Location: Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan

Language: English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for
national, political, and commercial communication, Hindi the national language and
primary tongue of 30% of the people, Bengali (official), Telugu (official), Marathi
(official), Tamil (official), Urdu (official), Gujarati (official), Malayalam (official),
Kannada (official), Oriya (official), Punjabi (official), Assamese (official), Kashmiri
(official), Sindhi (official), Sanskrit (official), Hindustani (a popular variant of
Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India)
note: 24 languages each spoken by a million or more persons; numerous other
languages and dialects, for the most part mutually unintelligible

Currency: 1 Indian rupee (Re) = 100 paise

Population: 1,000,848,550

Natural Hazards: droughts, flash floods, severe thunderstorms common; earthquakes

Import: crude oil and petroleum products, machinery, gems,
fertilizer, chemicals

Export: textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods,
chemicals, leather manufactures

Industries: textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery

Transportation:
Railways:
total: 62,915 km (12,307 km electrified; 12,617 km double track)
broad gauge: 40,620 km 1.676-m gauge
narrow gauge: 18,501 km 1.000-m gauge; 3,794 km 0.762-m and 0.610-m
gauge (1998 est.)

Highways:
total: 3,319,644 km
paved: 1,517,077 km
unpaved: 1,802,567 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: 16,180 km; 3,631 km navigable by large vessels

Ports & Harbors: Calcutta, Chennai (Madras), Cochin, Jawaharal Nehru, Kandla, Mumbai (Bombay), Vishakhapatnam

Location: Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean

Language:Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch,
local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese

Currency: Indonesian rupiah (Rp)

Population: 216,108,345

Natural Hazards: occasional floods, severe droughts, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes

Import: manufactures 75.3%, raw materials 9.0%, foodstuffs
7.8%, fuels 7.7%

Export: garments 7.9%, textiles 7.3%, gas 6.4%, electrical
appliances 5.9%, pulp and paper 5.3%, oil 4.7%, plywood 4.7%

Industries: petroleum and natural gas; textiles, apparel, and footwear; mining, cement, chemical fertilizers, plywood; rubber; food; tourism

Transportation:
Railways:
total: 6,458 km
narrow gauge: 5,961 km 1.067-m gauge (101 km electrified; 101 km double
track); 497 km 0.750-m gauge (1995)

Highways:
total: 342,700 km
paved: 158,670 km
unpaved: 184,030 km (1997 est.)

Waterways: 21,579 km total; Sumatra 5,471 km, Java and Madura 820 km,
Kalimantan 10,460 km, Sulawesi (Celebes) 241 km, Irian Jaya 4,587 km

Ports & Harbors: Cilacap, Cirebon, Jakarta, Kupang, Palembang, Semarang,
Surabaya, Ujungpandang
 

Location: Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea, between Iraq and Pakistan

Language: Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%

Currency: 10 Iranian rials (IR) = 1 toman

Population: 65,179,752

Natural Hazards: periodic droughts, floods; dust storms, sandstorms; earthquakes along western border and in the northeast

Import: machinery, military supplies, metal works, foodstuffs,
pharmaceuticals, technical services, refined oil products

Export: petroleum 80%, carpets, fruits, nuts, hides, iron, steel

Industries: petroleum, petrochemicals, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil production),
metal fabricating, armaments

Transportation:
Railways:
total: 7,286 km
broad gauge: 94 km 1.676-m gauge
standard gauge: 7,192 km 1.435-m gauge (146 km electrified) (1996 est.)

Highways:
total: 162,000 km
paved: 81,000 km (including 470 km of expressways)
unpaved: 81,000 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: 904 km; the Shatt al Arab is usually navigable by maritime traffic for
about 130 km; channel has been dredged to 3 m and is in use

Ports & Harbors:
Abadan (largely destroyed in fighting during 1980-88 war),
Ahvaz, Bandar 'Abbas, Bandar-e Anzali, Bushehr, Bandar-e Imam Khomeyni, Bandar-e Lengeh, Bandar-e Mahshahr, Bandar-e Torkaman, Chabahar (Bandar
Beheshti), Jazireh-ye Khark, Jazireh-ye Lavan, Jazireh-ye Sirri, Khorramshahr (limited operation since November 1992), Now Shahr

Location: Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait

Language: Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian

Currency: 1 Iraqi dinar (ID) = 1,000 fils

Population: 22,427,150

Natural Hazards: dust storms, sandstorms, floods

Import: food, medicine, manufactures

Export: crude oil

Industries: petroleum, chemicals, textiles, construction materials, food processing

