The 7 Continents Ranked by Size and Population
What is the largest
continent on Earth? That's easy: Asia. It's the biggest in terms of size and
population. But what about the other continents: Africa, Antarctica, Australia,
Europe, North America, and South America? Below the continents are ranked by
area, largest to smallest, and their 2016 population estimate is listed as well
for each, from World Atlas.com.
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Asia: 17,139,445 square miles (44,391,162 square km)
Being the largest in
square miles by a big margin also puts it at an advantage population-wise,
having 4,436,224,000 of the world's population of 7.6 billion (2017 UN
estimate).
And these aren't the
only superlatives of this continent. Asia also boasts the highest and lowest
points on Earth. Mt. Everest is the highest point, at 29,035 feet above sea
level. The lowest point is the Dead Sea, which is more than 1,400 feet below
sea level.
Africa: 11,677,239 square miles (30,244,049 square km)
Africa is number two on
both lists, population and size. Its population is estimated at 1,216,130,000;
it and Asia are forecast to be the highest areas of world population growth in
the coming decades as well.
Africa is home to the
longest river in the world, the Nile. It stretches 4,258 miles from Sudan to
the Mediterranean Sea.
North America: 9,361,791 square miles (24,247,039 square km)
North America is where
the two lists diverge in their rankings because this continent's population is not
growing as fast as Asia's. In area, North America is third, but
population-wise, it's fourth on the list, with 579,024,000 people.
North America boasts
the largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Superior. One of the Great
Lakes, Superior covers more than 31,700 square miles between the United States
and Canada.
South America: 6,880,706 square miles (17,821,029 square km)
The fourth largest
continent, South America, is fifth on the world population list, with
422,535,000 people living there. Of the United Nations' most populous cities
list of the world, São Paulo, Brazil, ranks number five.
South America has the
longest mountain range in the world. The Andes Mountains stretch 4,300 miles
from Venezuela south to Chile.
Antarctica: About 5,500,000 square miles (14,245,000 square km)
No one has to guess
very hard what is the least populous continent, as there are no permanent
residents in Antarctica. Up to 4,000 researchers and personnel live there in
the summer and 1,000 in the winter.
The amount of ice cover
in Antarctica affects the exchange of heat, moisture, and gases between the
ocean and the atmosphere. Changes in the ice, in turn, affect global weather
patterns—and by extension over time, climate
Europe: 3,997,929 square miles (10,354,636 square km)
Europe comes in at
number three on population rankings, with a 2016 estimate of 738,849,00 people.
The United Nations Population Division expects its population to decline over
the coming decades due to a low fertility rate.
Europe lays claim to
the largest and smallest nations in the world. Russia is the biggest at 6.6
million square miles, while Vatican City is the smallest at 109 acres
Australia: 2,967,909 square miles (7,686,884 square km)
It might be the
smallest continent, but Australia is the sixth largest nation in the world.
Only about 10 percent of it is habitable, with the majority of the population,
at 24,127,160 (WorldBank.org, 2016), clustering in the urban areas on the
coasts.
Australia is about the
size of the contiguous 48 states of America
source:
https://www.thoughtco.com/continents-ranked-by-size-and-population-4163436
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