Why Does Asia Have So Many People?

Morning Asians and Non-Asians!

Look at this map right here:

See that circle over Asia?

There are more people INSIDE of it than OUTSIDE of it!

Ya…

That little circle includes the Asian countries of…

• China

• India

• Bangladesh

• Thailand

• The Philippines

• Most of Indonesia

• Half of South Korea

Anddd a bunch of others… have a total population of just over 4 BILLION people.

Which is just over HALF of the entire world's population.

So, how come Asia has SOOOO many people?

Well, look at this GIF:

This shows populations of countries throughout history (the red countries are in Asia).

Notice how for almost ALL of history, Asian countries have been the most populous by far?

Why is this?

Well, 2 reasons…

Food and food.

See, the main food source in this entire region is one crop… Rice!

But what's so special about rice?

Basically, rice is just a really, really good crop.

1 acre of rice crop = 11 million calories

Whereas 1 acre of wheat = only 4 million calories

Still a lot, but that 2.75x difference makes a big difference when we're talking about feeding people.

Secondly, this region of Asia has AMAZINGLY fertile land, and good access to fresh water through their many many rivers.

And since they’re pretty close to the equator, but not too close, they have the ability to grow food year-round.

All this means that this region can produce LOTS and LOTS of food.

Which makes it possible to feed LOTS and LOTS of people.

Much more than anywhere else!

And because the number 1 reason children would die historically was malnutrition, the populations of countries that could produce WAYYY more food than they would ever need just kept growing…

And growing…

And GROWING!

Stay Cute,
Reece, Henry & Dylan 🌈

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