Home › Lists › Asian Countries by Population Density

Asian Countries by Population Density

Taken together, Asia's 49 countries average about 151 people per km², but the range is enormous. Singapore has about 7,880 people per km², about 3,500 times the density of Mongolia, which has 2.2, the lowest of any country in the world.

The table ranks all countries by population density, calculated as population divided by total area. Population and area are shown so the figures can be checked.

Rank	Country	People / km²	Population	Area (km²)
1	Singapore	7,880	5,870,750	745
2	Bahrain	2,088	1,643,332	787
3	Maldives	1,777	529,676	298
4	Bangladesh	1,183	175,686,899	148,460
5	Palestine	899	5,589,623	6,220
6	Taiwan	639	23,112,793	36,193
7	Lebanon	560	5,849,421	10,452
8	South Korea	515	51,667,029	100,363
9	India	445	1,463,865,525	3,287,263
10	Israel	431	9,517,181	22,072
11	Philippines	389	116,786,962	300,000
12	Sri Lanka	354	23,229,470	65,610
13	Japan	326	123,103,479	377,975
14	Vietnam	307	101,598,527	331,212
15	Pakistan	289	255,219,554	881,912
16	Kuwait	282	5,026,078	17,818
17	Qatar	269	3,115,889	11,586
18	North Korea	220	26,571,036	120,538
19	Nepal	201	29,618,118	147,516
20	Indonesia	150	285,721,236	1,904,569
21	Cyprus	148	1,370,754	9,251
22	China	148	1,416,096,094	9,596,961
23	Thailand	140	71,619,863	513,120
24	Syria	138	25,620,427	185,180
25	United Arab Emirates	136	11,346,000	83,600
26	Jordan	129	11,520,684	89,342
27	Azerbaijan	120	10,397,713	86,600
28	Turkey	112	87,685,426	783,562
29	Malaysia	109	35,977,838	330,803
30	Iraq	107	47,020,774	438,317
31	Armenia	99	2,952,365	29,743
32	Cambodia	99	17,847,982	181,035
33	Timor-Leste	95	1,418,517	14,874
34	Uzbekistan	83	37,053,428	448,978
35	Myanmar	81	54,850,648	676,578
36	Brunei	81	466,330	5,765
37	Yemen	79	41,773,878	527,968
38	Tajikistan	75	10,786,734	143,100
39	Afghanistan	67	43,844,111	652,864
40	Iran	56	92,417,681	1,648,195
41	Georgia	55	3,806,671	69,700
42	Kyrgyzstan	36	7,295,034	199,951
43	Laos	33	7,873,046	236,800
44	Bhutan	21	796,682	38,394
45	Oman	18	5,494,691	309,500
46	Saudi Arabia	16	34,566,328	2,149,690
47	Turkmenistan	16	7,618,847	488,100
48	Kazakhstan	7.7	20,843,754	2,724,900
49	Mongolia	2.2	3,517,100	1,564,116

Patterns in the ranking

• Small states top the list. Singapore, Bahrain and the Maldives are city-states or small islands, where nearly all the land is urban.
• Bangladesh is the standout large country. Among countries with over 10 million people it is the most crowded in the world, at about 1,183 per km². It is followed in Asia by Taiwan, South Korea and India.
• Deserts and steppe empty the bottom of the table. Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia and Oman all have fewer than about 20 people per km², because most of their land is desert, steppe or high mountain. Their people are concentrated in a few cities, so these averages hide very crowded urban areas.
• National averages mislead in large countries. China's density is 148 per km² overall, but most Chinese live in the eastern half of the country, while Tibet and Xinjiang are very sparsely settled.

Sources: Density = population ÷ total area. Population: UN World Population Prospects 2024, estimates for 2025. Area: total area including inland water, from standard UN and national reference figures. Disputed areas follow each country's own official figure, so the Kashmir region is counted by both India and Pakistan.

Country count: the 49 countries covered on AsiaMap.net (47 UN member states in Asia plus Palestine and Taiwan; Russia is classed as European). Last reviewed October 2026.