Asia, largest of the earth's seven continents. With outlying islands, it covers an estimated 44,936,000 sq km (17,350,000 sq mi), or about one-third of the world's total land area. Asia has more than 3.2 billion inhabitants. Its peoples account for three-fifths of the world's population. Lying almost entirely in the northern hemisphere, Asia is bounded by the Arctic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. The conventional boundary between Europe and Asia is drawn at the Ural Mountains in Russia. Asia …showed first 75 words of 1711 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1711 total…and Indonesia, Communist forces lost. Other ideological conflicts were fought in Korea, Indochina, and Afghanistan. No Asian country was untouched by the confrontation between Communist and non-Communist ideologies. In recent years, economic and industrial expansion has transformed some Asian areas into world leaders in wealth and industrial output. Despite conflicting ambitions and ideologies, and local problems, wide sectors of Asia in the 1980s and early 1990s enjoyed economic growth, increased democracy, and improved living standards!