In geography and statistics, for more convenient handling of a huge amount of information, it is customary to single out large regions of the world that have common features in historical development, geographical location or economic condition. It is understood that such a division allows scientists and officials to more accurately apply measures to regulate and stimulate the economy, as well as pursue responsible social policies.
The main regions of the world
The first and most obvious division is carried out with a cursory glance at the geographical and political map of the planet. Traditionally, countries are classified according to their position on the continents, but if such a division is not sufficiently informative, then the regions of the world are further divided.
In some cases, as, for example, with Australia or South America, the borders of economic regions coincide with the outlines of the continents. On the North American continent, there are two statistical regions - the North American proper and the Central America region, the largest country of which is Mexico.
Europe as a part of the world is divided into Southern, Western, Northern, Eastern and Central. Each European region has only its characteristic geographical and historical features of development. In addition, in different regions they speak languages belonging to different and linguistic groups and even families.
African cornucopia
On the African continent, experts identify five regions that are different from each other both in terms of the conditions in which the political identity of the peoples inhabiting them was formed, and in terms of economic status.
The North African region includes seven countries with unconditional international recognition, including Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia and South Sudan and Algeria. In addition, a disputed territory is located on the Atlantic Ocean whose sovereignty is not recognized by most countries - the Sahara Arab Democratic Republic.
Such a historical region of the world as West Africa includes eighteen states formed after the liquidation of colonial empires. Some of these countries, such as Nigeria, have a large territory with a large population and population, while others, on the contrary, represent a narrow strip along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
The regions of Central and East Africa have similar geographical characteristics, but differ due to different sources of cultural influence. In East Africa, especially in the northern part, the influence of the Italian colonialists is still noticeable, although they did not last long there. At the same time, Portuguese and French can still be heard in the western part of the continent, and in some countries French is considered the state or official language, as, for example, in Benin and Senegal.
The South African region has a very special place in relation to its neighbors. For a long time in the Republic of South Africa there were rules prohibiting even the joint passage of white and black in the same transport, and the main posts in the country were held by descendants of European colonists. However, in 1994 apartheid was officially banned, which entailed a radical change in the internal situation in the country, from which Europeans began to leave en masse.
Crowded asia
This part of the world is most densely populated by people and has numerous ancient cultures. It may seem to an outside observer that it is fairly homogeneous. However, this is not at all true. On the expanses of this continent, several large economic, geographical and cultural regions are identified, oriented to the cardinal points: Western, Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern and Southeast. Some scholars, paying attention to the geographical isolation of India, are inclined to consider it an independent ethno-geographical region with a rich cultural history.
Of course, in the Asian region, China traditionally has a great influence, whose population today reaches one billion two hundred million people, and economic development makes it the second country after the United States in terms of GDP.
Country and continent
A special place in the family of macro-regions is Australia - a spacious mainland, in the southern hemisphere, on the territory of which the country of the same name is located, whose population is about twenty-four million people. Such a population in conjunction with a large territory puts it on the top lines in the ranking of the least densely populated regions of the world.
However, as a macro-region, Australia is considered together with New Zealand and sometimes with the islands of Micronesia.
Two americas
Both continents of America are markedly different from their neighbors. In this part of the world, completely different from European local cultures were formed from scratch.
Three regions are distinguished on the lands of these continents, with different economic and political structures - North American, South American and Central America. Each region is extremely crowded.