Pakistan Is in Which Part of Asia
The short answer: South Asia. The full answer: a country at the crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East — its borders, neighbours, coordinates and place in the world, explained.
Last updated: 11 October 2026
The Essentials
Key Facts at a Glance
Pakistan’s place in Asia in thirty seconds.
The Answer
The Direct Answer: South Asia
Every major geographical authority puts Pakistan in the same place.
Pakistan is in South Asia — the southern sub-region of the continent of Asia. The CIA World Factbook describes its location as “Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea, between India on the east and Iran and Afghanistan on the west and China in the north”; the United Nations geoscheme places it in Southern Asia; and Pakistan is a founder member of SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. It is the world’s fifth most populous country (241.5 million, 2023 census) and the second-largest country in South Asia by both area and population, after India.
The confusion some people feel is understandable — Pakistan sits at the northwestern edge of South Asia, where the subcontinent meets Central Asia and the Middle East. But “edge of” is not “outside of”: by every official classification, Pakistan is South Asian. See our definitive answer to “Is Pakistan South Asian?”
The Neighbours
Borders and Neighbours
Four land neighbours, one sea — and some of the world’s most sensitive frontiers.
| Neighbour | Direction | Border Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | East | 2,912 km | The Radcliffe Line; includes the disputed Line of Control in Kashmir |
| Afghanistan | West / Northwest | 2,430 km | The Durand Line (1893) — disputed by Afghanistan, fenced by Pakistan |
| Iran | West / Southwest | 909 km | Balochistan’s western frontier; shared Baloch population |
| China | North | 523 km | Karakoram frontier; Khunjerab Pass; CPEC corridor |
Total land boundaries: 6,774 km. To the south, Pakistan has 1,046 km of coastline on the Arabian Sea — home to the ports of Karachi and Gwadar (see our guide to Pakistan’s sea ports and the Sindh and Makran coasts compared). Two of the four land borders are among the most geopolitically charged on earth: the eastern border with India, militarised since 1947, and the western Durand Line, drawn in 1893 and never accepted by any Afghan government.
The Region
South Asia: The Eight Countries
Pakistan is one of eight South Asian nations — and a founder of the region’s main bloc.
Pakistan
241.5 million people; the region’s western anchor and second-largest country.
India
The region’s giant — the eastern neighbour and largest South Asian country.
Bangladesh
East Pakistan until 1971; the region’s eastern delta nation.
Afghanistan
The northwestern neighbour; sometimes grouped with Central Asia too.
Nepal
Himalayan nation between India and China.
Bhutan
Himalayan kingdom, east of Nepal.
Sri Lanka
Island nation off India’s southern tip.
Maldives
Indian Ocean archipelago; the region’s smallest country.
These eight form SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), founded in 1985 with its secretariat in Kathmandu — Pakistan is a founder member. South Asia as a whole holds roughly a quarter of humanity on about 3% of the world’s land, and Pakistan is central to every regional equation: trade corridors, water sharing, and security.
Pakistan’s place in the region
Within South Asia, Pakistan is the western anchor: the second-largest country by area and population, the region’s only country with a land border to China and Iran, and its principal link to Central Asia and the Gulf. It hosted the SAARC summit in Islamabad in 2004 and was due to host again in 2016 — a summit that never happened after the Uri attack froze the process, a reminder that South Asian regionalism has always been hostage to India–Pakistan relations. For Pakistan, “South Asia” is not just a map label; it is the arena of its foreign policy, from water treaties to cricket diplomacy.
The Nuance
The Crossroads: Central Asia and the Middle East
Why do some people place Pakistan outside South Asia? Because the ties are real — just not the classification.
Three sets of links pull Pakistan’s identity westward. Ethnic: the Pashtun people straddle the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and the Baloch live across Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan — communities older than any frontier. Historical: the Silk Road ran through what is now northern Pakistan; Persian and Central Asian empires ruled these lands for centuries. Geopolitical: Pakistan sits in the ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization) with Iran, Turkey and Central Asian states, and joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) — forums where it acts as South Asia’s bridge to Central Asia.
Geography reinforces the feeling: the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges form a natural wall between the subcontinent and Central Asia, and Pakistan holds the passes through it — notably Khunjerab on the Chinese frontier, the corridor for CPEC. But none of this changes the official answer: the UN, the CIA Factbook, SAARC and every standard atlas place Pakistan in South Asia. It is a South Asian country with Central Asian and Middle Eastern connections — not a country between categories.
