For thousands of years, Asia has been the population center of the world. But that’s about to change. Asia contains 7 of the 10 most populous countries in the world, the two largest of which, China and India, each individually have larger populations than Africa, Europe, or the Americas. And as I’ve demonstrated previously, the eye-popping population density in regions such asTokyo and Bangladesh is an order of magnitude greater than anywhere in the western world.
Two hundred years ago, the figures were even more extreme. In 1800, nearly two thirds of the world lived in Asia. And at that time China had a larger population than Africa, Europe, and the Americas combined.Asia dominates the world population landscape, and it has for at least the last two and a half thousand years. As shown in the chart below, the relative population sizes of Asia, Africa, and Europe have remained surprisingly constant for thousands of years. Since at least 400 BC, 60% or more of the world has lived in Asia.
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