Top 20 largest deserts in the world 2025

in Passé, Travel

Reading Time: 2 mins read

A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the Earth is arid or semi-arid. This includes much of the polar regions, where little precipitation occurs, and which are sometimes called polar deserts or “cold deserts”. Deserts can be classified by the amount of precipitation that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by the causes of desertification or by their geographical location.

Here are the top 20 largest deserts in the world.

Rank	Desert	Type	Area
1.	Antarctic Desert	Polar ice and tundra	14,200,000 km² (5,482,651 sq mi)
2.	Arctic Desert	Polar ice and tundra	13,900,000 km² (5,366,820 sq mi)
3.	Sahara Desert	Subtropical	9,200,000 km² (3,552,140 sq mi)
4.	Great Australian	Subtropical	2,700,000 km² (1,042,476 sq mi)
5.	Arabian Desert	Subtropical	2,330,000 km² (899,618 sq mi)
6.	Gobi Desert	Cold winter	1,295,000 km² (500,002 sq mi)
7.	Kalahari Desert	Subtropical	900,000 km² (347,492 sq mi)
8.	Patagonian Desert	Cold winter	673,000 km² (259,847 sq mi)
9.	Syrian Desert	Subtropical	500,000 km² (193,051 sq mi)
10.	Great Basin	Cold winter	492,098 km² (190,000 sq mi)
11.	Chihuahuan Desert	Subtropical	453,248 km² (175,000 sq mi)
12.	Karakum Desert	Cold winter	350,000 km² (135,136 sq mi)
13.	Colorado Plateau	Cold winter	337,000 km² (130,116 sq mi)
14.	Sonoran Desert	Subtropical	310,000 km² (119,692 sq mi)
15.	Kyzylkum Desert	Cold winter	300,000 km² (115,831 sq mi)
16.	Taklamakan Desert	Cold winter	270,000 km² (104,248 sq mi)
17.	Ogaden Desert	Subtropical	256,000 km² (98,842 sq mi)
18.	Thar Desert	Subtropical	238,254 km² (91,990 sq mi)
19.	Puntland Desert	Subtropical	200,000 km² (77,220 sq mi)
20.	Ustyurt Plateau	Temperate	200,000 km² (77,220 sq mi)