The Largest Lakes in the World

This page includes three lists of the world's largest lakes. They are ranked by surface area, volume, and depth. The first list is surface area:

Largest Lakes by Surface Area

1. Caspian Sea - Asia - 371,000 sq km (143,000 sq mi)*
2. Lake Superior - North America - 82,100 sq km (31,698 sq mi)
3. Lake Victoria - Africa - 68,800 sq km (26,563 sq mi)
4. Lake Huron - North America - 59,600 sq km (23,011 sq mi)
5. Lake Michigan - North America - 57,800 sq km (22,316 sq mi)
6. Lake Tanganyika - Africa - 32,900 sq km (12,702 sq mi)
7. Baikal - Asia - 30,500 sq km (11,776 sq mi)
8. Great Bear Lake - North America - 31,328 sq km (12,095 sq mi)
9. Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa) - Africa - 30,044 sq km (11,600 sq mi)
10. Great Slave Lake - North America - 28,568 sq km (11.030 sq mi) Source: The Times Atlas of the World

Largest Lakes by Volume

1. Baikal - Asia 23,600 cubic km**
2. Tanganyika- Africa - 18,900 cubic km
3. Superior - North America - 11,600 cubic km
4. Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa) - Africa - 7,725 cubic km
5. Lake Michigan - North America - 4900 cubic km
6. Lake Huron - North America - 3540 cubic km
7. Lake Victoria - Africa - 2,700 cubic km
8. Great Bear Lake - North America - 2,236 cubic km
9. Issyk-Kul (Ysyk-Kol) - Asia - 1,730 cubic km
10. Lake Ontario - North America - 1,710 cubic km Source: Wikipedia

Deepest Lakes in the World

1. Lake Baikal - Asia - 1,637 m (5,369 ft)
2. Lake Tanganyika - Africa - 1,470 m (4,823 ft)
3. Caspian Sea - Asia - 1,025 m (3,363 ft)
4. O'Higgins Lake (San Martin Lake) - South America - 836 m (2,742 ft)
5. Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa) - Africa - 706 m (2,316 ft) Source: Wikipedia
* Some consider the Caspian Sea not to be a lake but it is surrounded by land and thus meets the generally accepted definition of a lake.
** Lake Baikal holds one-fifth of the world's freshwate