This article provides comprehensive coverage of the major deserts of the world, highlighting important facts about these deserts and providing a free downloadable PDF map.
A desert is generally defined by the amount of precipitation it receives. It is a landscape that typically gets very little precipitation, usually less than 25 cm (about 10 inches) per year.
Contrary to popular belief, deserts are not always hot and sandy. In fact, the two largest deserts in the world – the Antarctic Desert and the Arctic Desert are both cold deserts.
Similarly, the Gobi Desert, the Patagonian Desert, and the Karakum Desert are also cold deserts.
The largest desert outside the polar regions is the Sahara Desert. It is a subtropical (hot) desert and thus it is the largest hot desert in the world.
Top 10 Largest Deserts of the World
The table below provides a list of the 10 largest deserts in the world, along with their locations and approximate areas in square kilometers.
Please note that the cold deserts are highlighted in bluish color and the hot deserts in reddish color.
| Rank | Desert | Area (km2) | Location (Countries) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Antarctic Desert | 14,200,000 | N/A |
| 2. | Arctic Desert | 13,900,000 | USA (Alaska), Canada, Finland, Denmark (Greenland), Iceland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden (8 Countries) |
| 3. | Saharan Desert | 9,200,000 | Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara (11 Countries) |
| 4. | Great Australian Desert | 2,700,000 | Australia |
| 5. | Arabian Desert | 2,330,000 | Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Yemen (8 Countries) |
| 6. | Gobi Desert | 1,295,000 | China and Mongolia |
| 7. | Kalahari Desert | 900,000 | Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa |
| 8. | Patagonian Desert | 673,000 | Argentina and Chile |
| 9. | Syrian Desert | 500,000 | Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria (4 Countries) |
| 10. | Great Basin Desert | 492,000 | USA |
Important Facts about World’s Deserts
- The Antarctic Desert is the largest desert in the world with an area of 14.2 million square kilometers. It is followed by the Arctic Desert which covers an area of 13.9 million square kilometers.
- The Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert in the world with an area of 9.2 million square kilometers.
- The Carcross Desert, located in Yukon, Canada is generally considered the smallest desert in the world, with an area of only about 2.5 square kilometers.
- The Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert in the world and the only hot desert to receive less precipitation than polar deserts. The almost total lack of precipitation is the most prominent characteristic of this desert. It is commonly known as the driest place in the world.
- Despite being the driest place on earth, the Atacama Desert supports around 1 million inhabitants, who mostly survive by tapping water from aquifers (underground streams).
- Deserts cover more than one-fifth of Earth’s land area, and they are found on every continent.
- The overall size of deserts is increasing, with around 120,000 km² of land turning into desert every year. This desertification is primarily due to climate change and human activities such as deforestation.
- The Gobi Desert is the fastest-growing desert in the world, expanding by more than 3,600 square kilometers annually.
- Antarctica, which hosts the Antarctic Desert, is the only continent in the world entirely covered by a desert.
- Although the Antarctic Desert is one of the driest places on Earth, it contains about 90% of the Earth’s freshwater, found as permanently frozen ice sheets.
- The Namib Desert in Southwestern Africa is considered the world’s oldest desert, estimated to be 55-80 million years old. In comparison, the Sahara is much younger at 2-3 million years old.
