Canada has about 879,800 lakes larger than 0.1 km² — some 62% of the world's total and more than the other nine countries on this list combined — followed by Russia and the United States.
Canada has the most lakes of any country, with about 879,800 lakes larger than 0.1 km², around 62% of the world's total. Russia is second with about 201,200 and the United States third with about 102,500. The ranking counts lakes of at least 0.1 km² in the HydroLAKES database (2016), as tabulated country by country by WorldAtlas, as of October 2026.
Lakes are spread very unevenly across the planet. HydroLAKES, a global lake database built by McGill University researchers and described in Nature Communications in 2016, maps about 1.42 million lakes with a surface area of at least 0.1 square kilometres (10 hectares). Counted that way, Canada alone holds about 62% of them, a legacy of Ice Age glaciers that scoured the Canadian Shield. This list ranks the ten countries with the most lakes at or above that 0.1 km² threshold, using WorldAtlas's country-by-country tabulation of the HydroLAKES data. Lake counts depend heavily on the size cut-off: with a smaller threshold, countries such as Finland — about 187,900 lakes larger than 500 m², but only about 5,600 larger than 0.1 km² — would rank very differently.
Canada has about 879,800 lakes larger than 0.1 km² — around 62% of all such lakes on Earth. Most lie on the Canadian Shield, scraped clean by glaciers during the last Ice Age. The largest lake entirely within Canada is Great Bear Lake, and the country shares Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario with the United States.
Russia has about 201,200 lakes above the threshold, many of them in Siberia and the glaciated northwest, including Karelia. It is home to Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake (1,642 m) and, at an estimated 25–30 million years, its oldest; Baikal holds an estimated 22–23% of the world's fresh surface water.
The United States has about 102,500 lakes larger than 0.1 km², a large share of them in Alaska. It shares four of the five Great Lakes with Canada, including Lake Superior, the largest of them by area.
China has about 23,800 lakes above the threshold, spread across the Tibetan Plateau, the Yangtze floodplain and the arid northwest; many of the plateau lakes are saline. Qinghai Lake, the country's largest, varies in size — about 4,543 km² in 2020 — and is a key stopover for migratory birds.
Sweden has about 22,600 lakes larger than 0.1 km², many of them in its forested interior. Lake Vänern, at 5,650 km², is the largest lake in Sweden and the European Union and the third-largest in Europe.
Brazil has about 20,900 lakes above the threshold, concentrated in the Amazon basin and the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland. Many Amazon floodplain lakes change shape with the seasonal rise and fall of the rivers.
Norway has about 20,000 lakes larger than 0.1 km², many carved by glaciers in its mountain valleys and plateaus. Mjøsa, the largest, covers about 369 km² and reaches a maximum depth of 453 m, making it the fourth-deepest lake in Norway.
Argentina has about 13,600 lakes above the threshold, many in the glacier-fed lake district of the Patagonian Andes. Its largest lake is Mar Chiquita in Córdoba, the country's largest natural saline lake, whose area swings between roughly 2,000 and 6,000 km².
Kazakhstan has about 12,400 lakes larger than 0.1 km², most in the north and centre of the country. Lake Balkhash, about 16,400 km², is unusual: its western part is fresh water and its eastern part saline. The Caspian Sea borders Kazakhstan to the west.
Australia has about 11,400 lakes above the threshold, many of them ephemeral salt lakes that hold water only after rare heavy rains. Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, the largest, covers up to 9,500 km² when full but fills or nearly fills only a few times a century.
| # | Name | Region | Share of world total | Largest lake | Famous for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada | North America | 62% | Great Bear Lake (31,153 km²) | Hundreds of thousands of glacial lakes on the Canadian Shield |
| 2 | Russia | Europe / Asia | 14% | Lake Baikal (31,722 km²) | Deepest and oldest lake in the world |
| 3 | United States | North America | 7% | Lake Superior (82,103 km², shared) | The Great Lakes system |
| 4 | China | Asia | 1.7% | Qinghai Lake (~4,543 km² in 2020) | High-altitude lakes on the Tibetan Plateau |
| 5 | Sweden | Europe | 1.6% | Vänern (5,650 km²) | Thousands of forest lakes |
| 6 | Brazil | South America | 1.5% | Lagoa dos Patos (10,100 km², lagoon) | Amazon floodplain lakes |
| 7 | Norway | Europe | 1.4% | Mjøsa (369 km²) | Deep glacial valley lakes |
| 8 | Argentina | South America | 1.0% | Mar Chiquita (2,000–6,000 km², saline) | Patagonian glacial lake district |
| 9 | Kazakhstan | Central Asia | 0.9% | Lake Balkhash (16,400 km²) | Half-fresh, half-saline Lake Balkhash |
| 10 | Australia | Oceania | 0.8% | Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre (up to 9,500 km², ephemeral) | Ephemeral salt lakes of the Outback |
Countries are ranked by the number of lakes in their territory with a surface area of at least 0.1 km² (10 hectares), as tabulated by WorldAtlas from the HydroLAKES database (Messager et al., Nature Communications, 2016). The paper itself does not publish country totals; the per-country counts, rounded to the nearest hundred, are WorldAtlas's, and WorldAtlas states that reservoirs and other artificial water bodies are excluded. Share of world total is each count divided by HydroLAKES' 1.42 million lakes. Largest-lake areas are from the lakes' Wikipedia articles (accessed 18 October 2026); lakes whose area fluctuates are given as ranges or maxima. Rank 1 is the country with the most lakes.
During the last Ice Age, ice sheets scraped across the Canadian Shield, gouging depressions in the bedrock. As the ice retreated, these depressions filled with meltwater, leaving hundreds of thousands of lakes.
HydroLAKES maps about 1.42 million lakes with a surface area of at least 0.1 km². Counts of smaller water bodies run far higher, but depend entirely on the size cut-off used.
There is no single standard. This list uses HydroLAKES' 0.1 km² (10 hectare) cut-off. National statistics often use much smaller thresholds — Finland, for example, counts about 187,900 lakes larger than 500 m², but only about 5,600 larger than 0.1 km², which is why it does not make this top 10.
According to WorldAtlas, whose country counts this list uses, reservoirs and other artificial water bodies are excluded. The underlying HydroLAKES database does map reservoirs and regulated lakes, so other tabulations of it can give different totals.
More like this: all Geography & Earth rankings · browse every topic