Table 1.

Basin area, discharge, runoff and basin latitude for the 25 world's largest rivers [modified from Cai (28)]

No.	River name	Basin area, 103 km2	Discharge, km3·year−1	Runoff, mm·year−1	Basin latitude
1	Amazon	5,854	6,642	1,135	2
2	Congo	3,699	1,308	354	4
3	Orinoco	1,039	1,129	1,087	7.5
4	Changjiang	1,794	944	526	30
5	Brahmaputra	583	628	1,077	25
6	Mississippi	3,203	610	190	36
7	Yenisei	2,528	599	232	60
8	Parana	2,661	568	213	23
9	Lena	2,418	531	220	63
10	Mekong	774	525	678	20
11	Ob	2,570	412	160	60
12	Ganges	956	404	423	26
13	St Lawrence	1,267	363	287	47
14	Pearl River	477	343	719	23
15	Xijiang	409	270	660	23
16	Mackenzie	1,713	290	169	64
17	Columbia	724	252	348	42
18	Ubangi	356	228	640	2.5
19	Yukon	852	212	249	64
20	Danube	788	202	256	48
21	Niger	2,240	193	86	10
22	Kolyma	666	118	177	67
23	Indus	1,143	104	91	29
24	Godavari	312	97	311	21
25	Huanghe	894	47	53	36