East Asia: Tipping the World

Our world now has over 7 billion inhabitants. If the planet would tilt based on population density, it could get tipped over easily by East Asia. This subcontinent that is made up of only three nations is home to 1.7 billion people. That’s about 24% of all living individuals in the world today.

Technically, however, East Asia is not made up of only three nations – China, Japan and Korea. Macau, Mongolia (which many people confuse to be part of China), Hong Kong (which is now part of China), Taiwan (which some political quarters of the world consider as just a part of China) and North Korea (which consider itself not part of any organization of nations) are also East Asian countries.

Clearly, this subcontinent’s top guns are China, Japan and South Korea, three of the wealthiest countries and with the most potential for future economic growth. Just how rich is this corner of the world really? Well, according to Global Finance, Hong Kong is the sixth wealthiest (one notch higher than the US), Taiwan is 17th (ranked over Germany and oil-rich Kuwait), Japan is 22nd (besting the UK) and Korea, 26th. China ranked way below at 90th only because it has too many mouths to feed. China is home to 1.3 billion people, which explains why East Asia is the most populous subcontinent.

East Asia is definitely an important region in the world, as it is a top tourism draw. The only man-made structure that can be seen from the moon and probably the most popular tourist attraction in the world is China’s Great Wall. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for obvious reasons, and that you should definitely see when traveling to this part of the continent. The ultra-urban city of Tokyo is also a must-see, especially if you love sushi. Nothing compares to taking a bite of authentic sushi inside an authentic sushi restaurant in Tokyo.