South Asia in facts
One in four people on Earth
South Asia is home to about 2 billion people, roughly a quarter of the world’s population, across eight countries and hundreds of languages.
Population by country
India alone holds about three quarters of the region’s people. Pakistan and Bangladesh follow, and together the three hold over 90%.
Population, 2025
Millions of people · share of the region
Land area
Thousands of km² · Sweden is about 450
Population: UN World Population Prospects 2024, 2025 estimates. Areas as officially reported; see the note on Jammu & Kashmir below.
Languages
Hundreds of languages are spoken across the region, from five language families. India alone has more than 450 living languages.
Top 5 languages
Total speakers worldwide, first and second language · millions
Ethnologue counts Western and Eastern Punjabi as two languages; together they would rank fourth.
Living languages by country
Number of living languages, 2025
Added country by country the total is 773, but many languages are shared across borders (Bengali, Punjabi, Pashto, Nepali and others), so the number of distinct languages in the region is lower.
Country profiles
Capitals, land area and main languages of the eight countries.
| Country | Capital | Area (km²) | Main languages |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFAfghanistan | Kabul | 652,230 | Pashto and Dari (official); also Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi |
| BDBangladesh | Dhaka | 148,460 | Bangla (official); also Sylheti, Chittagonian, Indigenous languages |
| BTBhutan | Thimphu | 38,394 | Dzongkha (national); also Sharchop, Nepali (Lhotshamkha) |
| INIndia | New Delhi | 3,287,263* | Hindi and English (union level); 22 scheduled languages incl. Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kashmiri |
| MVMaldives | Malé | 298 | Dhivehi (official) |
| NPNepal | Kathmandu | 147,181 | Nepali (official); 120+ languages incl. Maithili, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Tamang, Newar |
| PKPakistan | Islamabad | 881,913* | Urdu (national), English (official); also Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Balochi, Kashmiri |
| LKSri Lanka | Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (Colombo) | 65,610 | Sinhala and Tamil (official); English as link language |
*Areas as officially reported. Jammu & Kashmir is disputed and parts of it are counted in both India’s and Pakistan’s figures, so the regional total is approximate.
South Asia, here in Sweden
Behind every number on this page are neighbours, colleagues and friends. These are moments from our events in Malmö, Lund and Stockholm.
The South Asian diaspora in Sweden
Swedish-Afghans, Swedish-Indians, Swedish-Pakistanis, Swedish-Bangladeshis and Swedish-Sri Lankans together number about 190,000 people born in South Asia.
of Sweden’s 2.2 million foreign-born residents was born in South Asia.
Born in South Asia, living in Sweden
Number of people by country of birth, 31 December 2025 · share of the 189,736 total
Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives are not among the 50 largest birth-country groups in Sweden, so they are not broken out. Source: SCB via Tobias Hübinette, 31 Dec 2025.
people in Sweden born in South Asia, end of 2025 (about 190,000)
India has been among the three most common birth countries for new immigrants to Sweden since 2020, mostly for work or study.
Indian citizens in Sweden at the end of 2025, the third-largest group of foreign citizens.
of pupils at Sweden’s international compulsory schools were born in India (2024).
Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives have smaller communities. Counting Swedish-born children of South Asian parents, the community of new Swedes with South Asian roots is considerably larger.
Notes and sources
Afghanistan is included as a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) since 2007; some classifications place it in Central Asia.
- Worldometer – Southern Asia population (UN World Population Prospects 2024, 2025 estimates)
- Tobias Hübinette – foreign-born residents by country of birth, 31 Dec 2025 (SCB figures)
- SCB – Ukrainare och indier största invandrargrupperna sedan pandemin
- SCB – Indiska elever vanligast i internationella skolor
- SCB – Befolkningsstatistik helåret 2025
- Country areas: national statistics and CIA World Factbook (approximate)
- Ethnologue (SIL International) – living languages by country, 2025, via Our World in Data
- Ethnologue – total speakers per language (first and second language), 2025