Eli5:Why do countries in Asia have such high populations and high population densities?
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I’m not sure it’s quite that simple though you are obviously not wrong. Compare those countries density to some in Europe for example.
China 153 per km2
U.K. 281 per km2
India 464 per km2
Netherlands 508 per km2
Bangladesh 1265 per km2
Malta 1642 per km2
By the way..
Monaco 19361 per km2
China and India certainly do have huge populations … head and shoulders over the rest – though the USA is number three ( but far behind). To be fair they are all also amongst the largest countries in the world. However , some of the largest are far less populated Russia, Canada and Australia though I’m not sure whether they have proportionately less easily inhabitable land at all?
But population is going to be linked to culture, economics , female emancipation and health care which themselves tend to be linked. Some cultures look upon large families as important , wealthier countries tend to have lower birth rates , countries in which women can join the work force and have reproductive rights will also have lower birth rates , and in countries with high birth rates an existing system of basic effective health care will ensure they survive.
I’m thinking that also perhaps its that a country with 100 people and a country with 1000 people – there’s 900 difference. People pair up and have two kids each and you have 200 and 2000 a difference of 1800. So to some extent there’s a self fulfilling difference in growing populations? And perhaps if the advent of agriculture allowed growth that didn’t happen in societies before that – countries that also have been populated and had agriculture for longer will have had more time and impetus for population growth?
That’s a mix of lots of ideas that could be factors.
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