Population of Eurasia: density, numbers, composition and features. Population of Eurasia: numbers and distribution What peoples inhabit the studied territory of Eurasia

Eurasia, like , is considered the ancestral homeland of man.
About 4.7 billion people live in Eurasia, which is 75% of the population of the entire Earth.
The mainland is huge. It has a variety of natural conditions, so the distribution of people across its territory is very uneven. Densely populated areas are located where favorable and fertile soils are combined. Such conditions in Eurasia are observed in the lower reaches of large rivers in Asia. Almost all of Europe is densely populated. The most populous country in the world is Monaco. There are more than 17 thousand people per 1 km2.

However, there are also sparsely populated areas on the mainland. These are mostly mountains and deserts.
The lowest population density is in Mongolia. 2 people live here per 1 sq. km.

At the same time, there are also almost deserted areas - these are Tibet, the Gobi Desert, numerous mountain systems and the Arabian Peninsula.

Speaking about the distribution of the population of Eurasia, one cannot help but recall giant cities such as Rome, London, Paris, Moscow, Shanghai, and Beijing.
Also on the mainland is the second largest city in the world - Tokyo - the capital of Japan, its population exceeds 20 million people.
The population of Eurasia differs significantly in racial and ethnic composition, nature of location, and types of economic activity.
The racial composition is dominated by representatives of the Caucasian and Mongoloid races. Europe, South-West and South Asia are inhabited by Caucasoids, and Central and East Asia by Mongoloids.

Let's remember the distinctive features of representatives of each race. The northern branch of the Caucasian race is characterized by light skin color, soft hair, a narrow nose, and blue or gray eyes.
And representatives of the southern branch have dark skin, dark hair and brown eyes.
Representatives of the Mongoloid race usually have yellowish skin, coarse black hair, and black eyes. The face is wide with prominent cheekbones, narrow eyes.

There are 94 states on the political map of Eurasia.
The uniqueness of the Eurasian continent lies in the fact that the largest and smallest states in terms of population and size are located here.
China ranks first in the world in terms of population, India second. More than a billion people live in these countries.
And in Vatican City, the smallest state in the world, only 836 people live.
The largest country in the world by area is Russia. Its area is 17,098,242 km², which is 2 times larger than the area of the mainland Australia.
But the smallest state in terms of area is the Vatican. The area of the state is only 0.44 sq. km. The Vatican City is a dwarf enclave state (a state surrounded by another country) located in the northwestern part of Rome. The Vatican is surrounded on all sides by Italian territory. The total length of the state border is 3.2 kilometers.
Dwarf states include San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Malta, Singapore, etc.

By form of government, most countries in Eurasia are republics.
There are also monarchies on the mainland. There are 14 monarchical states in Asia, and 12 such monarchies in Europe.
The largest monarchies in Europe are Great Britain and Spain.
Most European countries are characterized by a high level of economic development, characterized by high levels of income and quality of life of the population. These include the UK, Germany, France, Japan and many others. Manufacturing industries are concentrated in these countries.
At the same time, on the mainland you can also find extremely poor countries such as Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, etc.

If we characterize the ratio of urban and rural populations, then Europe is a more urbanized part of the world than Asia. In Europe, the urban population accounts for 80% of the population.
Most Asian countries have a predominantly rural population. The urban population is only 34%. However, in countries such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the main population is represented by urban residents.

The peoples of Eurasia make up almost three-quarters of the world's total population. The mainland is home to a large number of different ethnic groups, which differ in appearance, mentality, culture and language.

Each people of Eurasia belongs to a specific language family, which, in turn, is divided into groups. The speech of each people in the family is similar and comes from one common proto-language. Languages in the same group sometimes differ only in pronunciation or spelling.

Most languages were formed territorially. This explains the fact that different peoples of Eurasia have almost the same or similar speech. There is a hypothesis that ancient people developed their speech by listening to the sounds of wildlife in the area, and therefore some languages are very similar to the sounds that animals make.

Classification of the languages of the peoples of Eurasia

To date, 7 language families have been recorded, which unite all the languages and dialects of the peoples living on the mainland. Each of these families is divided into linguistic groups of the peoples of Eurasia. There are 17 of them.

All languages are divided into:

1. Indo-European family:

Slavic group (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech and Bulgarian);
Germanic group (English, German, Norwegian and Swedish);
Baltic group (Lithuanian and Latvian);
Romanesque group (Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian);
Celtic group (Irish);
Greek group (Greek);
Iranian group (Tajik, Afghan and Ossetian);
Indo-Aryan group (Hindustani and Nepali);
Armenian group (Armenian);

2.Kartvelian family (Georgian).

3. Afro-Asian family:

Semitic group (Arabic);

4. Ural-Yukogir family:

Finno-Ugric group (Hungarian, Estonian and Finnish);

5. Altai family:

Turkic group (Turkish, Kazakh and Kyrgyz);
Mongolian group (Mongolian and Buryat);
Japanese group (Japanese);
Korean group (Korean);

6. Sino-Tibetan family (Chinese);

7. North Caucasian family:

Abkhaz-Adyghe group (Abkhaz and Adyghe);
Nakh-Dagestan group (Chechen).

How did the languages of the peoples of Eurasia develop?

The most ancient civilizations were created and developed on the Eurasian continent: India, China and Mesopotamia. They gave development to all other peoples, their states, culture, traditions and speech.

It did not stop, but people settled, exploring new lands, inventing new words and expressions. This is how language groups appeared, and then families. Each people of Eurasia developed the existing speech in its own way. People living in different places began to call the same things by different names. This is how dialects appeared, which then turned into full-fledged languages. Linguists divided all languages into families and groups for easier study.

Indo-European language family

The largest language family in the world is the Indo-European family. These languages are spoken by many peoples of Eurasia.

This language family owes its popularity to its conquerors and pioneers. Indo-European languages were born in Eurasia, and it is considered the birthplace of all humanity, along with Africa. People explored new territories and captured the indigenous peoples of other continents, then imposed their culture and language on them. Each people of Eurasia at that time tried to subjugate more territories and people. Many scientists associate such a wide spread of Spanish, English and Russian with historical events.

How are Chinese and Japanese languages different?

A common mistake many people make is to think that Chinese and Japanese are similar or almost the same. These two languages are in different language families for a reason. People living in Japan and China are completely different, although they belong to the same race. Each of these countries is a separate people of Eurasia, with its own culture and language.

If the hieroglyphs themselves that are used to write in these countries are quite difficult to distinguish, this does not mean that the languages are the same. Their first difference is that the Japanese write vertically, and the Chinese write horizontally.

To the ear, Japanese speech is much rougher than Chinese. The Chinese language is filled with soft sounds. Japanese speech is harsher. A deeper study will show that the words in these languages are different, as well as grammar and other rules.

Slavic languages

Slavic languages are a language group of the Indo-European family. These languages are very similar. Speakers of Slavic languages can often understand each other almost without difficulty, while speaking different languages. This is especially true for Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian speech.

They began to develop with the advent of the first Slavic tribes. Each tribe used its own dialect. The greater the distance between them, the more differences appeared in speech.

All Slavic languages are divided into eastern, western and southern. This division occurs territorially, just like the division of tribes.

Of the other representatives of the Indo-European language family, the closest to the Slavic is the Baltic group. Many scientists explain this by the long communication between representatives of these tribes.

Peoples living on the continent

In fact, there are a lot of peoples living on the mainland, but if we generalize, they can be conditionally divided by race into 2 groups: Caucasian and Mongoloid. And these groups, in turn, are divided into subgroups.

Caucasian race, consisting of the following groups:

Slavic;
Baltic;
Germanic;
Greek;
Armenian;
Finno-Ugric.

Mongoloid race:

Turkic;
Mongolian;
Korean;
Japanese;
Chukotka-Kamchatka;
Sino-Tibetan.

Of course, there are many more ethnic groups and tribes living in Eurasia.

Peoples of Eurasia: countries

It is perhaps impossible to list all the countries of the continent within the framework of a single article, because there are about 99 of them! But it is worth mentioning the largest of them. Probably everyone knows that the largest state on the mainland is Russia. It is impossible not to mention India and China, countries with the highest population density.

As for the smallest states, they are mainly located in the western territories of the mainland. For example, the Vatican is considered a unique state entity. The list of dwarf countries includes Liechtenstein, Andorra, Luxembourg and Monaco. The smallest countries in Asia are Brunei, Maldives and Bahrain.

