ContinentSize in millions
of square milesNumber
of countriesPopulation
in millions
Asia17.14444,055.0
Africa11.68541,108.5
North America9.3623522.8
South America6.8812379.9
Antarctica5.5000*
Europe3.9947729.8
Australia/Oceania3.131436.6
*There are no permanent residents of Antarctica, but up to 4,000 researchers and personnel live there in the summer, and 1,000 in the winter.
A discussion among friends over the weekend prompted me to put together this table of fast facts about the continents. Our conversation began when someone wondered how much larger Africa was than North America in land mass. Now you have that information and a bit more.
Some sources lump together Australia and Oceania, and I’ve done so here. If you’re curious about Australia by itself, it is about 2.96 million square miles, and it has about 20.4 million people.
Sources for this information are worldatlas.com and about.com.