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SCIENCE / GEOGRAPHY
List: Top Ten Largest Islands in the World (by land mass)
Date: 2008
Source: DFAT
Base: All recognised islands in the world.
Notes: An island is any land mass that is completely surrounded by water. Some definitions exclude land masses large enough to be considered continents. For this classification Australia is considered a continent. At 7,600,000 km2, Australia is more than three times the size of Greenland. Just outside the top ten and with land masses greater than 100,000 kilometres squared are (in descending order): Sulawesi, South Island NZ, Java, North Island NZ, Luzon, Newfoundland, Cuba and Iceland.
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Rank
|
Island
|
Total Area (km2)
|
Country
|
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1.
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Greenland
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2,131,000
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Denmark
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2.
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New Guinea
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785,800
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Indonesia / Papua New Guinea
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3.
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Borneo
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748,200
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Brunei / Indonesia / Malaysia
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4.
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Madagascar
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587,700
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Madagascar
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5.
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Baffin Island
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507,500
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Canada
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6.
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Sumatra
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443,000
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Indonesia
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7.
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Honshu
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225,800
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Japan
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8.
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Victoria Island
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217,300
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Canada
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9.
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Great Britain
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209,300
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United Kingdom
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10.
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Ellesmere Island
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196,250
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Canada
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