How Many Continents Are There in the World?

Short answer

• In the model most commonly taught in the United States and the United Kingdom, there are seven continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. That is the short answer most readers are looking for, and it is the answer used through most of this article. It is not the only honest answer. In other countries and classrooms, the same land is counted as six continents or as five continents. The difference does not come from a new discovery about the shape of the Earth. It comes from different conventions for grouping land that is joined together, and from different decisions about which places count. Europe and Asia sit on one large landmass, so some models count them together as Eurasia. North America and South America are joined by a narrow strip of land, so some models count them together as America. And Antarctica, which has no permanent population, is left out of some five continent counts, including the count behind the five Olympic rings. So the full answer has two parts. If the question means, "What is taught as the standard model in English speaking countries?" the answer is seven. If the question means, "Is seven the one count that every country and every science uses?" the answer is no. This article explains each model, where it is used, and why the count changes.

By Emma Hudson

What Counts as a Continent?

Before counting continents, it helps to agree on what the word means. Encyclopaedia Britannica defines a continent as one of the larger continuous masses of land, and adds a key word: conventionally. A continent is a large continuous mass of land conventionally regarded as a collective region. That word, conventionally, does most of the work in this whole subject. It means that people have agreed to treat certain landmasses as continents, even where nature did not draw a neat line between them.

Geologists use a related but different test. For a geologist, a continent is built from continental crust, which is thicker, less dense, and different in composition from the oceanic crust that floors the deep oceans. Continental crust rises higher than oceanic crust, which is why continents form high platforms surrounded by deep ocean basins. The Science Learning Hub of the University of Waikato puts it plainly: a continent should be a major landmass of continental crust, including dry land and the continental shelves off the coast, with areas of high elevation compared with the surrounding seabed. Size alone is not the test, because no minimum size requirement is set.

Those two ways of looking at the world usually point in the same direction. They part company in exactly the places where the count becomes disputed. Europe and Asia are one geological landmass but two conventional continents. North America and South America are joined by land but are conventionally two continents in the seven continent model. Zealandia, a mostly submerged mass of continental crust near New Zealand, passes the geological test for many geologists but does not appear in school lists, because school lists are built around dry land that people live on.

So when someone asks how many continents there are, ask in return: counted by which convention?

The Seven Continent Model

The seven continent model is the model most readers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, India, and much of Western Europe will recognize from school. Britannica lists the seven in order of size as Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. National Geographic uses the same seven in its educational material, again from largest to smallest. This article treats it as the standard, because it matches the audience and the search question, but it is a standard by convention, not by a vote of nature.

Here are the seven, with approximate areas. Area figures vary a little from source to source, because different sources draw boundaries differently, especially around islands and the Europe and Asia boundary. Treat the figures below as rounded reference figures. The Australia figure is the mainland landmass; the wider Oceania region, which adds Pacific island groups, is larger.

Continent	Approximate area
Asia	About 44.6 million square kilometers
Africa	About 30.4 million square kilometers
North America	About 24.7 million square kilometers
South America	About 17.8 million square kilometers
Antarctica	About 14.0 million square kilometers
Europe	About 10.2 million square kilometers
Australia	About 7.7 million square kilometers

South America’s rivers include the Amazon River, the world’s largest river by discharge volume.

Asia

Asia is the largest continent by a wide margin, covering roughly 30 percent of the Earth’s land area. Britannica gives its area as approximately 44,614,000 square kilometers. It runs from the Ural Mountains and the eastern Mediterranean in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south. It holds the Himalayas, the world’s highest mountains, and two of the world’s most populous countries, China and India. It is also the continent where the boundary question matters most, because where Asia ends and Europe begins is a convention, not a coastline. At the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore is a city-state in Southeast Asia, and its location explains why it is counted in Asia rather than Oceania.

Africa

Africa is the second largest continent. It straddles the equator, with land in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and it is joined to Asia only at the narrow Isthmus of Suez, where school geography usually draws the boundary, at the Suez Canal in modern usage. Africa has the most regular coastline of the continents, according to Britannica, which means it has the lowest ratio of coastline to total area. Its interior includes the Sahara, the Congo Basin rainforest, the East African Rift Valley system, and the Nile River system.

North America

North America is the third largest continent. In the seven continent model it includes Canada, the United States, and Mexico on the mainland, plus Central America, the Caribbean islands, and Greenland. Greenland is often asked about: why is it not a continent of its own? Britannica gives the reason in one comparison: Greenland, the largest island in the world, is only about one fourth the size of Australia. An island, however large, is not a continent, and Greenland is counted as part of North America.

