet republics end with the suffix "-stán" (which in Persian means "place of") means that this region is known colloquially as the Stans.
Central Asia is one of the twenty-two subregions in which the UN divides the world. It consists of five countriesː Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Its largest cities are Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).
There are several definitions of what constitutes Central Asia, sometimes for ethnic reasons Mongolia, Afghanistan, Northern Pakistan, Northeast Iran, North West India, and Western China are included. Sometimes the definition of what is Central Asia is further expanded to include other parts of China such as Qinghai, Tibet, Gansu and Inner Mongolia as well as southern Siberia. The fact that the five ex-Soviet republics end with the suffix "-stán" (which in Persian means "place of") means that this region is known colloquially as the Stans.
Central Asia is bordered on the north by North Asia, on the east by East Asia, on the south by South Asia and on the west and northwest by the European part of Russia. With 64 370 000 inhabitants in 2013 it is the second least populated region in Asia -before North Asia-, with 4 million km², the least extensive, and with 16.1 inhabitants/km² the second least densely populated, again ahead of North Asia.
List of countries of Central Asia with their political seat, national territorial area, number of inhabitants and population density.
| Country | Capital | Area | Population | Density |
| Kazakhstan | Astana | 2,724,900 km² | 18,311,700 pop. (est. 2018) | 7/km² |
| Kyrgyzstan | Bishkek | 199,951 km² | 6,019,480 pop. (est 2016) | 27.4/km² |
| Tajikistan | Dushanbe | 143,100 km² | 8,734,951 pop. (est. 2016) | 48.6/km² |
| Turkmenistan | Ashgabat | 491,210 km² | 5,662,544 pop. (est. 2016) | 10.5/km² |
| Uzbekistan | Tashkent | 448,978 km² | 33,254,100 pop. (est. 2019) | 74.1/km² |