The land resources of Eastern Asia vary immensely from region to region.  For the most part, the land is relatively poor in quality and quantity.

With the great population of the area, easily the world's highest, the quantity of land is highly insufficient.  Eastern Asia has one of the highest population densities in the world, with 90 people per square kilometer.

In 1986, there were 0.25 hectares of land per person available in the area.  That was a decrease from 0.27 hectares a decade ago.  In some countries, such as island nations like Japan, the ratio is far lower.

The land is also beginning to undergo processes of degradation.  Problems including erosion, deforestation, overgrazing, and lack of irrigation and conservation are contributing to lower land quality.  13% of the region's land is considered severely degraded, 41% is moderately degraded, and 46% is lightly degraded.

Desertification is also a major problem, especially in countries such as China, Pakistan, and India.  By 1995, 86 million hectares of land had been affected by desertification.

Much of the cause of the land degradation problem is human activity.  The removal of vegetation from the land is blamed for 37% of land degradation, overgrazing is blamed for 33%, agriculture is blamed for 25%, and construction of infrastructure is blamed for the remaining 5%.