Largest Deserts in the World
Source:
Wikipedia
Key Findings
🏆
Antarctic Desert leads in Area (km²) with 14,200,000.
📊
Average Area (km²): 5,346,250 · median: 1,815,000.
↔️
Gap: Antarctic Desert is 27.3× larger than Syrian Desert.
About This Dataset
Largest Deserts in the World
The world's largest desert regions ranked by total area in square kilometres. Contrary to popular belief, Antarctica is the world's largest desert — its interior receives less than 50mm of precipitation per year, qualifying it as a cold desert larger than the Sahara.
Analysis
Antarctic Desert heads the table on 14,200,000, ahead of Arctic Desert (13,900,000) and Sahara Desert (9,200,000) in Area (km²). 13,680,000 separates the highest figure (14,200,000) from the lowest (520,000) in Area (km²). First and second are separated by 300,000, so the leader sits inside the field rather than apart from it. Only 3 of the 8 reach even half the leader's figure (7,100,000 or more).
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- Wikipedia
- Coverage
- 8 entities · 8 observations
- Measure
- Area (km²)
- Last updated
- 6 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value.
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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