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This is a list of lakes with a surface area of more than 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi), ordered by area. This list does not include reservoirs and lagoons; if it did, Garabogazköl in Turkmenistan, Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, and Lake Volta in Ghana would come in at numbers 15, 17, and 19.

The area of some lakes can vary considerably over time, either seasonally or from year to year. This is especially true of salt lakes in arid climates.

Stable lakes

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

Oceanic lakes

The Caspian Sea is generally regarded as the world's largest lake, but it contains an oceanic basin (contiguous with the world ocean until 11 million years ago) rather than being entirely over continental crust.

	Name	Countries with shoreline	Area	Length	Maximum depth	Water volume	Thumbnail (same scale for all lakes)	Notes
1	Caspian Sea*	Kazakhstan  Turkmenistan  Iran  Azerbaijan  Russia	371,000 km (143,000 sq mi)	1,199 km (745 mi)	1,025 m (3,363 ft)	78,200 km (18,800 cu mi)		Variously considered the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. Geologically, the south Caspian is a small ocean. *Not including Garabogazköl Aylagy.

Continental lakes

	Name	Countries with shoreline	Area	Length	Maximum depth	Water volume	Thumbnail (same scale for all lakes)	Notes
2	Superior	Canada  United States	82,414 km (31,820 sq mi)	616 km (383 mi)	406 m (1,332 ft)	12,100 km (2,900 cu mi)
3	Victoria	Uganda  Kenya  Tanzania	69,485 km (26,828 sq mi)	322 km (200 mi)	84 m (276 ft)	2,750 km (660 cu mi)		The largest lake in Africa
4	Huron	Canada  United States	59,600 km (23,000 sq mi)	332 km (206 mi)	229 m (751 ft)	3,543 km (850 cu mi)
5	Michigan	United States	58,000 km (22,000 sq mi)	494 km (307 mi)	281 m (922 ft)	4,900 km (1,200 cu mi)
6	Tanganyika	Burundi  Tanzania  Zambia  Democratic Republic of the Congo	32,893 km (12,700 sq mi)	676 km (420 mi)	1,470 m (4,820 ft)	18,900 km (4,500 cu mi)		Second deepest lake in the world.
7	Baikal	Russia	31,500 km (12,200 sq mi)	636 km (395 mi)	1,637 m (5,371 ft)	23,600 km (5,700 cu mi)		Deepest lake in the world. Largest volume fresh water lake in the world. Largest lake sharing a shoreline with a single country.
8	Great Bear Lake	Canada	31,080 km (12,000 sq mi)	373 km (232 mi)	446 m (1,463 ft)	2,236 km (536 cu mi)		Largest lake entirely within Canada
9	Malawi	Tanzania  Mozambique  Malawi	30,044 km (11,600 sq mi)	579 km (360 mi)	706 m (2,316 ft)	8,400 km (2,000 cu mi)		Second deepest lake in Africa. It has more fish species than any other lake on Earth
10	Great Slave Lake	Canada	28,930 km (11,170 sq mi)	480 km (300 mi)	614 m (2,014 ft)	2,090 km (500 cu mi)		Deepest lake in North America
11	Erie	Canada  United States	25,719 km (9,930 sq mi)	388 km (241 mi)	64 m (210 ft)	489 km (117 cu mi)		Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes
12	Winnipeg	Canada	23,553 km (9,094 sq mi)	425 km (264 mi)	36 m (118 ft)	283 km (68 cu mi)		Located in Manitoba, it is the largest lake contained within a single province.
13	Ontario	Canada  United States	19,477 km (7,520 sq mi)	311 km (193 mi)	244 m (801 ft)	1,639 km (393 cu mi)
14	Balkhash*	Kazakhstan	18,428 km (7,115 sq mi)	605 km (376 mi)	26 m (85 ft)	106 km (25 cu mi)		Largest lake in Central Asia
15	Ladoga	Russia	18,130 km (7,000 sq mi)	219 km (136 mi)	230 m (750 ft)	908 km (218 cu mi)		Largest lake in Europe
16	Vostok	Antarctic territory claimed by Australia	15,690 km (6,060 sq mi)	250 km (160 mi)	900–1,000 m (3,000–3,300 ft)	5,400 ± 1,600 km (1,300 ± 380 cu mi)		Largest lake in Antarctica; also largest subglacial lake in the world.
17	Onega	Russia	9,891 km (3,819 sq mi)	248 km (154 mi)	120 m (390 ft)	280 km (67 cu mi)		Second largest lake in Europe
18	Titicaca	Peru  Bolivia	8,135 km (3,141 sq mi)	177 km (110 mi)	281 m (922 ft)	893 km (214 cu mi)		Largest lake in South America if Lake Maracaibo is discounted; at 3811 m, one of the highest navigable lakes in the world.
19	Nicaragua	Nicaragua	8,001 km (3,089 sq mi)	177 km (110 mi)	26 m (85 ft)	108 km (26 cu mi)		Largest lake in Central America
20	Athabasca	Canada	7,920 km (3,060 sq mi)	335 km (208 mi)	243 m (797 ft)	204 km (49 cu mi)		Largest Lake in Saskatchewan/Alberta
21	Taymyr	Russia	6,990 km (2,700 sq mi)	250 km (160 mi)	26 m (85 ft)	12.8 km (3.1 cu mi)		Largest lake north of the Arctic Circle
22	Turkana*	Ethiopia  Kenya	6,405 km (2,473 sq mi)	248 km (154 mi)	109 m (358 ft)	204 km (49 cu mi)		It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake.
23	Reindeer Lake	Canada	6,330 km (2,440 sq mi)	245 km (152 mi)	337 m (1,106 ft)
24	Issyk-Kul*	Kyrgyzstan	6,200 km (2,400 sq mi)	182 km (113 mi)	668 m (2,192 ft)	1,738 km (417 cu mi)
25	Urmia*	Iran	6,001 km (2,317 sq mi)	130 km (81 mi)	16 m (52 ft)			Largest lake in the Middle East
26	Vänern	Sweden	5,545 km (2,141 sq mi)	140 km (87 mi)	106 m (348 ft)	153 km (37 cu mi)		The largest lake in the EU
27	Winnipegosis	Canada	5,403 km (2,086 sq mi)	245 km (152 mi)	18 m (59 ft)
28	Albert	Uganda  Democratic Republic of the Congo	5,299 km (2,046 sq mi)	161 km (100 mi)	58 m (190 ft)	280 km (67 cu mi)
29	Mweru	Zambia  Democratic Republic of the Congo	5,120 km (1,980 sq mi)	131 km (81 mi)	27 m (89 ft)	38 km (9.1 cu mi)
30	Nettilling	Canada	5,066 km (1,956 sq mi)	113 km (70 mi)	132 m (433 ft)			On Baffin Island. Largest lake on an island.
31	Nipigon	Canada	4,843 km (1,870 sq mi)	116 km (72 mi)	165 m (541 ft)			Largest lake entirely within the Canadian province of Ontario.
32	Manitoba	Canada	4,706 km (1,817 sq mi)	225 km (140 mi)	7 m (23 ft)
33	Great Salt Lake*	United States	4,662 km (1,800 sq mi)	121 km (75 mi)	10 m (33 ft)			The largest lake entirely within a single U.S. state.
34	Qinghai Lake*	China	4,489 km (1,733 sq mi) (2007)					Largest lake in East Asia
35	Saimaa	Finland	≈ 4,400 km (1,700 sq mi)		82 m (269 ft)	36 km (8.6 cu mi)		Numerous basins; 14,000 islands, shoreline 13,700 km (8,500 mi)
36	Lake of the Woods	Canada  United States	4,350 km (1,680 sq mi)	110 km (68 mi)	64 m (210 ft)
37	Khanka	China  Russia	4,190 km (1,620 sq mi)		10.6 m (35 ft)

