Arid Zones · Ranked

The Largest Deserts in the World

The world's great arid zones ranked by mapped extent, with region and subregion for each.

How this is ranked: A desert is defined by precipitation, not temperature — which is why the largest deserts on Earth are the polar ones. This list ranks the mapped arid and semi-arid zones in the YearMaps landform index.

Entries Ranked: 50
Top Ranked: 4.73M km²
Runner-Up: 1.09M km²
Ranked By: Extent

The Largest Deserts in the World
#	Name	Extent	Feature Class	Region	Subregion
1	Sahara	4.73M km²	Desert	Africa	—
2	Gobi Desert	1.09M km²	Desert	Asia	—
3	Kalahari Desert	763,095 km²	Desert	Africa	—
4	Rub’ al Khali	596,502 km²	Desert	Asia	—
5	Chihuahuan Desert	474,278 km²	Desert	North America	—
6	Ténéré	348,246 km²	Desert	Africa	—
7	El Djouf	269,752 km²	Desert	Africa	—
8	Thar Desert	267,074 km²	Desert	Asia	—
9	Sonoran Desert	221,361 km²	Desert	North America	—
10	Taklimakan Desert	204,900 km²	Desert	Asia	—
11	Syrian Desert	181,173 km²	Desert	Asia	—
12	Great Sandy Desert	161,048 km²	Desert	Oceania	Australasia
13	Mu Us Desert	159,126 km²	Desert	Asia	—
14	Tassili oua-n-Ahaggar	150,456 km²	Desert	Africa	—
15	Betpaqdala Desert	133,535 km²	Desert	Asia	—
16	Caatingas	128,304 km²	Desert	South America	—
17	Grand Erg Oriental	127,027 km²	Desert	Africa	—
18	Tassili-n-Ajjer	123,986 km²	Desert	Africa	—
19	Hamada de Tinrhert	120,350 km²	Desert	Africa	—
20	‘Erg Chech	111,855 km²	Desert	Africa	—
21	Gibson Desert	105,825 km²	Desert	Oceania	Australasia
22	Chalbi Desert	95,914 km²	Desert	Africa	—
23	Grand Erg Occidental	89,552 km²	Desert	Africa	—
24	Lut Desert	79,247 km²	Desert	Asia	—
25	Great Victoria Desert	72,565 km²	Desert	Oceania	Australasia
26	Idhän Murzuq	71,380 km²	Desert	Africa	—
27	Nubian Desert	70,345 km²	Desert	Africa	—
28	Strzelecki Desert	67,844 km²	Desert	Oceania	Australasia
29	An Nafud Desert	60,692 km²	Desert	Asia	—
30	Tanami Desert	55,897 km²	Desert	Oceania	Australasia
31	Margo Desert	49,125 km²	Desert	Asia	—
32	Kavir Desert	43,948 km²	Desert	Asia	—
33	‘Erg Iguidi	35,106 km²	Desert	Africa	—
34	Big Bend	31,974 km²	Desert	North America	—
35	Western Desert	31,224 km²	Desert	Africa	—
36	Sarïr Kalanshiyu ar Ramli al Kabi	28,336 km²	Desert	Africa	—
37	Akchâr	27,188 km²	Desert	Africa	—
38	Rigestan	26,810 km²	Desert	Asia	—
39	Jabal as Sawdä’	25,387 km²	Desert	Africa	—
40	Makgadikgadi Pan	21,790 km²	Desert	Africa	—
41	Salar de Uyuni	15,502 km²	Desert	South America	—
42	Hamada du Drâa	11,707 km²	Desert	Africa	—
43	Wahiba Sands	11,157 km²	Desert	Asia	—
44	Great Salt Lake Desert	10,522 km²	Desert	North America	—
45	Etosha Pan	7,317 km²	Desert	Africa	—
46	Libyan Desert	6,751 km²	Desert	Africa	—
47	Namib Desert	3,621 km²	Desert	Africa	—
48	Danakil	3,542 km²	Desert	Africa	—
49	Black Rock Desert	1,556 km²	Desert	North America	—
50	Punjab	1,335 km²	Desert	Asia	—

Rankings cover entities indexed in YearMaps and are derived from open geospatial data. See data sources.

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