Largest Deserts on Earth

About This Dataset

This chart highlights the largest deserts on Earth by area, showcasing the vast expanses of these arid regions. The Antarctic Desert leads the list with an impressive area of 14,200 thousand km², closely followed by the Arctic Desert at 13,900 thousand km². The Sahara, known for its extreme conditions, ranks third with an area of 9,200 thousand km².

Analysis

The stark contrast between the Antarctic and Arctic Deserts, both exceeding 13,000 thousand km², and the Sahara at 9,200 thousand km² illustrates the significant impact of climate and geography on desert formation. While the Antarctic Desert is classified as a cold desert, the Sahara is a hot desert, indicating that size does not necessarily correlate with temperature. The Arabian Desert (2,330 thousand km²) and Gobi Desert (1,295 thousand km²) further illustrate the diversity of desert environments, but they pale in comparison to the giants of the Antarctic and Arctic. This data suggests that polar regions dominate in terms of desert area, challenging traditional perceptions of deserts as primarily hot, arid landscapes.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

Key Findings

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Antarctic Desert leads in Area (Thousand km2) with 14,200.

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Average Area (Thousand km2): 5,346 · median: 1,813.

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Gap: Antarctic Desert is 27.3× larger than Syrian Desert.

Largest Deserts on Earth

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Data Insights Below

Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

Admin

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Data Points

8 categories · 1 year

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Top Value

14,200

Antarctic Desert

Area (Thousand km2) · All Time

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Metrics

Area (Thousand km2)

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Period

All Time

Single year snapshot

Methodology & source

Data source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Coverage: 8 entities · 8 observations
Measure: Area (Thousand km2)
Last updated: 27 July 2026
Compiled by: The ANYSTAT team, from the source above

How the figures are calculated

Values are shown as reported by the source. Nothing is rescaled, rebased or converted — the only changes are thousand separators and decimals shown to two places.
Entities are ranked highest-first on their value.

Rankings & Full Data

8 records · Area (Thousand km2) · ranked by All Time

✓ 8 sourced

#	Category	All Time
🥇	Antarctic Desert	14,200
🥈	Arctic Desert	13,900
🥉	Sahara	9,200
4	Arabian Desert	2,330
5	Gobi Desert	1,295
6	Patagonian Desert	673
7	Great Victoria Desert	647
8	Syrian Desert	520