Ranked: Countries With the Most Lakes
Key Takeaways
- Canada has nearly 880,000 lakes, accounting for 62% of the 1.42 million lakes in this dataset.
- Canada alone has more lakes than the rest of the world combined, followed by Russia with 201,240 and the U.S. with 102,519.
- Canada has 4.4 times as many lakes as Russia, but only about 1.3 times as much total lake area.
Which country has the most lakes in the world? The answer isn’t particularly close.
Past ice sheets helped shape some of the world’s most lake-rich landscapes, particularly across the Northern Hemisphere. That glacial history is still visible in today’s rankings.
This visualization ranks countries by their number of lakes, based on HydroLAKES data. It includes lakes covering at least 0.04 square miles (0.1 sq. km), while excluding reservoirs and regulated lakes. Cross-border lakes are assigned to the country where their water drains out.
Where the World’s 1.4 Million Lakes Are Located
Beyond Canada’s commanding lead, the ranking drops quickly. Russia ranks second with 201,240 lakes, followed by the U.S. with 102,519. China is a distant fourth with 23,751.
Together, Canada, Russia, and the U.S. hold over 83% of the 1.42 million lakes in the dataset.
| Rank | Country | Number of Lakes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada | 879,763 |
| 2 | Russia | 201,240 |
| 3 | U.S. | 102,519 |
| 4 | China | 23,751 |
| 5 | Sweden | 22,576 |
| 6 | Brazil | 20,936 |
| 7 | Norway | 20,006 |
| 8 | Argentina | 13,612 |
| 9 | Kazakhstan | 12,429 |
| 10 | Australia | 11,437 |
| 11 | India | 10,812 |
| 12 | Finland | 7,898 |
| 13 | Chile | 5,571 |
| 14 | Ukraine | 4,915 |
| 15 | Poland | 3,717 |
| 16 | Mexico | 3,693 |
| 17 | Denmark | 3,281 |
| 18 | Colombia | 3,262 |
| 19 | Bolivia | 3,200 |
| 20 | Germany | 3,073 |
| 21 | Indonesia | 3,022 |
| 22 | Peru | 2,814 |
| 23 | France | 2,663 |
| 24 | South Africa | 2,370 |
| 25 | United Kingdom | 2,294 |
| 26 | Mongolia | 2,164 |
| 27 | Venezuela | 1,987 |
| 28 | Thailand | 1,972 |
| 29 | Iceland | 1,590 |
| 30 | Madagascar | 1,507 |
| 31 | Belarus | 1,420 |
| 32 | Philippines | 1,290 |
| 33 | Bangladesh | 1,174 |
| 34 | Cuba | 1,148 |
| 35 | Lithuania | 1,094 |
| 36 | South Sudan | 1,091 |
| 37 | Zimbabwe | 1,077 |
| 38 | Vietnam | 1,050 |
| 39 | Romania | 1,011 |
| 40 | Ecuador | 989 |
| 41 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 919 |
| 42 | Papua New Guinea | 914 |
| 43 | Ireland | 863 |
| 44 | Latvia | 845 |
| 45 | Botswana | 843 |
| 46 | Pakistan | 837 |
| 47 | Zambia | 836 |
| 48 | Sri Lanka | 827 |
| 49 | Czech Republic | 707 |
| 50 | Hungary | 668 |
| 51 | Nigeria | 656 |
| 52 | Uzbekistan | 638 |
| 53 | Mozambique | 635 |
| 54 | Mali | 627 |
| 55 | South Korea | 597 |
| 56 | Italy | 596 |
| 57 | The Bahamas | 595 |
| 58 | Cambodia | 593 |
| 59 | Spain | 586 |
| 60 | Myanmar | 577 |
| 61 | Paraguay | 576 |
| 62 | Turkey | 556 |
| 63 | Moldova | 541 |
| 64 | Netherlands | 537 |
| 65 | Turkmenistan | 493 |
| 66 | New Zealand | 458 |
| 67 | Japan | 457 |
| 68 | Uruguay | 442 |
| 69 | Angola | 419 |
| 70 | Chad | 399 |
| 71 | Malaysia | 385 |
| 72 | Bulgaria | 367 |
| 73 | Azerbaijan | 361 |
| 74 | Iran | 327 |
| 75 | United Republic of Tanzania | 325 |
| 75 | Iraq | 325 |
| 77 | North Korea | 290 |
| 78 | Namibia | 259 |
| 78 | Estonia | 259 |
| 80 | Uganda | 257 |
| 81 | Ethiopia | 237 |
| 82 | Gabon | 220 |
| 82 | Egypt | 220 |
| 82 | Burkina Faso | 220 |
| 85 | Senegal | 214 |
| 86 | Nicaragua | 203 |
| 87 | Guatemala | 198 |
| 88 | Austria | 196 |
| 89 | Portugal | 193 |
| 90 | Ivory Coast | 185 |
| 91 | Honduras | 179 |
| 92 | Ghana | 178 |
| 92 | Republic of Serbia | 178 |
| 94 | Cameroon | 171 |
| 95 | Kyrgyzstan | 161 |
| 96 | Croatia | 158 |
| 97 | Belize | 152 |
