Which country has the greatest number of natural lakes?

Canada has the greatest number of natural lakes of any country.

Canada contains more lakes than any other country, including a very large share of the world’s freshwater lake area. Its landscape was heavily shaped by glaciers during the last Ice Age. Moving ice scraped basins into the bedrock, and many of those hollows later filled with meltwater and precipitation.

The country contains several of the world’s largest lakes, including parts of the Great Lakes along the United States border. Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake are entirely within Canada and are among the largest lakes by surface area. Lake Superior, shared with the United States, is the largest freshwater lake by surface area.

Exact totals depend on the definition used: surveys may count only lakes above a minimum size, or may include countless small ponds and wetlands. That measurement issue explains why published numbers differ. The broad geographic conclusion is stable: Canada’s glaciated terrain gives it an unmatched abundance of natural lakes.