As of 2026-04-29, Caspian Sea tops the list with 386,400 km².
- #1 Caspian Sea — 386,400 km²
largest landlocked salt lake, located between Europe and Asia
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it is situated in both Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia, south of the fertile plains of Southern Russia in Eastern Europe, and north of the mountainous Iranian Plateau. It covers a surface area of 371,000 km2 (143,244 sq mi), an area similar to Japan, with a volume of 78,200 km3... Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #2 Lake Michigan–Huron — 117,600 km²
lake system
Lake Michigan–Huron is the body of water combining Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, which are joined through the 5-mile-wide (8.0 km), 295-foot-deep (90 m), open-water Straits of Mackinac. Huron and Michigan are hydrologically a single lake because the flow of water through the straits keeps their water levels in overall equilibrium. Although the flow is generally eastward, the water moves in either direction depending on local conditions. Combined, Lake Michigan–Huron is the largest... Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #3 Lake Superior — 82,350 km²
largest of the Great Lakes of North America
Lake Superior is a lake in central North America. The northernmost, westernmost, and highest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior straddles the Canada–United States border with the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and east and the U.S. states of Minnesota to the west and Michigan and Wisconsin to the south. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the third-largest freshwater lake by volume. It drains into Lake Huron via St. Marys River, then through the lower... Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #4 Lake Tauca — 80,000 km²
former lake in Bolivia, parts of it extended into Chile
Lake Tauca is a former lake in the Altiplano of Bolivia. It is also known as Lake Pocoyu for its constituent lakes: Lake Poopó, Salar de Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni. At high water levels, the lake spread across the southern Altiplano between the Eastern and Western Cordilleras, flooding the basins that now hold Lake Poopó and the Uyuni and Coipasa salars. Published area estimates range from about 48,000 to 80,000 square kilometres. Water levels varied, possibly reaching about 3,800 metres... Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #5 Lake Victoria — 68,100 km²
lake in east-central Africa
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately 59,947 km2 (23,146 sq mi), Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America. In terms of volume, Lake Victoria is the world's ninth-largest continental lake, containing about 2,424 km3 (1.965×109 acre⋅ft) of water. Lake Victoria occupies a shallow depression in Africa.... Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #6 Lake Huron — 59,600 km²
one of the Great Lakes of North America
Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French explorers who named it for the indigenous people they knew as Huron (Wyandot) inhabiting the region. Hydrologically, Lake Huron comprises the eastern portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected... Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #7 Lake Michigan — 57,750 km²
one of the Great Lakes of North America
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and depth after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the wide and deep Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its eastern counterpart; hydrologically, the two bodies are a single lake that is, by area, the largest freshwater lake in the... Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #8 Lake Tanganyika — 32,900 km²
lake in Africa
Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is the world's second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. It is also the 6th largest lake by area. The lake is shared among four countries—Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Zambia—with Tanzania (46%) and the DRC (40%) possessing the majority of the lake. It drains via the Lukuga River into the Congo River system,... Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #9 Lake Baikal — 31,722 km²
freshwater rift lake in southern Siberia, Russia; the greatest mountain lake in Asia and the most voluminous freshwater lake in the world
Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Republic of Buryatia to the southeast. Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #10 Great Bear Lake — 31,153 km²
large glacial lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada
Great Bear Lake in the boreal forest of Canada is the largest lake entirely in Canada, the fourth-largest in North America, and the eighth-largest in the world. The lake is in the Northwest Territories, on the Arctic Circle between 65 and 67 degrees of northern latitude and between 118 and 123 degrees western longitude, 156 m (512 ft) above sea level. It drains into the Great Bear River, thence into the Mackenzie River. Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata