thumb|350px|Major [[continental divides, showing drainage into the major oceans and seas of the world--Drainage basins of the principal oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the ocean.]]
The list of drainage basins by area identifies basins (also known as "catchments" or, in North American usage, "watersheds"), sorted by area, which drain to oceans, mediterranean seas, rivers, lakes and other water bodies. All basins larger than are included as well as selected smaller basins. It includes drainage basins which do not flow to the ocean (endorheic basins). It includes oceanic sea drainage basins which have hydrologically coherent areas (oceanic seas are set by IHO convention).
The oceans drain approximately 83% of the land in the world. The other 17% – an area larger than the basin of the Arctic Ocean – drains to internal endorheic basins. There are also substantial areas of the world that do not "drain" in the commonly understood sense. In polar deserts, much of the snowfall sublimates directly into the air and does not melt into flowing water, while in tropical deserts precipitation may evaporate before joining any substantial water course. These areas can still be included in topographically defined basins if the hypothetical flow of water (or ice) over the surface of the ground (or ice sheet) is considered. For example, the Antarctic ice sheet can be divided into basins, and most of Libya is included in the Mediterranean Sea basin even though almost no water from the interior actually reaches the sea.
Basins
{| border="0" style="width:100%;"
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|- "
! colspan="8" style="text-align:center;"| Continent color key
|-
| style="background:#ccf;"|Africa
| style="background:#ffa;"|Asia
| style="background:#fcf;"|Asia/Europe
| style="background:pink;"|Europe
| style="background:#cff;"|North America
| style="background:#7CFC00;"|Australia
| style="background:#ffd39b;"|South America
| style="background:#d4d4d4;"|Antarctica
|}
|}
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! rowspan=2 style="width:18em;"|Basin
! rowspan=2|Type
! rowspan=2|Continent
! rowspan=2|Drains to
! colspan=2|Basin area
! class="unsortable" rowspan=2| Notes
|-
! km<sup>2</sup>
! mi<sup>2</sup>
|-
|Atlantic Ocean || Ocean || Multiple || n/a || ||
|-
|Arctic Ocean|| Ocean || Multiple || n/a || ||
|-
| Mediterranean-Black Sea system || Mediterranean sea|| Multiple || Atlantic Ocean || <!-- 5.34 + 2.43 = 7.77 millions--> ||
|-
|Amazon River|| Primary river || style="background:#ffd39b;" |South America || Atlantic Ocean ||
|
|-
|Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea|| Mediterranean sea || Multiple || Atlantic Ocean ||
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="7012534000000000000" |2,060,000
|-
|Ob River || Primary river || style="background:#ffa;"| Asia || Arctic Ocean || ||
|-
|Amur River || Primary river || style="background:#ffa;"| Asia || Pacific Ocean || ||
|-
|Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) || Primary river || style="background:#ffa;"| Asia || Pacific Ocean || ||
|-
|Missouri River || Tributary river || style="background:#cff;"| North America || Mississippi River || ||
|-
|Lake Eyre Basin || Lake || style="background:#cf6;"| Australia || n/a (endorheic basin) ||style="text-align:right;"|1,210,000
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="7012120000000000000" |470,000||
|-
|Ganges River || Primary river || style="background:#ffa;" | Asia || Bay of Bengal
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="7012101612400000000" |1,200,000
|style="text-align:right;"|463,322
|
|-
|Murray-Darling basin || Primary river || style="background:#cf6;"| Australia || Southern Ocean || ||
|-
|Lake Chad (New Conventional Basin) || Lake || style="background:#ccf;"| Africa || n/a (endorheic basin) || ||
|-
|Lake Winnipeg || Lake || style="background:#cff;"| North America || Nelson River || ||
|-
|Tarim Basin || Endorheic basin || style="background:#ffa;"| Asia || n/a (endorheic basin) || || <!--Watersheds of the World has 1,152,448 km2 -->
|-
|North Sea || Mediterranean sea || style="background:pink;"| Europe || Atlantic Ocean || ||
|-
|Yukon River || Primary river || style="background:#cff;"| North America || Bering Sea || ||