East Asia
East Asia covers China, Japan, the two Koreas, Mongolia and Taiwan — about 11.8 million km² and 1.64 billion people, from the Gobi Desert and the Tibetan Plateau to the island arcs of the western Pacific.
About East Asia
East Asia is dominated by China, which accounts for about 81% of the region's land and 86% of its people. To the north lies Mongolia, a vast, thinly populated plateau of steppe and desert between China and Russia. To the east, the Korean Peninsula is divided between North Korea and South Korea, and beyond the Sea of Japan (East Sea) lie the four main islands of Japan — Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku — and thousands of smaller ones. Taiwan sits about 130 km off the coast of south-eastern China across the Taiwan Strait.
The region shares a long cultural history centred on China. Chinese characters were adopted for writing in Korea, Japan and Vietnam, and Confucian ideas about family, education and government, together with Mahayana Buddhism, spread through the same channels. The languages themselves are not closely related, however: Chinese is Sino-Tibetan, Japanese and Korean belong to their own small families, and Mongolian is Mongolic (see languages of Asia). Today China uses simplified characters, Taiwan traditional characters, Korea mostly the Hangul alphabet, and Japan a mix of kanji and two native syllabaries, while Mongolia writes in Cyrillic and is reviving the traditional Mongolian script.
Two political divisions shape the modern map. The Korean War (1950–53) ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, and the two Koreas are still separated by the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone near the 38th parallel. Taiwan has been governed separately since 1949; the People's Republic of China claims it as part of its territory, and Taiwan is not a UN member, so its status is described differently by different governments. Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions of China and appear on the China map.
Countries in East Asia
Quick facts: East Asia has 6 countries: China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea and Taiwan. Five are UN member states; Taiwan governs itself but its status is disputed and it is not a UN member, so some lists give East Asia 5 countries. No international borders in the region have changed in recent years, so a 2026 map of East Asia shows the same six.
East Asian countries and capitals
| Country | Capital | Area (km²) | Population (2025 est.) | Time zone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | Beijing | 9,596,961 | 1,416.1 million | UTC+8 |
| Japan | Tokyo | 377,975 | 123.1 million | UTC+9 |
| South Korea | Seoul | 100,363 | 51.7 million | UTC+9 |
| North Korea | Pyongyang | 120,538 | 26.6 million | UTC+9 |
| Taiwan | Taipei | 36,193 | 23.1 million | UTC+8 |
| Mongolia | Ulaanbaatar | 1,564,116 | 3.5 million | UTC+8 (UTC+7 in the far west) |
Population figures are UN World Population Prospects estimates for 2025. China's area includes Hong Kong and Macau but not Taiwan. All of China officially keeps a single time zone, Beijing Time (UTC+8), even though the country spans roughly five geographical time zones; see time zones in Asia. Capitals for the whole continent are on the capitals of Asia page.
How East Asia is defined
- UN geoscheme: "Eastern Asia" contains China (with Hong Kong and Macau listed separately), Japan, Mongolia, North Korea and South Korea. Taiwan is not listed separately in UN statistics. AsiaMap.net treats Taiwan as a sixth entry because it has its own government, borders, currency and statistics.
- Northeast Asia: a narrower term often used for Japan, the Koreas, Mongolia and north-eastern China, sometimes with the Russian Far East.
- "East Asia" in a broad sense: some organisations, such as the World Bank ("East Asia and Pacific") and the East Asia Summit, use the term to include Southeast Asia as well. Those countries are covered on our Southeast Asia map.
- Mongolia is occasionally grouped with Central Asia because of its steppe geography and nomadic history, but nearly all statistical schemes place it in East Asia.
The Russian Far East and Siberia also lie in the eastern part of the continent but are part of Russia, which AsiaMap.net does not count among its 49 Asian countries.
Physical geography
- The Tibetan Plateau in south-western China, averaging more than 4,500 m in elevation, is the highest and largest plateau on Earth. It feeds the Yangtze and the Yellow River as well as the Mekong, Salween, Brahmaputra and Indus.
