Gulf
Persian Gulf
Natural Earth’s outline of the Persian Gulf measures about 243,000 km² (94,000 mi²), the 22nd largest of the 42 seas on sizeversus, and about the same size as the United Kingdom.
- United Kingdom
- Persian Gulf
The numbers
- 243,000km²Area, measured94,000 mi² · Natural Earth outline
- 251,000km²Area, publishedWikidata · 3.0% above our measure
- 90mGreatest depthWikidata
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%.
What the numbers say about the Persian Gulf
- The Arabian Sea, the largest of the 42 seas ranked on sizeversus, is 17.0× the size of the Persian Gulf; the Persian Gulf ranks 22nd.
- The Persian Gulf sits between the Gulf of Carpentaria (290,000 km²) and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (242,000 km²) in the ranking.
- Counted as a country, the Persian Gulf would be larger than 133 of the 212 countries listed on sizeversus and would rank 80th by area, between the United Kingdom (244,000 km²) and Uganda (242,000 km²).
- It is larger than 40 of the 51 US states and districts (the biggest of them is Minnesota, 225,000 km²) and smaller than 11.
- It is larger than 23 of the 31 provinces and regions of China (the biggest of them is Guangxi, 237,000 km²) and smaller than 8.
- The closest Chinese province is Guangxi (237,000 km²): the Persian Gulf is about the same size as Guangxi.
- Wikidata records a greatest depth of 90 m.
- On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 27°N is drawn about 1.3× too large in area, so the Persian Gulf looks bigger there than it is.
- Laid out flat, the Persian Gulf stretches about 729 km north to south and 933 km east to west.
- Our measured 243,000 km² is 3.0% below Wikidata’s published figure of 251,000 km². Published areas of lakes and seas move with the water level and with what is counted, so a few percent is expected.
About the same size as
Countries
On the shore
Natural Earth’s outlines of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq and Bahrain lie within 25 km of the outline of the Persian Gulf. 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
- Persian Gulfthe name in this page’s titlesource: Wikidata’s English label
- Arabian Gulfalso calledsource: Natural Earth
Governments and organisations use different names for this body of water, or for parts of it. Size Versus uses the name that Natural Earth’s file gives as the title, lists the other names it can source, and takes no position on which is right. The wording is the same in every language.
Where the Persian Gulf ranks
The Persian Gulf is the 22nd largest of the 42 seas on sizeversus, ranked by measured area.
Compare the Persian Gulf
Share this outline
Sources and method
- Outline
- Natural Earth, 1:10m Marine Areas (geography_marine_polys), public domain (Marine Areas (geography_marine_polys)). Natural Earth draws marine areas for labels and cuts them at named sub-areas; the outline is kept because its area matches the published one.
- 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