Asia is the largest continent by both land area and population. It covers about 44.6 million square kilometres and is home to roughly 60% of the world’s population.
Asia extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south, and from the Ural Mountains and other conventional boundaries in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It includes the world’s two most populous countries, India and China, along with dozens of other states and several major cultural regions.
The boundary between Europe and Asia is a historical convention rather than a clear natural division. The Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus region, and Black Sea are commonly used in modern geographic definitions. Asia also contains Mount Everest, the Tibetan Plateau, and the Gobi Desert, making it the continent of many major geographic extremes.