Region #1 – East, Southeast, and South Asia
Fact Sheet
Cultural:
Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.
India has the largest Hindu population in the world, but also has a large Muslim minority.
China (over 1.3 billion) and India (1.2 billion) have the largest total populations in the world.
Japan, Thailand, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan all have literacy rates over ninety percent.
Asia is a region of great cultural diversity in terms of religion and language.
India has 18 different languages including Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Bengali. Because of rivalry between language groups, and the fact that it was formerly a British Colony, most educated Indians can speak English.
Economic:
40% of US trade is with Pacific Rim nations (countries around the Pacific). California leads the nation in trade with the Pacific Rim (about twenty-five percent of California’s economy is tied to the region).
Japan is part of the G-8 (Group of 8 Industrialized Nations) with US, Canada, England, France, Germany, Russia, and Italy. These countries all have modern, advanced economies.
Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia are the wealthiest nations in the region while Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Laos rank among the poorest.
Because of its large supply of cheap labor, China has become a world leader in manufacturing.
Political:
The United States fought actual wars against Communists in Korea and Vietnam during the Cold War.
The United States fought against the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II.
Korea was divided into North and South Korea after the Japanese occupiers were defeated in WWII. South Korea is economically successful
The United States has troops stationed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Japan.
China, Vietnam, and North Korea are all communist nations, although only North Korea has a true socialist economy.
China, Pakistan, North Korea, and India all have nuclear weapons.
India and Pakistan have been engaged in a border dispute over the province of Kashmir since 1947.
China claims that Taiwan is a part of its country, but Taiwan operates as an independent democratic government. There is much tension between China and Taiwan over the status of Taiwan.
There is currently high tension between the United States and North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.
There was much bloodshed when Pakistan (a Muslim majority country) split off from India (mostly Hindu) when India gained independence from Britain in 1947. Bangladesh (also Muslim) later split from Pakistan 1971.