Eurasia is considered the most colorful continent on the planet, of course! Its territory occupies 3/4 of the world's population with different skin colors, their own culture and traditions.

Population of Eurasia - what is its total size? How is it distributed across the mainland? What nationalities inhabit it? You will receive answers to these and many other questions in our article.

Population of Eurasia: general theses

Eurasia is the largest continent on the planet both in terms of area and number of inhabitants. Structurally, it is divided into two parts of the world: Europe and Asia, which differ from each other in almost all demographic indicators. It is Eurasia that many scientists consider the ancestral home of all humanity: the civilizations that originated here played a significant role in the history of the world.

Before delving into the topic of the article, five main theses (postulates) should be noted. Here they are:

The Eurasian continent is home to about 75% of the world's population;
the population of Eurasia is represented by all three races of our planet;
the ethnic composition of the continent's population is very diverse and motley;
Eurasia is home to three of the world's largest religions;
Most of the mainland's population (over 60%) lives in

Size and distribution of the continent's population

How many people live in Eurasia? And how are they distributed across the mainland?

The total population of Eurasia is 4.6 billion people! This, by the way, is three quarters of all the inhabitants of our planet. Moreover, it is distributed extremely unevenly across the continent. The average population density of Eurasia is about 90 people per square kilometer of area.

Vast expanses of the mainland (Siberia, the far north, the Himalayas and Tibet, the interior of the Arabian Peninsula and others) are practically uninhabited. In some areas, the population density can be as low as 1 person per square kilometer. At the same time, all of Western Europe, the coast of Southeast Asia, the island of Great Britain, etc. are very heavily populated. For example, the population density in Singapore is 4000 people/km 2 .

Below is a map of population distribution across the mainland. The more intense the color on it, the more populated a particular region of Eurasia is.

The population of Eurasia mainly lives in cities. In percentage terms, this is about 60% of all inhabitants of the mainland. The largest cities in Asia are Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Delhi, Dhaka, Mumbai, Istanbul, Karachi; Europe - Moscow, London, Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Rome.

Population and countries of Eurasia

Today there are about 90 independent states within the continent. It is impossible to give an exact number, since there is a problem of identifying the independence of a particular country. For example, can Abkhazia, Transnistria or Kosovo be considered sovereign? Each researcher has his own opinion on this matter.

Below is a list of ten Eurasians.

It is worth noting that there is only one European country on this list (Germany). Therefore, it is not difficult to guess in which part of the world the bulk of the population of Eurasia and the planet as a whole is concentrated.

Political map of Eurasia

The political map of the continent began to form a long time ago, since ancient times. At that time, powerful states already existed in Eurasia. Among them are Ancient Hellas, Rome, China, India and others.

The modern political map of Eurasia is represented by nine dozen independent countries. Among them there are huge powers (such as China, Russia or India), and very tiny states (Vatican City, Andorra, San Marino), which are also called “dwarf”.

In Eurasia, there is heterogeneity in the level of economic development of countries and regions. The most developed countries on the continent include Japan, South Korea, Germany and the UK. At the same time, Asia is home to a huge number of “poor” developing countries (Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh and others).

Demographic situation in Europe and Asia

Modern demographic processes are very different in Europe, and continental Eurasia is experiencing a number of acute problems today. Moreover, they are different in different regions.

Thus, in Europe, the birth rate has decreased noticeably in recent decades. The situation in modern Europe is also often characterized as a “gray revolution” or “aging of the nation.” The fact is that, against the backdrop of a decline in the birth rate, overall life expectancy here is increasing. Thus, in the age structure of the population of most European countries there is an increase in the percentage of elderly people.

At the same time, in Asian countries the birth rate remains extremely high. In some regions, natural increase rates can reach 20-30 people per 1000 inhabitants. These countries, on the contrary, are facing the problem of overpopulation and lack of resources (primarily food).

Conclusion

The population of Eurasia (as of early 2015) is 4.6 billion people. Most of it is concentrated in Asia, mainly on the coasts of the Indian and Pacific oceans. The population of Eurasia (over 60%) is predominantly urban. The continent's largest metropolises: Shanghai, Delhi, Tokyo, Istanbul, Dhaka, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The populations and countries of Eurasia are extremely diverse. This continent is home to about a thousand nationalities who speak hundreds of different languages and dialects. It was here that three world religions were born: Islam, Christianity and Buddhism.

The area of Eurasia is 54,759,000 square kilometers. It is home to about five billion people. No other continent in the world can boast of such indicators. What peoples represent the continent? How are they settled? Let's find out what the features of the composition of the population of Eurasia are.

The world's largest continent

Without a doubt, Eurasia occupies the largest place on the map. It includes two parts of the world and is washed by four oceans. The area of Eurasia covers 36% of the entire landmass of the Earth. Most of it is located within the Northern, Eastern and Western hemispheres. In the Southern Hemisphere there are only a few islands that belong to the mainland.

The first human settlements on the mainland appeared approximately 800 thousand years ago. Now the population of Eurasia makes up 70% of the world's population. Representatives of all three main races live on the mainland, which are divided into thousands of ethnic groups.

The continent became the birthplace of many ancient civilizations, which gave the world a huge number of inventions, scientific discoveries and artistic movements. Here once arose: the Kingdom of Sumer, Ancient China and India, the Hittite Kingdom, Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. In addition, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Confucianism and Christianity originated in Eurasia.

Density and nature of population distribution

The population of Eurasia is unevenly distributed. Its placement on the mainland is mainly determined by geographical factors. The most populated areas are areas with a mild climate and fertile soils.

The continent is as close as possible to the Arctic Circle, so large parts of it are unsuitable for living and farming. Thus, in the northern part of the continent, the population density is low. In Iceland it is 3.1 people/km 2 , in Finland 16 people/km 2 , in Russia 8.56 people/km 2 .

The interior parts of the continent, where there are mountains and deserts, are also sparsely populated. Some of them are practically deserted, for example, the Gobi Desert and Tibet. This is where the state with the lowest density in Eurasia is located - Mongolia (2 people/km2).

The most favorable conditions are found in Western, Southern and Central Europe, the southern and southeastern regions of Asia. Here, the highest density indicators belong to Singapore (7389 people/km2) and Monaco (18,679 people/km2).

Racial composition

The population of Eurasia is represented by Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid races. Caucasoids are settled in the European part of the continent, on the Hindustan Peninsula and Southeast Asia. Representatives of the southern branch are characterized by dark shades of hair and eyes, while the northern branch, on the contrary, has light eyes, hair and skin. Typical representatives of the northern branch are residents of the Nordic countries.

Mongoloids inhabit mainly Asia. They live in its northern, eastern and central regions. They have a slightly flattened face, dark or light skin, and dark hair and eyes. The crease of the upper eyelid is enlarged, making them appear narrower than in other races.

The Negroid race is not very characteristic of Eurasia. Most of its representatives live in Hindustan and Sri Lanka. On the territory of Abkhazia there are representatives of the racial-ethnic group of Caucasian blacks. All Negroids have dark skin and eyes, and dark curly hair. The lips are wide, the nose is wide and slightly flattened, and the limbs are elongated.

Ethnolinguistic composition

The ethnic composition of the population of Eurasia is incredibly diverse. More than a thousand peoples live in Asia alone. The most numerous ethnic groups around the world include the Chinese, Bengalis, Japanese and Hindustanis living in the east and southeast of the continent. In Europe, the largest numbers (more than 30 million) are Russians, Germans, French, Italians, Ukrainians, Poles and Spaniards.

Peoples are also divided according to their belonging to language families and groups. There are also a huge number of them. Asia is dominated by members of the Sino-Tibetan family (1.2 billion speakers), which includes Tibetan, Chinese and Burmese.

The first place in the world in terms of the number of speakers (2.5 billion) belongs to the Indo-European family. It includes Slavic, Germanic, Romance, Indo-Iranian, Greek, Italic and other languages. Their speakers are common in both the European and Asian parts of the world.

Countries

There are about 100 states in Eurasia. They contrast greatly in size, standard of living and economic development. The continent contains both the largest and smallest countries in the world.

The largest country in Eurasia in terms of population is China (1.33 billion). In second place after it is India (1.17 billion). Thus, a third of the planet's inhabitants live in these two countries. The largest state in Eurasia by area is Russia (17,125,191 km 2). It is twice the size of the continent of Australia.

The smallest world state in terms of area and population is the Vatican (0.44 km 2 and 842 inhabitants). It is located right in the center of Rome. Together with Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Malta, Singapore and others, it belongs to the dwarf states.

