#1
Lake Baikal — 1,642 m
The world's deepest lake by a wide margin, and also its oldest at 25–30 million years and largest by freshwater volume — it holds roughly 20% of all the unfrozen fresh water on Earth's surface.[1]
Geography & Countries
The Deepest Lakes in the World
Ranked strictly by maximum depth, not surface area — Lake Baikal is a fraction of the Caspian Sea's size by area, yet plunges more than 600 meters deeper. These are the deepest lakes on the planet.
| Rank | Lake | Country | Max Depth | Continent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lake Baikal | Russia | 1,642 m | Asia |
| 2 | Lake Tanganyika | Tanzania, DR Congo, Burundi, Zambia | 1,470 m | Africa |
| 3 | Caspian Sea | Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan | 1,025 m | Asia |
| 4 | O'Higgins/San Martín Lake | Chile, Argentina | 836 m | South America |
| 5 | Lake Malawi (Nyasa) | Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania | 706 m | Africa |
| 6 | Issyk-Kul | Kyrgyzstan | 668 m | Asia |
| 7 | Great Slave Lake | Canada | 614 m | North America |
| 8 | Crater Lake | United States | 594 m | North America |
| 9 | Lake Matano | Indonesia | 590 m | Asia |
| 10 | General Carrera/Buenos Aires Lake | Chile, Argentina | 586 m | South America |
| 11 | Hornindalsvatnet | Norway | 514 m | Europe |
| 12 | Quesnel Lake | Canada | 511 m | North America |
| 13 | Lake Toba | Indonesia | 505 m | Asia |
| 14 | Sarez Lake | Tajikistan | 505 m | Asia |
| 15 | Lake Tahoe | United States | 501 m | North America |
No matching rows.
The Top 5
#2
Lake Tanganyika — 1,470 m
The world's longest freshwater lake, stretching over 670 km through four countries, and second only to Baikal in both depth and volume of fresh water held.[1]
#3
Caspian Sea — 1,025 m
The world's largest inland body of water by area, and technically classified by geographers as a giant salt lake rather than a true sea, since it has no natural outlet to the ocean.[1]
#4
O'Higgins/San Martín Lake — 836 m
Straddling the Chile–Argentina border in Patagonia (known as O'Higgins on the Chilean side, San Martín on the Argentine side), it's the deepest lake in the Americas, fed by glacial meltwater that gives it a milky turquoise color.[2]
#5
Lake Malawi (Nyasa) — 706 m
An African Great Lake shared by three countries, home to more freshwater fish species than any other lake on Earth — most of them cichlids found nowhere else.[1]
Sources
- Maximum-depth figures aggregated from lake-depth reference compilations and geography references (WorldAtlas depth rankings; national/park-service data where available, e.g. the U.S. National Park Service for Crater Lake).
- O'Higgins/San Martín Lake depth and Patagonia geography per regional travel and geography references.