Which country contains the largest number of lakes?

Canada contains more lakes than any other country, including more than 800,000 lakes of at least 0.1 square kilometres.

Glaciers carved and deepened countless basins across Canada during the last Ice Age. When the ice sheets retreated, meltwater filled these depressions, producing the dense pattern of lakes especially visible across the Canadian Shield and the northern territories.

Canada also contains four of the world’s five Great Lakes, sharing them with the United States: Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie. Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake located entirely within the United States. Canada’s lakes range from tiny ponds to enormous inland seas.

Finland is famous as the “land of a thousand lakes,” but that phrase is symbolic rather than a claim to the world record. Russia and the United States also have many lakes, yet Canada has the greatest overall count under commonly used inventories.