Which river has the largest discharge volume in the world?

The Amazon River has the largest discharge volume of any river in the world, releasing roughly 215,000 cubic metres of water per second into the Atlantic Ocean on average. Its flow varies substantially with season and location.

The river's extraordinary discharge comes from its immense drainage basin, which covers about 7 million square kilometres across much of South America. The basin receives water from heavy tropical rainfall and a vast network of tributaries, including the Rio Negro, Madeira, and Japurá.

The Amazon begins in the Andes of Peru and crosses Brazil before reaching the Atlantic. In Brazil, the upper section is called the Solimões until it meets the Rio Negro near Manaus, at the famous Meeting of Waters. The combined river then continues eastward as the Amazon.

People often confuse discharge with length. The Amazon is unquestionably the world's largest river by water flow, but whether it is longer than the Nile remains disputed because measurements depend on which headwater is treated as the river's source. Its basin also carries an estimated 15–20% of river water delivered to the world's oceans.