Which are the Best Countries in Asia?

Asia as a whole covers a huge range of countries, from full democracies to hardened dictatorships, and from highly developed technological countries, to nations of ill-educated and semi-literate clanspeople. Of this mix, which countries are a shining example to the others?

There are 61 locations that fall within this category. By adding up all the known populations that fall within these locations, and summing their physical land areas, we can calculate population densities. Some islands and territories can end up being counted twice depending on how they are classified and divided up politically, but, mostly such errors involve only small populations. So, some data on this collection of countries in total:

• Population: 4.7b
• Land Area: 47 307 312km² (23% of Earth's land)
• Independent States: 48
• Other Territories: 13
• Compare to other regions of the world

1. Summary Data
2. Social and Moral Development
3. Demographics and Migration
4. Responsibility Towards The Environment
5. Culture, Peace and Inequality
6. Modernity and Learning
7. Health
8. Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance
9. Religion and Beliefs
10. Links

1. Summary Data

#economics #human_development #population #wealth

Not showing due to lack of data: Abkhazia.

This page only shows places where the database has enough data to be able to come to reasonable conclusions about each place. The main focus is on nation states, but, some distinct external territories may be listed if the database has enough information about them. Averages are calculated from as many valid data points as possible, meaning, that some territories and locations that are not listed above may still be used to calculate some of the average values. Some calculations only use Independent State data - hover the cursor over values to see hints.

Links:

• Compare to other regions of the world
• Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?
• The Population of the Earth
• Homosexuality in Animals and Humans

2. Social and Moral Development

#charitability #climate_change #culture #education #equality #freedom #gender_equality #health #human_development #human_rights #modernity #morals #peace #politics #prejudice #technology #the_environment #the_internet #tolerance

Here are each country's overall scores across the categories that make up the Social and Moral Development Index. This is followed by lists of how each country scores in each individual data set.

The Social and Moral Development Index concentrates on moral issues and human rights, violence, public health, equality, tolerance, freedom and effectiveness in climate change mitigation and environmentalism, and on some technological issues. A country scores higher for achieving well in those areas, and for sustaining that achievement in the long term. Those countries towards the top of this index can truly said to be setting good examples and leading humankind onwards into a bright, humane, and free future. See: Which are the Best Countries in the World? The Social and Moral Development Index.

For more, see:

• "Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?" by Vexen Crabtree (2026).

3. Demographics and Migration

#asia #birth_control #china #demographics #emigration #health #immigration #india #life_expectancy #longevity #migration #overpopulation #population

Population:

Migration:

Some of the smaller countries of Asia have very high immigration rates. The countries in Asia with the highest percent of immigrants in their populations are UAE (88.4%), Kuwait (75.5%) and Qatar (65.2%), although the average for Asia is 14%. Several other countries approach an immigration rate of 50%. Conversely, emigration is highest in Palestine (68.4%), Armenia (28.2%) and Georgia (25.1%). The average continental emigration rate is 8%. The two massive countries of China and India (both with over a billion inhabitants) see less than half a percent of their people come or go.

For full commentary and data, see:

• Which Country in Asia Has the Most Immigrants Or Emigrants?

4. Responsibility Towards The Environment

#biodiversity #climate_change #deforestation #energy #environmentalism #food #internationalism #meat #over-exploitation #sustainability #the_environment #veganism #vegetarianism

We have known for a long term that we must protect the environment from habitation destruction, over-exploitation, pollution, and the emissions that cause climate change. In 1998, Greenpeace wrote that "Environment can no longer be meaningfully separated from health, quality of life, democracy, education, economy or trade"₁₄. What countries have been doing the right thing, via legislation and national culture? All countries' current and historical approach towards the environment is gauged via 21 datasets, including multiple decades of data on its forested percent change 2000-2020, its environmental performance, energy to GDP efficiency, its sign-up rate to major international accords on protecting the environment, the rate of rational beliefs on the environment in the population, reducing annual meat consumption per person and its score on the Green Future Index.

The countries that do the best (Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Switzerland) tend to have avoided the excesses of early industrial countries, and have not yet repeated the same mistakes of environmental destruction - at least, not on the same scale. The regions with the best average results per country are Central America, South America and Scandinavia. The worst are Eritrea, The Vatican City and Timor-Leste (E. Timor), and the worst regions Micronesia, Australasia and Melanesia.

