Asia is the largest and most populous continent in the world. The region encompasses a large part of the Northern Hemisphere, and is subdivided into six regions by the UN Statistical Division: North Asia (Siberia), Central Asia (the ‘stans), Western Asia (the Middle East or Near East), South Asia (the Indian subcontinent), East Asia (the Far East), and Southeast Asia (Indochina and the East Indies). The region has extremely diverse climate features—from arctic climates in the North to tropical climates in the South and Southeast.
Asian countries have diverse and colorful banknotes. Though Asia has the largest continental economy in the world, many countries are still recovering from the economic devastation of colonization (especially Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Indonesia) and civil strife (like Iran and Turkey), the banknotes have large denominations. Banknotes in the continent generally have many distinguishing features, like varying colors and sizes, to help differentiate one denomination from another because a large population have only attained basic education. Some countries have similar currencies due to their geographical proximity (Sri Langkan and Indian rupee), shared religion (Qatar and Saudi Arabian riyal), and history (Taiwanese and Chinese yuan).