- Great rivers: the Yangtze (about 6,300 km) is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world, and the Yellow River (about 5,460 km) crosses the North China Plain, the historic core of Chinese civilisation. The Amur forms much of the border between China and Russia. See rivers of Asia.
- Deserts: the Taklamakan in the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang and the Gobi across southern Mongolia and northern China (see deserts of Asia).
- Mountains: the northern slopes of the Himalayas, including Everest on the China–Nepal border, as well as the Kunlun, Tian Shan and Altai ranges. The Korean Peninsula is roughly 70% mountains and hills, and Taiwan's highest peak, Yushan, reaches 3,952 m. More on the mountain ranges of Asia page.
- Island arcs: Japan sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire where four tectonic plates meet. It has more than 100 active volcanoes, including Mount Fuji (3,776 m), and frequent earthquakes; the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami was the most powerful recorded in Japan. Taiwan lies on the same active margin.
Climate
Climate in East Asia is shaped by the East Asian monsoon. In winter, cold, dry air flows out of Siberia and Mongolia, giving northern China, Mongolia and the Koreas long, freezing winters; Ulaanbaatar is the coldest national capital in the world. In summer, warm, wet air moves in from the Pacific, and a rainy season known as meiyu in China and tsuyu or baiu in Japan arrives in June and July. Southern China, Taiwan and southern Japan are humid and subtropical, and from July to October typhoons regularly strike Taiwan, the southern coast of China, Okinawa, the Korean Peninsula and the main Japanese islands. Western China and Mongolia are dry, with deserts and steppe, while Hokkaido and north-eastern China have heavy winter snow.
Population and economy
About one person in five worldwide lives in East Asia, and most of them are concentrated in eastern China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and Taiwan; Mongolia, with about 2 people per km², is the most sparsely populated sovereign country in the world. China, with about 1.42 billion people, was the world's most populous country until India overtook it in 2023. Populations are ageing quickly across the region: Japan's population has been falling for more than a decade, China's began to decline in 2022, and South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world, at well below one child per woman.
The region is one of the three great centres of the world economy, alongside North America and Europe. China is the second-largest economy in the world and the largest manufacturer and exporter of goods. Japan is among the five largest economies, with strong car, machinery and electronics industries. South Korea is a leading producer of memory chips, ships, cars and consumer electronics, and Taiwan manufactures most of the world's most advanced semiconductors. North Korea has a centrally planned economy that is under extensive UN sanctions, and Mongolia's economy depends mainly on mining, especially coal and copper, and on livestock herding.
East Asia also has the world's densest high-speed rail. Japan opened the first Shinkansen line, between Tokyo and Osaka, in 1964, and China's network, begun in 2008, is now by far the largest in the world, at more than 45,000 km. Major city pairs are covered by our distance pages, including Beijing to Shanghai, Beijing to Tokyo, Seoul to Tokyo and Taipei to Tokyo.
Frequently asked questions
How many countries are in East Asia?
AsiaMap.net counts 6: China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea and Taiwan. Lists that include only UN member states give 5, because Taiwan is not a UN member.
What is the difference between East Asia and Southeast Asia?
East Asia is the region of China, Japan, the Koreas, Mongolia and Taiwan. Southeast Asia lies to the south, from Myanmar and Vietnam to Indonesia and the Philippines. Some organisations use "East Asia" loosely to include both.
Which is the largest country in East Asia?
China, with about 9.6 million km² and 1.42 billion people. It is also the largest country entirely in Asia.
Is Mongolia in East Asia or Central Asia?
Mongolia is normally classed as East Asia, including in the UN geoscheme, although it is sometimes grouped with Central Asia because of its steppe landscape and nomadic traditions.
What time zone does East Asia use?
China, Taiwan and most of Mongolia use UTC+8; Japan, South Korea and North Korea use UTC+9. None of them currently observes daylight saving time.