The Coordinates
Pakistan on the Map
The hard numbers of Pakistan’s geography.
Entirely in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres; one timezone (PKT, UTC+5), no daylight saving.
778,720 sq km of land plus 25,220 of water — slightly less than twice the size of California.
The world’s second-highest mountain; the lowest point is the Arabian Sea at 0 m.
The terrain tells the regional story in miniature: the flat Indus plain in the east (classic subcontinent), the mountains of the north and northwest (the Karakoram, Himalayas and Hindu Kush — the wall against Central Asia), and the Balochistan plateau in the west (arid, Iranian-facing). Climate runs from hot desert to temperate northwest to arctic north.
A final set of coordinates for the fact-file: Pakistan lies entirely in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, keeps a single timezone — Pakistan Standard Time (PKT, UTC+5) — with no daylight saving, and uses the .pk internet domain and +92 dialling code. Small details, but they complete the picture of where Pakistan sits on the map — and in the world.
For the human geography — who lives where — see our Pakistan population guides.
Why It Matters
How Location Shaped Pakistan’s History
Pakistan’s address explains its past — invaders, empires and trade routes all came through here.
Stand on a map and Pakistan’s history reads like a function of its coordinates. The Silk Road threaded through the Karakoram and the Khyber Pass, making these valleys rich and contested for two millennia. Wave after wave of invaders — Aryans, Persians, Greeks under Alexander, Mauryans, Mughals — entered the subcontinent through the northwestern passes that Pakistan now guards. The British built their Indian empire’s northwestern frontier here for the same reason, and the Durand Line they drew in 1893 is today’s Afghan border dispute.
In the twentieth century the location kept dealing cards: Partition put Pakistan on the front line of the Cold War’s southern flank; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979) turned the western border into the staging ground for the decade’s defining proxy war; and today the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor uses the Khunjerab Pass to give western China its shortest route to the sea. Geography is not destiny — but in Pakistan’s case, it is a very persistent argument. For the human side of that history, see our Partition guide.
The Land
Five Regions, One Country
Pakistan’s regions read like five different countries stitched together.
The North
The Karakoram, Himalayas and Hindu Kush — K2 (8,611 m), Nanga Parbat, glaciers, and valleys like Hunza and Swat. Arctic cold, alpine beauty.
Punjab
The fertile Indus plain — Pakistan’s breadbasket and most populous province, home to Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan.
Sindh
The lower Indus: fertile plains giving way to the Thar Desert; Karachi and Hyderabad; the Arabian Sea coast.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
The northwestern frontier — Peshawar, the Khyber Pass, forested valleys; the gateway Pakistan has guarded for millennia.
Balochistan
The vast western plateau — nearly half Pakistan’s land, arid and mineral-rich, stretching to the Iranian border.
The Coast
1,046 km of Arabian Sea shoreline — Karachi’s ports, the Makran coast, Gwadar; where South Asia meets the sea lanes.
Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions people ask most about Pakistan’s location.
Which part of Asia is Pakistan in?
South Asia (Southern Asia) — the southern sub-region of the continent of Asia, at approximately 30°N, 70°E. This is the classification used by the UN, the CIA World Factbook and SAARC.
Is Pakistan in the Middle East?
No. The Middle East (West Asia) begins west of Iran; Pakistan is east of Iran, in South Asia. Pakistan has close political and cultural ties to the Middle East, but geographically it is not part of it.
Is Pakistan in Central Asia?
No — though it borders the region’s edge. Central Asia is the five former Soviet republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) plus sometimes Afghanistan. Pakistan’s Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges form the natural divide; Pakistan is the South Asian country on the other side of that wall.
What countries border Pakistan?
India (2,912 km, east), Afghanistan (2,430 km, west/northwest), Iran (909 km, west/southwest) and China (523 km, north) — plus 1,046 km of Arabian Sea coastline to the south.
What continent is Pakistan in?
Asia — the world’s largest continent. Pakistan sits in Asia’s southern sub-region (South Asia), in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres.
Is Pakistan South Asian or Southeast Asian?
South Asian. Southeast Asia is the region of Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and their neighbours — east of Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. Pakistan is firmly in South Asia, on the subcontinent’s northwestern edge.
Explore Pakistan’s Geography
Regions, borders, maps and the land that shapes the nation.
Feature Pakistan’s Pakistan Guides explain the country’s geography in plain language — verified against the CIA World Factbook, the UN geoscheme and the 2023 census. Border lengths are CIA World Factbook figures.