"Awkward" and "wordy" are my least-favorite terms in SC. They are only helpful if you already know the answer is wrong and would like a quick way to justify your choice!

Since "equal to" follows the noun "people," it implies that the people themselves, not the numbers are equal. Far be it from me to deny the equality of all people, but I don't think that's what the author was talking about.

"As many as" is tricky, but basically we need to modify an action: "as many as were present at the Super Bowl," "as many as I met yesterday," etc. It would be odd to say "as many as the people in the rest of the world," because then we're saying "these people are as many as these people," and that's not how we typically use the word "many."

However, this is a rewrite of an official question in which the meaning issue is a lot clearer (look at daagh's "Most Helpful Reply" right under the original post). As so often happens when folks rewrite a GMAT question, the very specific factors that made the official answer 100% right have been lost. If you look at D in the original, you should have much less trouble ruling it out!
_________________

A booming population center, the Asian continent is home to over 3.5billion people, about equivalent to the residents of all the other areas of the world combined.
(a) equivalent to the residents of
(b) the equivalent of those residing in
(c) equal to those who reside in
(d) as many as the residents of
(e) as many as reside in

Here we are comparing 3.5 billion people to total people in other areas of the world combined.
In (A) and (B), the term "equivalent" doesn't make sense. This leaves us with (C) (D) and (E).

(C)
A booming population center, the Asian continent is home to over 3.5billion people, about equal to people who reside in all the other areas of the world combined.
3.5 billion people can be compared to the number of people, not the people themselves- WRONG
(D)
A booming population center, the Asian continent is home to over 3.5billion people, about as many as the residents of all the other areas of the world combined. - Same error in (C) , we cannot compare the number of people to the residents itself.
Which leaves us with (E) which is the correct answer.
(E)
A booming population center, the Asian continent is home to over 3.5billion people, about as many as reside inof all the other areas of the world combined. - Same error in (C) , we cannot compare the number of people to the residents itself. - clean comparison.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GMATBuddha
Quitters never win, Winners never quit.

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
_________________