Most of the countries on the continent are characterized by a republican form of government. A little more than ten states are monarchies (Great Britain, Denmark, Spain, Liechtenstein, Andorra, etc.). Sometimes theocracies are distinguished separately (Vatican City, Brunei, Saudi Arabia).

Diversity of Eurasia

Eurasia is the largest continent in the world, which covers two parts of the world: Europe and Asia. Its population is more than five billion people. It is so contrasting that it is difficult to describe it in a nutshell.

There are about a hundred countries on the continent, among which there are huge in size and number, such as Russia, China, India, and there are very tiny ones, for example, the Vatican, Malta, Monaco and Singapore. Some have a density of no more than two people per square kilometer, while others have a density of more than several hundred.

Billions of people and thousands of nationalities live in Eurasia. Together they make up approximately two-thirds of the world's population. Each of these peoples is interesting and unique. They represent different races, languages, religions and traditions that make Eurasia one of the most diverse and colorful continents on our planet.

Population size and density

Eurasia, like Africa, is considered the ancestral homeland of man. As of the beginning of 2016, $5,175 million people lived in Eurasia, including $4,436 million in Asia and $739 million in Europe. In total, more than $2/3$ of the total population of the planet lives in Eurasia. Due to the heterogeneity of natural conditions, Eurasia is unevenly populated.

The most densely populated areas are those with a favorable climate and fertile soils. Such conditions are observed in the Mediterranean region and lower rivers of Asia.

The population density of Eurasia averages $95 people per square kilometer. Eurasia contains most of the world's most populated areas. This is, first of all, the Indo-Gangetic lowland, where about $1 billion people live with a population density of $1000 \ person/km^2$, as well as the Great Chinese Plain, the Sichuan River Basin, the island of Java and the Tokaido region in Japan.

Among the countries, the most densely populated are Macau (China) – $21\352\person/km^2$, Monaco – $19010\person/km^2$ and Singapore – $7697\person/km^2$. Population density increases sharply in cities. The most populated cities in Eurasia are Shanghai (China) - $24.2 million people, Karachi (Pakistan) - $23.5 million people, Mumbai (India) - $22.0 million people, Beijing (China) - $21.5 million million people, Delhi (India) – $18.6 million people.

At the same time, there are very sparsely populated areas in Eurasia. These are highland and desert areas such as Tibet, Gobi and the interior of the Arabian Peninsula. Among entire states, this is Mongolia, where $2 \ people/km^2$ live, or Iceland with a population density of just over $3 \ people/km^2$. In some dependent territories of European states, less than $1\person/km^2$ lives.

Racial and ethnic composition

Eurasia is inhabited by representatives of different races and ethnic groups. Among the races, representatives of Caucasoid and Mongoloid predominate, with representatives of the first living in Europe, South-West and South Asia, and the second in East and Central Asia. Representatives of the Negroid race live on the island of Sri Lanka and the south of the Hindustan Peninsula.

Eurasia is also multi-ethnic, with representatives of different nations living here. Language groups and families are formed according to linguistic characteristics.

The population of Europe belongs predominantly to the Indo-European language family, which includes the Germanic, Romance and Slavic language groups. Asia is inhabited predominantly by representatives of the Sino-Tibetan language family, which consists of Chinese and Tibeto-Burman groups.

Note 1

The largest peoples of the region are the Chinese, Hindustanis, Bengalis, Biharis, and Japanese. Most of the countries of Eurasia are multinational states. India and Indonesia are home to $150 people, the Philippines - $100 people, China and Vietnam - $50 people, Thailand and Iran - about $30 people. Relatively monoethnic states are an exception in Eurasia. An example is Japan, where $98.5\%$ of the population belongs to the titular nation, or Iceland, where $98.99\%$ are Icelanders. Ethnic diversity is intensifying due to the separation of peoples by country borders. In particular, Kurds live in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, Afghans live in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bengalis live in India and Pakistan.

Religious composition of the population

The religious composition of the population of Eurasia is also heterogeneous. Foreign Asia (in relation to Russia) is the cradle of all world religions. Islam of various denominations is practiced by the population of the countries of Western and South-West Asia. Hinduism is most widespread in India, Buddhism in China, Mongolia, Korea and Japan, Judaism in Israel. Most of the population of Europe profess Christianity.