Top 5 Most Populous ASEAN Countries

I am having problems finding the top countries in ASEAN in terms of exact population. But basing the list from Google's tons of information posted recently and some a few years back, there's not much of a difference. It goes without saying that for years, same countries are vying for the top spot, or not.

Everybody knows that huge population can be a very difficult problem to solve. It can create lack of employment if not properly handled, and it certainly create pollution too. But on the bright side, they can be a source of manpower. If properly handled it could improved standard of living. The bigger a population in a country,the bigger the domestic market of that country. More people are able to work, which means that products are manufactured at cheaper costs and labor costs are lower, which in turn make these products more affordable to the general population. This creates economies of scale because volume increases and cost per unit decreases.

Anyway enough of this. Let's just check out the list, shall we?

1. The top spot goes to the largest archipelago not just in ASEAN but also in the world. In 2010 census of Badan Pusat Statistik, Indonesia had a population of 237,641,000. It also landed as the 4th most populous country in the world.

2. The National Statistics Office (NSO) of the Philippines in its 2010 census put the Philippines as the second most populous country in the region. At that time, the second largest archipelago in the world next to Indonesia had a population of 92,340,000.

Trivia: The Philippines welcomed its 100 millionth baby this year.

3. Vietnam trails behind the Philippines with an 87,840,000 population based on the official estimate of Vietnam's General Statistics Office (GSO) in 2011. I have no idea why it was only an estimate. But that said, the figure came from GSO so I think there's nothing more credible than that.

4. I was wrong as I thought Malaysia was more populous than Thailand. To my amazement, Malaysia didn't even make it on the top 5. Thailand, however, got the 4th place. In 2010 census of the country's National Statistics Office, the land of smiles had a population of 65,500,000.

5. Myanmar... That's right. There was no typo or anything like that. The former military-run government made it on the list. According to Central Statistical Office of Myanmar in 2010, there were about 47,963,000 people living in the country, making it more populous to Malaysia with over 15 million.

There were many predictions from analysts saying that Asia (that includes ASEAN) will continue to grow for quite some time. That said, it will continue to strain resources too. Unfortunately, it's currently projected that the countries which will grow the fastest are the ones with the lowest income in the world, and these countries will be the least capable of handling the extra stress on resources.

Note: ASEAN covers a land area of 4.46 million km², which is 3% of the total land area of Earth, and has a population of approximately 600 million people, which is 8.8% of the world's population.