Transportation:
Railways:
total: 2,032 km
standard gauge: 2,032 km 1.435-m gauge

Highways:
total: 47,400 km
paved: 40,764 km
unpaved: 6,636 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: 1,015 km; Shatt al Arab is usually navigable by maritime traffic for about 130 km; channel has been dredged to 3 meters and is in use; Tigris andEuphrates Rivers have navigable sections for shallow-draft watercraft; Shatt alBasrah canal was navigable by shallow-draft craft before closing in 1991 because ofthe Persian Gulf war

Ports & Harbors: Umm Qasr, Khawr az Zubayr, and Al Basrah have limited functionality

Location: Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula

Language: Japanese

Currency: yen (¥)

Population: 126,182,077

Natural Hazards: many dormant and some active volcanoes; about 1,500 seismic occurrences (mostly tremors) every year; tsunamis

Import: manufactures 54%, foodstuffs and raw materials 28%,
fossil fuels 16%

Export: manufactures 96% (including machinery 50%, motor
vehicles 19%, consumer electronics 3%)

Industries: among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of steel and nonferrous metallurgy, heavy electrical equipment, construction and mining
equipment, motor vehicles and parts, electronic and telecommunication equipment, machine tools, automated production systems, locomotives and railroad rolling
stock, ships, chemicals; textiles, processed foods

Transportation:
Railways:
total: 23,670.7 km
standard gauge: 2,893.1 km 1.435-m gauge (entirely electrified)
narrow gauge: 89.8 km 1.372-m gauge (89.8 km electrified); 20,656.8 km
1.067-m gauge (10,383.6 km electrified); 31 km 0.762-m gauge (3.6 km
electrified) (1994)

Highways:
total: 1.16 million km
paved: 859,560 km (including 6,070 km of expressways)
unpaved: 300,440 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: about 1,770 km; seagoing craft ply all coastal inland seas

Ports & Harbors: Akita, Amagasaki, Chiba, Hachinohe, Hakodate,
Higashi-Harima, Himeji, Hiroshima, Kawasaki, Kinuura, Kobe, Kushiro,
Mizushima, Moji, Nagoya, Osaka, Sakai, Sakaide, Shimizu, Tokyo, Tomakomai

Location: Central Asia, northwest of China

Language: Kazakh (Qazaq) (state language) 40%, Russian (official, used in everyday business) 66%

Currency: 1 Kazakhstani tenge = 100 tiyn

Population: 16,824,825

Natural Hazards: earthquakes in the south, mudslides around Almaty

Import: machinery and parts, industrial materials, oil and gas,
consumer goods

Export: oil, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, grain, wool, meat, coal

Industries: oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel, nonferrous metal, tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials; much of industrial capacity is shut down and/or is in need of repair

Transportation:
Railways:
total: 14,400 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines
broad gauge: 14,400 km 1.520-m gauge (3,299 km electrified) (1997)

Highways:
total: 141,000 km
paved: 104,200 km
unpaved: 36,800 km (1997 est.)

Waterways: 3,900 km on the Syrdariya (Syr Darya) and Ertis (Irtysh)

Ports & Harbors: Aqtau (Shevchenko), Atyrau (Gur'yev), Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk), Pavlodar, Semey (Semipalatinsk)

Location: Central Asia, west of China

Language: Kirghiz (Kyrgyz)—official language, Russian—official language note: in March 1996, the Kyrgyzstani legislature amended the constitution to make
Russian an official language, along with Kirghiz, in territories and work places where
Russian-speaking citizens predominate

Currency: 1 Kyrgyzstani som (KGS) = 100 tyiyn

Population: 4,546,055

Natural Hazards: NA

Import: grain, lumber, industrial products, ferrous metals, fuel,
machinery, textiles, footwear

Export: cotton, wool, meat, tobacco; gold, mercury, uranium,
hydropower; machinery; shoes

Industries: small machinery, textiles, food processing, cement, shoes, sawn logs, refrigerators, furniture, electric motors, gold, rare earth metals

Transportation:
Railways:
total: 370 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines
broad gauge: 370 km 1.520-m gauge (1990)

Highways:
total: 18,500 km
paved: 16,854 km (including 140 km of expressways)
unpaved: 1,646 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: 600 km (1990)

Ports & Harbors: Balykchy (Ysyk-Kol or Rybach'ye)

Location: Southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam

Language: Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages

Currency: 1 new kip (NK) = 100 at

Population: 5,407,453

Natural Hazards: floods, droughts, and blight

Import: machinery and equipment, vehicles, fuel

Export: wood products, garments, electricity, coffee, tin

Industries: tin and gypsum mining, timber, electric power, agricultural processing, construction, garments

Transportation:
Railways: 0 km

Highways:
total: 21,716 km
paved: 9,673.5 km
unpaved: 12,042.5 km (1998 est.)

Waterways: about 4,587 km, primarily Mekong and tributaries; 2,897 additional
kilometers are sectionally navigable by craft drawing less than 0.5 m

Ports & Harbors: none