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Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km 2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet , with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi).
Seven sovereign states – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom – have made eight territorial claims in Antarctica.These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observation and study facilities within their respective claimed territories; however, a number of such facilities are located outside of the area claimed by their ...
Dymaxion map of the world with the 30 largest countries and territories by area. This is a list of the world's countries and their dependencies by land, water, and total area, ranked by total area. The entries in this list include, but are not limited to, those in the ISO 3166-1 standard, which includes sovereign states and dependent territories.
It has an area of more than 14.2 million km 2. Antarctica is the largest ice desert in the world. Some 98% of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, the world's largest ice sheet and also its largest reservoir of fresh water.
The region covers some 20 percent of the Southern Hemisphere, of which 5.5 percent (14 million km 2) is the surface area of the Antarctica continent itself. All of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude are administered under the Antarctic Treaty System.
The main treaty was opened for signature on 1 December 1959, and officially entered into force on 23 June 1961. [4] The original signatories were the 12 countries active in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–58: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. [1]
List of countries and dependencies by area; List of countries and dependencies by population; List of countries and dependencies by population density; List of countries by past and projected future population; List of countries by population in 1900; List of countries by population in 2005; List of countries by population in 2010
Antarctica is regulated by the Antarctic Treaty System, which defines it as all land and ice shelves south of 60°S, and has no government and belongs to no country. However, the following territorial claims in Antarctica have been made: