What is the approximate area of the Amazon Rainforest, the world’s largest tropical rainforest?
Answer
5.5 million square kilometres
The Amazon Rainforest covers approximately 5.5 million square kilometres, making it the world’s largest tropical rainforest.
It extends across much of the Amazon Basin in South America, with the greatest area in Brazil and substantial portions in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. The exact figure varies because researchers use different definitions of rainforest boundaries.
The rainforest is part of the wider Amazon biome, which also includes rivers, wetlands, savannas and other ecosystems. This distinction matters: the Amazon Basin is larger than the forest itself because it includes the entire drainage area of the Amazon River system.
The Amazon is often compared with the Congo Basin rainforest, the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest. Satellite mapping and land-cover studies continue to refine estimates of the forest’s remaining area.