ABSTRACT
The area encompassed by the political entities comprises 8.3 million square miles, or about 14% of the total earth’s land area. The bulk of the region is contained on the Asian continental land mass. Asia is unique for the sheer size of its population. The Asian Development Bank was formed in 1966 to help member nations obtain monies for development projects. During 1976, rice production in Asia approached 210 million tons, or 90% of the world’s rice output. The UN Economic and Social Council has a regional Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific, which has thirty-one member countries. The main Asian producers of coffee are Indonesia, India, and Papua New Guinea, and tea is primarily from China, India, and Sri Lanka. The production of crude oil throughout Asia was over 170 million metric tons in 1976. Asia and the Far East have large surpluses of tin, tungsten, antimony, bismuth, mica, fluorspar, magnesite, talc, and graphite.
