Countries in Asia List by Region
If you have ever had to answer “what countries are Asian?” for a form, a CRM, a market map, or a report, you already know the problem. People mean different things by “Asia”, and small differences create messy data.
This guide gives you a practical list by region using a single, widely used standard, then explains the edge cases that cause the most confusion. It is written for operators who need a defensible answer, not a debate.
Quick Definition
For a clean, repeatable list, this article uses the UN Statistics Division M49 geoscheme, which groups “countries or areas” into Asia and five subregions for statistical reporting, and notes that these groupings are for statistical convenience.
The Practical Answer in One Sentence
Use ISO 3166-1 as your master list of country style entries, then map each entry to the UN M49 Asia subregions for consistent regional reporting.
Countries in Asia by UN Subregion
Below is the UN M49 Asia list, grouped into the five UN Asia subregions.
- Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
- Eastern Asia: China, China Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China Macao Special Administrative Region, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Republic of Korea
- South-eastern Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Viet Nam
- Southern Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
- Western Asia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, State of Palestine, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
Two quick notes before you copy this into a spreadsheet. First, the UN list is “countries or areas”, so it includes entries like Hong Kong and Macao as separate areas. Second, some placements may surprise you, such as Iran in Southern Asia and Cyprus in Western Asia, because this is a statistical scheme, not a cultural label.
Alphabetical List of Countries in Asia With Subregions and Notes
This table uses the UN M49 geoscheme for Asia subregions, which is designed for statistical reporting and includes some “areas” that are not sovereign states in the everyday sense. If you need a single, defensible list for forms and reporting, keep this mapping consistent across your dataset. Note that some transcontinental countries (for example Russia) are commonly discussed in Europe and Asia terms, but are not grouped under Asia in the UN M49 scheme.
| Country or Area | UN M49 Subregion | Notes (Borders, Naming, Disputes) |
|---|---|---|
| Afghanistan | Southern Asia | Sometimes grouped with Central Asia in other frameworks. |
| Armenia | Western Asia | Caucasus, sometimes grouped with Europe in EMEA reporting. |
| Azerbaijan | Western Asia | Caucasus, sometimes grouped with Europe in EMEA reporting. |
| Bahrain | Western Asia | Often grouped as “Middle East” in business reporting. |
| Bangladesh | Southern Asia | |
| Bhutan | Southern Asia | |
| Brunei | South-eastern Asia | |
| Cambodia | South-eastern Asia | |
| China | Eastern Asia | |
| Cyprus | Western Asia | Geographically in Europe, grouped in Western Asia in UN M49. |
| North Korea | Eastern Asia | Also called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. |
| Georgia | Western Asia | Caucasus, sometimes grouped with Europe, sometimes described as transcontinental. |
| Hong Kong SAR | Eastern Asia | Special Administrative Region of China, listed as an “area” in UN M49. |
| India | Southern Asia | |
| Indonesia | South-eastern Asia | |
| Iran | Southern Asia | Placed in Southern Asia in UN M49, often grouped with the Middle East elsewhere. |
| Iraq | Western Asia | |
| Israel | Western Asia | Often grouped as “Middle East” in business reporting. |
| Japan | Eastern Asia | |
| Jordan | Western Asia | |
| Kazakhstan | Central Asia | Transcontinental in some definitions, a small part lies west of the Ural River. |
| Kuwait | Western Asia | |
| Kyrgyzstan | Central Asia | |
| Laos | South-eastern Asia | Also written as Lao People’s Democratic Republic |
| Lebanon | Western Asia | |
| Macao SAR | Eastern Asia | Special Administrative Region of China, listed as an “area” in UN M49. |
| Malaysia | South-eastern Asia | |
| Maldives | Southern Asia | |
| Mongolia | Eastern Asia | |
| Myanmar | South-eastern Asia | Also called Burma in some datasets. |
| Nepal | Southern Asia | |
| Oman | Western Asia | |
| Pakistan | Southern Asia | |
| Philippines | South-eastern Asia | |
| Qatar | Western Asia | |
| South Korea | Eastern Asia | Also called Republic of Korea. |
| Saudi Arabia | Western Asia | |
| Singapore | South-eastern Asia | |
| Sri Lanka | Southern Asia | |
| State of Palestine | Western Asia | Political status and naming vary by organisation, listed in UN M49. |
| Syria | Western Asia | |
| Taiwan | Eastern Asia | Listed in some standards under a China-related naming convention, check required convention for your use case. |
| Tajikistan | Central Asia | |
| Thailand | South-eastern Asia | |
| Timor-Leste | South-eastern Asia | Also called East Timor. |
| Turkey | Western Asia | Transcontinental, Europe and Asia, grouped in Western Asia in UN M49. |
| Turkmenistan | Central Asia | |
| United Arab Emirates | Western Asia | |
| Uzbekistan | Central Asia | |
| Vietnam | South-eastern Asia | |
| Yemen | Western Asia |
| UN subregion | Often labelled as | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Central Asia | Central Asia | Sometimes grouped into “Eurasia” or “CIS” in business reporting |
| Eastern Asia | East Asia | Includes Hong Kong and Macao as separate areas in UN M49 |
| South-eastern Asia | Southeast Asia | Spelling varies, “South-east Asia” and “Southeast Asia” both common |
| Southern Asia | South Asia | Iran is placed here in UN M49, not Western Asia |
| Western Asia | Middle East | “Middle East” often includes non-Asia entries like Egypt in other frameworks |
Edge Cases That Cause Disputes
If you are seeing disagreements, it usually comes down to transcontinental geography, political status, or whether someone is mixing continents with business regions.
