About 68.7% of Earth’s freshwater is stored in glaciers, ice caps, and permanent snow.
This figure comes from global water-distribution estimates used by the U.S. Geological Survey. Ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow contain about 24 million cubic kilometres of water, making frozen water the largest single reservoir of freshwater on Earth. It represents only about 1.7% of all water on the planet because most of Earth’s total water is salty ocean water.
The percentage is easy to misread. It refers to freshwater, not all water, and it commonly groups glaciers with ice caps and permanent snow. Roughly 30% of freshwater is stored as groundwater, while lakes, rivers, soil moisture, and the atmosphere hold much smaller shares.
Glacier ice also has major climate and sea-level significance. If all glaciers and ice caps melted, global sea level would rise by roughly 70 m, although such a complete melt would occur over very long timescales. Regional glacier loss can nevertheless affect river flow, water supplies, and ecosystems much sooner.