This list includes all 332 islands in the world larger than . For size and location reference, the four continental landmasses are also included. All landmasses are arranged in descending order.

Continental landmasses

Generally, the continental landmasses are not all classified as islands despite being completely surrounded by water. However, because the definition of continent varies between geographers, the Americas are sometimes defined as two separate continents while mainland Australia is sometimes defined as an island as well as a continent.

Nevertheless, for the purposes of this list, mainland Australia along with the other three major landmasses have been listed as continental landmasses for comparison. The figures are approximations and are for the four continental landmasses only.

<!-- Please do not break this list into separate continents - the article is about landmasses surrounded by water, and continental status is irrelevant. -->

{| class="wikitable sortable sticky-header-multi"

|-

! rowspan=2 |Rank

! rowspan=2 |Continental landmass

! colspan=2 | Area

! rowspan=2 | Nation(s)

! rowspan=2 | Notes

|-

! (km<sup>2</sup>)

!

|-

| I

| Afro-Eurasia<br />(Africa-Eurasia)

| 79,810,726

|

| <!-- Please do not change these numbers unless there are any newly-formed countries or territories. Entities included are the countries and dependent territories on the mainland of each continent, as well as overseas territories which are located on a separate continent. -->

126 countries<br />

| 48 countries and two de facto states on mainland Africa.<br />78 countries and four de facto states on mainland Eurasia:<br />- 38 countries and two de facto states on continental Asia.<br />- 40 countries and two de facto states on continental Europe

|-

| II

| America (landmass)

| 37,699,623

|

| <!-- Please do not change these numbers unless there are any newly-formed countries or territories. -->

22 countries<br />1 overseas territory

| Ten countries on mainland North America.<br />Twelve countries and an overseas department and region of France on mainland South America.

|-

| III

| Antarctica

| 12,272,800

|

| None

| Antarctica is a special case, for if its ice is considered not as land, but as water, it is not a single landmass, but several landmasses of much smaller area, since the ice-bedrock boundary is below sea level in many regions of the continent. If its ice cover were to be lifted, some rocks that are currently below sea level would rise as the weight of the ice would be removed, although this would in part be counteracted, and in some areas of the continent overtaken, by eustatic rises in sea level.

|-

| IV

| Australia (landmass)

| 7,591,608

|

| Australia

| Mainland Australia is more than three times the size of Greenland, the largest island.

|}

Islands with areas of or greater

See also

  • Lake island
  • List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands
  • List of countries and dependencies by area
  • List of countries by largest island
  • List of divided islands
  • List of islands by highest point
  • List of islands by name
  • List of islands by population
  • List of islands by population density
  • Lists of islands by continent and country
  • Recursive islands and lakes
  • River island

Notes

References

Sources

  • Global Island Network – Island Links Directory