An assessment of the status of production and consumption of tilapia in five Asian countries was made to provide a baseline for the analysis of the potential benefits of the introduction of a new, improved strain of Nile tilapia. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the profile of tilapia farmers and their farming systems, costs, returns and productivity of tilapia production, and fish consumption patterns in Bangladesh, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, using data from household surveys conducted by ICLARM and its partners in 1995-96. Farmers grow tilapia in varied farming environments depending on the nature of their farmland and on their investment capacity. Tilapia is cultured mainly in semi-intensive systems on small and medium farms. The average farm size (pond area) of the surveyed pond operators varies from 0.60 ha (0.05 ha) in Bangladesh to 4.91 ha (1.56 ha) in the Philippines. In Asia, tilapia farming is very profitable. The productivity, costs of production and profitability of tilapia farms vary considerably among countries and production environments. Tilapia farming is becoming increasingly commercial with a large proportion of production is marketed. Tilapia is consumed mainly by poor consumers because of its relatively low price compared to other fish species.