Home > North America > Largest lakes
Continent with a very high number of lakes, even large ones, given that 8 of the top 13 largest natural lake basins in the world are found here.Five (four if Huron and Michigan were more correctly considered as a single basin) of these lakes are found in the Great Lakes region, between Canada and the United States of America.
Most of the lakes in this ranking are located in a sort of arc that begins in the northwest of Canada and ends close to the Appalachian Mountains; among the few exceptions we find the Lake Nicaragua, in the homonymous country, by far the largest in Central America.
| Lake | Area (kmē) |
Area (sq mi) |
Country |
| Superior (1) | 82,100 | 31,699 | Canada, United States |
| Huron (2) | 59,600 | 23,012 | Canada, United States |
| Michigan (3) | 58,016 | 22,400 | United States |
| Great Bear Lake (4) | 31,328 | 12,096 | Canada |
| Great Slave Lake (5) | 28,568 | 11,030 | Canada |
| Erie | 25,700 | 9,923 | Canada, United States |
| Winnipeg | 24,387 | 9,416 | Canada |
| Ontario | 18,960 | 7,320 | Canada, United States |
| Lake Nicaragua (6) | 8,138 | 3,142 | Nicaragua |
| Athabasca | 7,935 | 3,064 | Canada |
| Reindeer Lake | 6,650 | 2,568 | Canada |
| Nettilling (7) | 5,542 | 2,140 | Canada |
| Winnipegosis | 5,374 | 2,075 | Canada |
| Nipigon | 4,848 | 1,872 | Canada |
| Great Salt Lake (8) | 4,662 | 1,800 | United States |
| Manitoba | 4,624 | 1,785 | Canada |
| Lake of the Woods | 4,350 | 1,680 | Canada, United States |
| Dubawnt | 3,833 | 1,480 | Canada |
| Amadjuak (9) | 3,115 | 1,203 | Canada |
* artificial reservoirs are excluded
(1) Second largest lake on Earth.
(2) It should more correctly be considered as a single basin along with Lake Michigan, thus overtaking Lake Superior as surface area; contains the largest lake island in the world, Manitoulin.
(3) See previous note, geographically Huron and Michigan are actually a single lake; first in the world among the lakes entirely in a single country.
(4) Eighth worldwide by surface area.
(5) Tenth natural lake basin on the planet and the deepest in North America.
(6) Largest lake in Central America, the only one on this list not in Canada or the United States.
(7) The largest lake on the planet on an island (Baffin).
(8) As the name suggests it is a saline lake.
(9) Second largest lake on the planet on an island, it is also located on Baffin.