List of islands by area

This list includes all islands (insular landmasses) in the world larger than Template:Cvt. For size and location reference, the four continental landmasses are also included. All landmasses are arranged in descending order.

Continental landmasses

Continental landmasses are not usually classified as islands despite being completely surrounded by water.Template:Refn 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 major landmasses have been listed as continental landmasses for comparison. The figures are approximations and are for the four major continental landmasses only.Template:Refn

Rank	Continental landmassTemplate:Refn	Area		Nation(s)	Notes
		(km2)	Template:Nowrap
I	Africa-Eurasia	79,810,726Template:Refn	Template:Cvt	126 countries Template:Nowrap	48 countries on mainland AfricaTemplate:Refn and 78 countries on mainland Eurasia (38 countries on continental AsiaTemplate:Refn and 40 countries on continental EuropeTemplate:Refn). Two states on mainland Africa and four states on mainland Eurasia (two states on continental AsiaTemplate:Refn and two states on continental Europe).
II	The Americas	37,699,623Template:Refn	Template:Cvt	22 countries 1 overseas territory	Ten countries on mainland North AmericaTemplate:Refn and twelve countries on mainland South America. An overseas department and region of France, located on mainland South America.
III	Antarctica	12,272,800Template:Refn	Template:Cvt	NoneTemplate:Refn	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.<ref>3D visualisations of the Earth2014 SUR, BED, TBI and RET topography layers over the Southern Hemisphere, centred to Antarctica</ref> 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,<ref>Global warming and the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Michael Oppenheimer, 1998 (see map of Antarctica showing regions where bedrock is below sea level)</ref> although this would in part be counteracted, and in some areas of the continent overtaken, by eustatic rises in sea level.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
IV	Australia	7,591,608Template:Refn	Template:Cvt	Australia	Mainland Australia is more than three times the size of Greenland, the largest island.<ref name="jc1"/> Australia is sometimes dubbed "The Island Continent" or "Earth's largest island, but its smallest continent".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Islands

Islands Template:Cvt

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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

Citations

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External links

• Global Island Network – Island Links Directory