For more, see:

• "Countries With the Best Environmental Records" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

5. Culture, Peace and Inequality

#capitalism #charity #corruption #culture #economics #equality #extremism #freedom #happiness #health #human_development #inequality #internationalism #life_expectancy #morals #peace #politics #poverty #religious_violence #social_development #terrorism

This is the final pillar of the Social and Moral Development Index; it has 39 datasets, including multiple decades of data on resisting corruption, Creativity and Culture, overall happiness, Open Trading, Aid and Development, passport utility (so far), personal financial stability, World Giving Index, its Global Peace Index rating, Peacekeeping and Security, Refugees and UN Treaties, the impact of terrorism, poverty (so far), life expectancy inequality, Income Inequality (Gini Coefficient) and Multidimensional Poverty.

For more, see:

• "Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?" by Vexen Crabtree (2026).

National Culture:

The region of south-east Asia hosts some of the kindest people in the world. Myanmar and Thailand often top the World Giving Index₂₂, which the Charities Aid Foundation attributes to the teachings and values of Theravada Buddhism₂₂. Likewise, in Indonesia, giving is strongly encouraged by the Islamic doctrine of zakat, causing that country to give to charity at three times the global average rate.

Peace Versus Instability:

Many long-standing ethnic conflicts in south Asia are specifically the results of the way the imperial British drew national state-building lines that cut through ethnic groups; "the purpose was to legitimize conquest and facilitate colonial administration"₃₀, but the result was unnatural divides that caused enduring imbalances of power and perceptions of ethnicity-based inequalities.

Economic Inequality and Poverty:

6. Modernity and Learning

#education #english #intelligence #it_security #maths #metric #modernity #politics #religion #religiosity #research #science #secularisation #technology #the_internet

The most modern countries, with the best results from education, the highest levels of research, and with the easiest access to information on the Internet, are Finland, Iceland and Denmark₅₂. The worst countries are S. Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia₅₂. Despite improves in global education, access to tertiary (adult) education is becoming increasingly unequal between the rich haves and the poor have-nots₅₃.

“Education, at all levels and ages, is the single most vital support for equality as well as being a country's most vital economic and social resource. [...] Every successful aspirant to modernisation and economic development, from Japan to South Korea, China to Chile, has got there with a big emphasis on education.”

Bill Emmott (2017)₅₄

27 datasets are used to calculate points for each country, including multiple decades of data on Research and Development, Intellectual Endeavours, metric system adoption rate, Religiosity, IQ, Secondary Education, Length of Schooling, Maths, Science & Reading, the percent of citizens with access to the internet, Freedom On The Internet, IT Security, IPv6 Uptake and digital quality of life. The regions with the best average results per country are Scandinavia, Baltic States and Europe₅₂, whereas the worst are Melanesia, Africa and Micronesia₅₂.

For more, see:

• " Which Countries are Most Modern, With the Best Education and Internet Access?" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

Modernity:

Education:

Technology and Information:

7. Health

#2010s #alcohol #birth_control #children's_health #demographics #health #life_expectancy #longevity #mental_health #obesity #overpopulation #parenting #population #smoking #suicide #vaccines

The countries with the best overall approach to public health, in terms of both public policy and individual lifestyle choices, are Monaco, Liechtenstein and Japan₇₈. These countries are worth emulating. And, although often through no fault of the average citizen, the worst countries are Angola, Somalia and S. Sudan₇₈.

42 datasets are used to calculate points for each country, including multiple decades of data on its average life expectancy, its alcohol consumption rate, its fertility rate, its smoking rate, its suicide rate, its food aid and health contributions and WHO compliance, the prevalence of overweight adults, obesity rate, its adolescent birth rate, delivery rate of infant DTP immunizations, delivery rate of 7x Infant Immunizations 2011-2015 and childhood mortality. The regions with the best average results per country are Scandinavia, Europe and The Mediterranean₇₈, whereas the worst are Micronesia, Africa and Melanesia₇₈.

For more, see:

• "Countries With the Healthiest Cultures and Health Policies" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

Health:

Children's Health:

8. Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance

#Asia #china #equality #freedom #gender_equality #hong_kong #human_rights #morals #politics #prejudice #tolerance

Asia is a huge and diverse continent, so much so, that's it's not necessarily sensible to attempt to compare countries across the continent as a whole. Nonetheless, it is still a major geographical bloc, and we should let those who do well shine and serve as examples. The best countries in Asia at protecting human rights, engendering tolerance and supporting equality, are Japan, Taiwan and S. Korea but the continent as a whole does poorly compared to the global average. The worst countries are Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Afghanistan. Hong Kong shows us something about the statistics: They are often several years behind reality; HK now has been subject to increasing restrictions and is also less transparent to the outside world due to Chinese control.

For full commentary and data, see:

• Human Rights, Freedom, Tolerance and Equality in Asia: Statistical Comparisons

9. Religion and Beliefs

#belief #buddhism #christianity #folk_religion #god #hinduism #human_development #islam #judaism #no_religion #religion #religiosity #secularisation