The Pacific Rim

The Pacific Rim is the loosely defined transregional grouping of countries and territories bordering the Pacific Ocean, spanning the west coasts of the Americas, East and Southeast Asia, Australasia and the Pacific Islands. Used chiefly as an economic and geopolitical term rather than a strict physical one, it groups together some of the world's largest and fastest-growing economies alongside the seismically active volcanic and earthquake zone known as the Ring of Fire that encircles much of the same area.