| 98 | Slovakia | 149 |
| 99 | Greece | 144 |
| 100 | Taiwan | 137 |
| 100 | Belgium | 137 |
| 102 | Albania | 134 |
| 103 | Algeria | 127 |
| 104 | Republic of Congo | 126 |
| 104 | Niger | 126 |
| 104 | Tajikistan | 126 |
| 107 | Afghanistan | 120 |
| 108 | Kenya | 119 |
| 109 | Kiribati | 114 |
| 110 | Mauritania | 101 |
| 110 | Bhutan | 101 |
| 112 | Sudan | 98 |
| 112 | Israel | 98 |
| 114 | Switzerland | 83 |
| 115 | Syria | 81 |
| 116 | Laos | 80 |
| 117 | Guyana | 78 |
| 118 | Morocco | 77 |
| 119 | Tunisia | 76 |
| 120 | Georgia | 74 |
| 121 | Panama | 69 |
| 122 | Rwanda | 67 |
| 123 | Nepal | 65 |
| 124 | Libya | 63 |
| 125 | Malawi | 61 |
| 126 | Suriname | 60 |
| 127 | Sierra Leone | 57 |
| 128 | Benin | 54 |
| 129 | Saudi Arabia | 51 |
| 130 | Haiti | 50 |
| 131 | Solomon Islands | 49 |
| 132 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 48 |
| 133 | Slovenia | 40 |
| 134 | Dominican Republic | 38 |
| 135 | Costa Rica | 37 |
| 136 | Central African Republic | 32 |
| 137 | Liberia | 29 |
| 137 | Armenia | 29 |
| 139 | El Salvador | 27 |
| 140 | Brunei | 26 |
| 141 | Guinea Bissau | 25 |
| 142 | Guinea | 24 |
| 143 | Togo | 21 |
| 143 | Jamaica | 21 |
| 145 | Jordan | 19 |
| 146 | Eritrea | 17 |
| 146 | Macedonia | 17 |
| 148 | Somalia | 16 |
| 148 | Burundi | 16 |
| 148 | Fiji | 16 |
| 151 | Montenegro | 14 |
| 152 | Antigua and Barbuda | 12 |
| 152 | Vanuatu | 12 |
| 154 | Mauritius | 11 |
| 154 | United Arab Emirates | 11 |
| 154 | Oman | 11 |
| 157 | Gambia | 9 |
| 157 | Yemen | 9 |
| 157 | Trinidad and Tobago | 9 |
| 160 | Singapore | 8 |
| 161 | Swaziland | 7 |
| 161 | Lesotho | 7 |
| 163 | Tonga | 6 |
| 164 | Djibouti | 4 |
| 164 | East Timor | 4 |
| 164 | Luxembourg | 4 |
| 164 | Kosovo | 4 |
| 164 | Kuwait | 4 |
| 169 | Equatorial Guinea | 3 |
| 169 | Federated States of Micronesia | 3 |
| 171 | Cape Verde | 2 |
| 171 | Maldives | 2 |
| 171 | Cyprus | 2 |
| 171 | Tuvalu | 2 |
| 175 | Seychelles | 1 |
| 175 | Comoros | 1 |
| 175 | Northern Cyprus | 1 |
| 175 | Qatar | 1 |
| 175 | Bahrain | 1 |
| 175 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 1 |
| 175 | Samoa | 1 |
| 175 | Palau | 1 |
| -- | Total Number of Lakes | 1,420,891 |
Counting lakes tells a very different story from measuring their size. Canada’s lakes cover about 313,800 square miles, compared with 240,400 square miles for Russia. Russia’s total includes the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest lake by surface area.
The lake threshold matters, too. Finland has about 168,000 lakes of at least 0.0002 square miles, but only 7,898 meet the 0.04-square-mile threshold used in this dataset.
Why Canada and Russia Have So Many Lakes
The concentration of lakes across Canada and Russia is closely tied to their northern geography.
Over successive ice ages, enormous ice sheets reshaped northern landscapes, leaving these areas particularly conducive to lake formation. As the ice retreated, depressions and altered drainage systems filled with water.
Russia’s lake geography also includes one of the world’s most remarkable bodies of freshwater. Lake Baikal in Siberia is the world’s deepest and holds about 20% of the planet’s unfrozen freshwater reserves.
Lake Count Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
Lake count can look very different from lake area. Kazakhstan has roughly half as many lakes as Sweden, yet its lakes cover more than twice the total area, at about 22,300 square miles.
At the other extreme, many of the world’s driest countries have few permanent lakes. Across parts of the Middle East and North Africa, water supplies depend more heavily on groundwater, rivers, and desalination.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the countries with the most freshwater.