Geography & Places

List of Largest Islands in the World

The ten largest islands on Earth by land area, from Greenland's ice-covered giant to the dense rainforests of Borneo and New Guinea.

10 itemsUpdated Apr 20, 2026

By convention, Australia is a continent and not counted among the world's islands — a geographical decision as much as a geological one. Remove it, and Greenland sits comfortably at the top of the list, a frozen giant more than twice the size of any other island on Earth. The distribution is striking. Seven of the ten largest islands lie in just two regions: the Maritime Southeast Asia archipelago and the Canadian Arctic. New Guinea, Borneo, and Sumatra are among the most biodiverse places on the planet, home to orangutans, birds of paradise, and uncontacted tribes. The Canadian Arctic islands — Baffin, Victoria, and Ellesmere — are sparsely populated polar lands with fewer inhabitants between them than a single New Guinea village. Island size is not the same as island population. Honshu, only the seventh-largest island in the world, holds more than 100 million people — more than the populations of all the other islands on this list combined. Madagascar, famously split from mainland Africa about 88 million years ago, evolved in isolation to produce lemurs and baobabs found nowhere else on Earth. Climate change is a particular concern for low-lying island nations, but the giants on this list face their own pressures. Greenland's ice sheet is losing mass at an accelerating rate, and Borneo and Sumatra have lost more than half their rainforest cover to palm oil plantations, logging, and fire.

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#	Name	Region	Country	Area km2
1	Greenland Kingdom of Denmark The largest island in the world at 2,166,086 square kilometres, about 80 percent of which is covered by a permanent ice sheet.	North Atlantic	Denmark	2,166,086
2	New Guinea Indonesia / Papua New Guinea The second-largest island at 785,753 square kilometres, shared between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and among the most biodiverse places on Earth.	Oceania	Indonesia/Papua New Guinea	785,753
3	Borneo Indonesia / Malaysia / Brunei The third-largest island at 748,168 square kilometres, divided between three countries and home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world.	Southeast Asia	Indonesia/Malaysia/Brunei	748,168
4	Madagascar Republic of Madagascar At 587,041 square kilometres, Madagascar is the fourth-largest island and a biodiversity hotspot with species found nowhere else.	Indian Ocean	Madagascar	587,041
5	Baffin Island Canada The largest island in Canada at 507,451 square kilometres, located in Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.	Canadian Arctic	Canada	507,451
6	Sumatra Indonesia Covering 443,066 square kilometres, Sumatra is home to tigers, orangutans, and Lake Toba, the largest volcanic lake on Earth.	Southeast Asia	Indonesia	443,066
7	Honshu Japan Japan's largest and most populous island at 225,800 square kilometres, home to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and about 80 percent of Japan's population.	East Asia	Japan	225,800
8	Victoria Island Canada The eighth-largest island in the world at 217,291 square kilometres, located in the Canadian Arctic.	Canadian Arctic	Canada	217,291
9	Great Britain United Kingdom At 209,331 square kilometres, Great Britain is the ninth-largest island in the world and the largest in Europe.	Europe	United Kingdom	209,331
10	Ellesmere Island Canada The northernmost large island in the world at 196,236 square kilometres, covered extensively by glaciers and ice caps.	Canadian Arctic	Canada	196,236

This list is compiled from verified public records and reference sources. Last verified: April 20, 2026.

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