Transcontinental countries are the biggest source of “gotchas”. Russia spans Europe and Asia geographically, but the UN M49 geoscheme groups the Russian Federation under Europe for statistical reporting, not under Asia. Turkey is commonly described as partly in Europe and partly in Asia, and is grouped under Western Asia in UN M49.
The Caucasus, meaning Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, is another recurring debate. In UN M49 they sit in Western Asia, while some organisations place them in Europe for political or organisational reasons, especially in “EMEA” style reporting.
“Country” versus “area” versus “market” is the quiet source of many internal arguments. ISO 3166 is designed for country style codes used in systems, and it also includes dependencies and other areas of particular geopolitical interest, which is why you will see entries that are not sovereign states in the everyday sense.
When people disagree about whether a place “counts as Asia”, the fastest fix is to name the standard in your documentation and never mix standards inside the same dataset.
A Checklist for Using This in Real Systems
Most teams do not need a philosophical definition. They need a dropdown list that does not break analytics.
- Start with a single master list. Use ISO 3166-1 aligned entries for country style codes in your product, finance, or CRM systems.
- Decide how you will handle “areas”. If you transact, ship, or bill separately in places like Hong Kong or Macao, keep them as separate entries, and document that choice.
- Choose one regional mapping. Map each entry to UN M49 subregions for consistency, then only add extra business groupings like “APAC” as a second layer.
- Write down your edge case rules. Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, and the Caucasus are where inconsistencies appear first.
- Test your reporting outputs. Run a quick pivot table on the mapping to confirm totals look sane and nothing is orphaned.
If you need a template for this, link the policy to your data dictionary or analytics spec, so it is easy to audit later. A simple internal page is often enough, for example how to standardise country and region fields.
For go-to-market work, consider separating “continent” from “sales region”. A regional sales model like APAC can be operationally useful, but it should not overwrite your country list or your statistical mapping.
If you are expanding into multiple Asian markets, you may also want a second checklist for localisation, payments, and compliance, separate from geography. Use something like an Asia market entry checklist alongside your country and region mapping.
FAQ
How many countries are in Asia?
It depends on whether you mean “countries” or “countries or areas”, and which standard you are using.
Under the UN M49 geoscheme, Asia is defined as five subregions with a specific list of entries, including some non-sovereign areas (such as Hong Kong and Macao) and some politically sensitive entries (such as the State of Palestine). Different lists give different totals because they apply different inclusion rules.
Is Russia in Asia?
Geographically, Russia spans Europe and Asia.
In the UN M49 geoscheme used for statistical reporting, the Russian Federation is grouped under Europe rather than Asia. If you need “Eurasia” reporting, treat that as a separate business region built on top of your standard mapping.
Is Turkey in Asia?
Partly, yes, it is commonly described as transcontinental.
For the list in this article, Turkey is included in Asia because the UN M49 geoscheme groups it under Western Asia. In many corporate datasets, you will also see Turkey split across “Europe” and “Asia” for specific reporting needs, but that should be a documented exception.
Is the Middle East part of Asia?
“Middle East” is a regional term, not a continent.
Many “Middle East” definitions overlap heavily with Western Asia, but they often include non-Asian countries such as Egypt and sometimes include North African states. If you want a clean Asia list, use a standard like UN M49 and label it as Western Asia.
Are Hong Kong and Macao countries?
They are not sovereign countries, but they are treated as distinct “areas” in some standards.
The UN M49 geoscheme lists Hong Kong and Macao as separate areas within Eastern Asia, and ISO code lists also include them for practical coding. Whether you treat them as separate entries should follow how you operate, for example billing, logistics, compliance, and reporting.
Is Taiwan on the countries in Asia list?
Taiwan is in East Asia geographically, but its political status is treated differently across standards and organisations.
Some international code systems include Taiwan as an entry for practical coding and data processing, often using naming conventions tied to their own rules. If you operate in or with Taiwan, the safest approach is to follow the standard required by your regulator, bank, or platform partner, then document how that maps to your internal reporting regions. ::contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}