Top 10 Longest Rivers In The World

Measuring a river’s exact length can be a tricky business and as a result the length measurements of many rivers are only approximations. In fact, there has even been some disagreement over the years as to whether the Amazon or the Nile is the world’s longest river. These disparities are usually due to differences of opinion on where the mouth and source of the river are actually located, but for our list we will try to go with what the majority of scientists agree upon. Having said that we bring you the 10 longest rivers in the world.

10. Amur–Argun - 4,444 km
The Amur, or Heilong Jiang, is the world’s tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria).

9. Congo–Chambeshi - 4,700 km
The Congo River (in the past also known as the Zaire River) is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of 220 m (720 ft). It is the third largest river in the world by volume of water discharged.

8. Paraná – Río de la Plata - 4,880 km
The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some 4,880 kilometres (3,030 mi). It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers.

7. Ob–Irtysh - 5,410 km
The Ob River, also Obi, is a major river in western Siberia, Russia and is the world’s seventh longest river. It is the westernmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean (the other two being the Yenisei River and the Lena River).

6. Yellow River - 5,464 km
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly spelled Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China after the Yangtze and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of 5,464 kilometers (3,395 mi).

5. Yenisei–Angara–Selenge - 5,539 km
Yenisei, also written as Yenisey, is the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course to the Yenisei Gulf in the Kara Sea, draining a large part of central Siberia, the longest stream following the Yenisei-Angara-Selenga-Ider river system.

4. Mississippi–Missouri–Jefferson - 6,275 km
The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States (though its drainage basin reaches into Canada), it rises in northern Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi’s watershed drains all or parts of 31 US states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains.

3. Yangtze River - 6,300 km
The Yangtze River, or Chang Jiang is the longest river in Asia, and the third longest in the world. It flows for 6,300 kilometres from the glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai

2. Amazon – Ucayali – Apurímac - 6,400 km
The Amazon River in South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by water flow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined.

1. Nile – Kagera - 6,650 km
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is 6,650 km (4,130 miles) long and runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.