* denotes saline lake.

Variable lakes

A large number of floodplains surpass 4000 km² during the wet season. These include Tonlé Sap in Cambodia (2,700 km², flooding to 16,000 km²), Lake Poyang (1000 km², flooding to 4400 km²) and Lake Dongting (2,820 km², flooding to 20,000 km²) in China, the Niger Inland Delta in Mali, the Sudd in South Sudan (up to 130,000 km²), the Okavango Delta in Botswana, the Pantanal in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, and stretches of the Amazon River. There are also a number of pluvial lakes which intermittently flood past 4000 km². In rainy years, these include the largest lakes in Australia, Lake Torrens (5,700 km² when full) and Lake Eyre (9500 km² when full).

In 1960, the Aral Sea was the world's fourth-largest lake at 68,000 km². By 2005 the it had split into the North Aral Sea and east and west basins of the South Aral Sea; the west basin was 3,500 km² and was expected to stabilize at 2,700–3,500 km². By 2009 the east basin had essentially dried up, though is has since been reflooded with melt water, and is expected to fluctuate for the foreseeable future.

Sarygamysh Lake between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan expanded to ca 5000 km² after the turn of the century, but it is not yet clear how permanent this will be.

Largest by Continent/Geographical Area

• Africa: Lake Victoria
• Antarctica: Lake Vostok (Subglacial lake)
• Asia: Lake Baikal (or the Caspian Sea, a small ocean)
• Oceania: Lake Eyre, when flooded (fresh: Lake Toba (broad Oceania), Lake Murray (geopolitical Oceania), Lake Taupo or Lake Tegano (narrow Oceania))
• Europe: Lake Ladoga
• North America: Lake Superior (or Lake Michigan-Huron, if they are counted as one lake)
• South America: Lake Titicaca (or Lake Maracaibo, a brackish bay of the Caribbean)

Notes

Note: Lake areas may slightly vary depending on the sources.

1. "Plume over the Caspian Sea". NASA. Retrieved 2010-11-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
2. "Caspian Sea". Britannica. Retrieved 2010-11-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
3. "Endorheic Lakes". United Nations. Retrieved 2010-11-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
4. "Titan's largest lake rivals Earth's Caspian Sea". New Scientist. Retrieved 2010-11-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
5. DuMont, H.J. "The Caspian Lake: History, biota, structure, and function" (PDF). American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. Retrieved 2010-11-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
6. Planet Earth And the New Geoscience‎ (2003:154). Victor Schmidt, William Harbert, University of Pittsburgh
7. DuMont, H.J. "The Caspian Lake: History, biota, structure, and function" (PDF). American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. Retrieved 2010-11-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
8. Jan Golonka (2000) "Geodynamic Evolution of the South Caspian Basin". In Yilmaz, Isaksen, & AAP, eds., Oil and Gas of the Greater Caspian Area.

See also

• List of lakes by volume
• List of lakes by depth
• List of largest lakes of Europe

Sources

• Factmonster.com
• van der Leeden, Troise, and Todd, eds., The Water Encyclopedia. Second Edition. Chelsea, MI: Lewis Publishers, 1990. pp. 198–200.

• Lists of lakes