Top Ten Largest Deserts in the World

Deserts are areas that receive little precipitation, classified as an area that receives less that 250 millimeters (10 inches) of annual precipitation on average. The classification also takes into account the potential evapotranspiration, or the amount of water that could be evaporated in the region. Because of the lack of precipitation, deserts are often dry and barren in landscape, and commonly thought of as having hot climates. However, deserts can be hot or cold, and they exist in regions all across the world. The largest two deserts on Earth are both cold deserts, which are covered in ice and snow.

The largest deserts in the world are polar deserts: the Antarctic Desert and the Arctic Desert. The Antarctic Desert covers an area of 13,829,430 square kilometers over the South Pole. Antarctica is the most extreme continent on Earth, as the coldest, driest and windiest place in the world ,and the highest elevation. The Arctic Desert is the northernmost region of the Earth, covering the North Pole over 12,726,937 square kilometers. The Arctic Desert is partially located in the United States, Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia.

The third largest desert in the world, and the largest non-polar desert is the Sahara. Situated in North Africa, the Sahara makes up parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. The Sahara spans over 9,400,000 square kilometers across the continent, and is the world's hottest desert.

The Arabian Desert is the fourth largest desert in the world, with an area of about 2,330,000 square kilometers. The Arabian Desert is situated on the Arabian peninsula, and makes up parts of Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Both the Sahara and Arabian Deserts are known for their sand and sand dunes, which are typical images of desert landscapes.

The fifth largest desert on Earth is Asia's Gobi Desert. Situated in northwestern China and southern Mongolia, the Gobi Desert was created as a rain shadow from the tall Himalayan Mountains, which prevent rain from reaching Gobi.

The Kalahari Desert is a subtropical desert in southern Africa, covering 900,000 square kilometers in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. The Kalahari Desert ranks sixth in terms of largest deserts by area in the world.

South America's Patagonian Desert is the seventh largest desert, at 670,000 square kilometers. The Patagonian Desert is located in Argentina and Chile, between the Andes Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Great Victoria Desert is next on the list, ranking eighth. The Great Victoria Desert spans about 647,000 square kilometers of Australia.

The Syrian Desert has an area of about 520,000 square kilometers, and is situated in Iraq, Jordan, and Syria.

The Great Basin Desert in the United States is the tenth largest desert in the world, covering an area of 492,000 square kilometers.

World Top 10 Largest Deserts

S.No.	Desert	Continent/Country	Area (km2)
1	Antarctic Desert	Antarctica	13829430
2	Arctic	Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia	13726937
3	Sahara	Africa	9100000
4	Arabian Desert	Arabian Peninsula	2330000
5	Gobi Desert	China and Mongolia	1300000
6	Kalahari Desert	South Africa, Botswana, Namibia	900000
7	Patagonian Desert	Argentina	670000
8	Great Victoria Desert	Australia	647000
9	Syrian Desert	North Arabian Peninsula	520000
10	Great Basin Desert	United States	492000