Alkaline lake
Lake Van
Natural Earth’s outline of Lake Van measures about 3,510 km² (1,350 mi²), the 43rd largest of the 104 lakes on sizeversus, and 89% of the size of Cape Verde.
50 km
- Cape Verde
- Lake Van
The numbers
- 3,510km²Area, measured1,350 mi² · Natural Earth outline
- 3,760km²Area, publishedWikidata · 6.6% above our measure, flagged
- 171mGreatest depthaverage about 173 m
- 607km³VolumeWikidata
- 1,640mAbove sea levelSurface, Wikidata
The area is measured from the outline drawn above, on the WGS84 ellipsoid; the published figure is shown beside it, and a water body is kept only if the two are within 10%. This one is between 5% and 10% apart, so it is flagged and no comparison is built for it automatically.
What the numbers say about Lake Van
- The Caspian Sea (called a sea or a lake, depending on the definition), the largest of the 104 lakes ranked on sizeversus, is 108× the size of Lake Van; Lake Van ranks 43rd.
- Lake Van sits between Sarygamysh Lake (3,820 km²) and the North Aral Sea (3,420 km²) in the ranking.
- Counted as a country, Lake Van would be larger than 40 of the 212 countries listed on sizeversus and would rank 173rd by area, between Cape Verde (3,930 km²) and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (3,320 km²).
- It is larger than 2 of the 51 US states and districts (the biggest of them is Rhode Island, 2,830 km²) and smaller than 49.
- It is smaller than every one of the 31 provinces and regions of China.
- The closest US state is Rhode Island (2,830 km²): Lake Van is 1.24× the size of Rhode Island.
- Wikidata records a greatest depth of 171 m; with its volume that gives an average depth of about 173 m.
- Wikidata records a volume of 607 km³. Poured over Cape Verde (3,930 km²), that water would stand 155 m deep.
- Its surface lies about 1,640 m above sea level (Wikidata).
- On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 39°N is drawn about 1.6× too large in area, so Lake Van looks bigger there than it is.
- Laid out flat, Lake Van stretches about 76 km north to south and 118 km east to west.
- Our measured 3,510 km² is 6.6% below Wikidata’s published figure of 3,760 km². This difference is flagged for review: a lake’s outline may include islands or bays that the published figure leaves out, or the water level may differ. The outline is kept because it is within 10%, and this page is not matched automatically to any other.
About the same size as
Countries
Chinese provinces
On the shore
Natural Earth’s outlines of Turkey contain or lie within 4 km of the outline of Lake Van. That is what its geometry says, and it is not a statement about who owns the water or where any border runs in it.
Names
- Lake Vanthe name in this page’s titlesource: Wikidata’s English label
- Vanalso calledsource: Natural Earth
Where Lake Van ranks
Lake Van is the 43rd largest of the 104 lakes on sizeversus, ranked by measured area.
Share this outline
Sources and method
- Outline
- Natural Earth, 1:10m Lakes + Reservoirs, public domain (Lakes + Reservoirs). Outlines of lakes are drawn at 1:10 million.
- Boundary
- A lake or a sea has no legal boundary of its own. The outline is a cartographic one, and the page says so by showing the measured area beside the published one.
- Area basis
- Measured outline: computed on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outline and shown rounded. Published figure: Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-11. An outline is kept within 10% of the published figure and matched to other places automatically within 5%.
- Depth, volume, height
- As recorded in Wikidata; a volume that cannot be right for the area and depth is left out.
- Shore
- Countries whose Natural Earth outline contains or comes close to the water's outline; computed, not a statement of ownership.
- Drawing
- Each outline is projected with an equal-area projection centred on its own centroid, so areas stay true and two can be laid over each other.
- Data built
- 2026-11-11