South America

South America is the fourth largest continent and is connected to North America by the Isthmus of Panama, the narrow strip of land that school geography uses as the boundary between the two continents. The Andes run down its western side and form the world’s longest continental mountain chain. To the east lies the Amazon Basin, home to the largest tropical rainforest on Earth. South America shows why the count is a convention: the land is continuous with North America through Panama, yet the seven continent model counts them as two continents, because of history, culture, and the habit of treating the two Americas as distinct regions.

Antarctica

Antarctica is the fifth largest continent and the only one with no permanent human population. People live there temporarily, as researchers and support staff at research stations, but there is no Antarctic nation. The continent is almost entirely covered by ice, and it is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent. Its inclusion shows that a school continent does not need a permanent population or a set of countries. It needs to be a large, distinct landmass, and Antarctica qualifies, even though it drops out of counts built around inhabited land, such as the Olympic five continent count.

Europe

Europe is the second smallest continent in the seven continent model, at about 10.2 million square kilometers. Britannica describes Europe as the most irregular and indented continent, with by far the highest ratio of coastline to total area. Its conventional eastern boundary runs through the Ural Mountains and the Ural River, across the Caspian Sea region, through the Caucasus, and to the Black Sea and the Bosphorus. None of those features is a coastline, and none separates Europe from Asia as cleanly as an ocean separates Africa from South America. The boundary is a line drawn by history and habit. If you require continents to be separated by water, Europe and Asia collapse into one continent, and that is exactly what the six continent Eurasia model does.

Australia

Australia is the smallest continent landmass in the seven continent model, at about 7.7 million square kilometers for the mainland itself. A naming confusion needs clearing up here. The continent is usually called Australia, after the mainland landmass. The wider region that includes Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and the Pacific island groups of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia is called Oceania. Oceania is a region, not a single geological continent: the Pacific island groups sit on several different tectonic plates. Some school lists use Oceania as the seventh name instead of Australia, to include the Pacific islands. When you see Oceania where you expected Australia, that is what has happened. The count is still seven; only the label has widened.

The Six Continent Models

There are two different six continent models, and confusing them is a common mistake. Each one merges a different pair of continents, and each one is dominant in a different part of the world.

Six continents with Eurasia

The first six continent model merges Europe and Asia into a single continent called Eurasia. The list then becomes Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, and Australia. Britannica itself notes this variant, saying that Europe and Asia are sometimes considered a single continent, Eurasia. This model is widely taught in Russia, Japan, and parts of Eastern Europe, and many geologists find it most natural, because Europe and Asia really are one continuous landmass, divided only by a conventional boundary through the Urals, the Caspian region, and the Caucasus.

The case for Eurasia is simple on physical grounds: there is no ocean between Europe and Asia, and the boundary features lie inside the landmass, not around it. The case against it, in school terms, is cultural and historical: Europe and Asia have distinct histories, languages, and political traditions, and centuries of teaching have treated them as separate regions. Neither case is wrong. They answer different questions.

Six continents with America

The second six continent model merges North America and South America into a single continent called America, or the Americas. The list then becomes America, Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. This model is widely taught in Latin America, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, and parts of Eastern Europe.

The case for America rests on the same logic, applied at the other join: North America and South America are connected by land at the Isthmus of Panama and form one continuous landmass. The case for keeping them separate rests on history, culture, and language, plus the fact that the Panama connection is narrow. Again, neither side has made a factual error. They have chosen different grouping rules.

A reader who meets both six continent models should therefore ask which pair was merged. If the answer is Eurasia, the model kept the Americas separate. If the answer is America, the model kept Europe and Asia separate. A six continent list that merged both pairs would have only five continents, and that is the next model.

The Five Continent Model

The five continent model merges both pairs at once, or drops Antarctica, depending on the version. The best known version is the Olympic version. The Olympic Charter says that the Olympic symbol represents the union of the five continents of the world and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games. The five in that usage are Africa, America (North and South America counted together), Asia, Europe, and Oceania, with Antarctica left out because it has no permanent population.

Two cautions belong with the Olympic example, because it is often misreported. First, the International Olympic Committee does not assign one ring color to one continent in its current official position. Older material did match colors to continents, but that matching was reversed in 1951, and the current position is that the rings stand for the union of the five continents as a whole. Second, the Olympic five is a count of inhabited continents for a sporting event, not a claim that Antarctica has stopped being a landmass.

A second five continent version, used in some teaching materials, keeps Antarctica and merges both pairs: Eurasia, America, Africa, Antarctica, and Australia or Oceania. A reader who sees a five continent list should therefore check which rule produced it: Antarctica dropped, or both pairs merged. Both versions are internally consistent.

Why the Count Differs: Four Boundary Decisions

Almost every disagreement about the number of continents comes down to four boundary decisions.

The first decision is Europe against Asia. Split them, and you get an extra continent. Merge them as Eurasia, and you lose one. The boundary is conventional, running through the Urals, the Caspian region, the Caucasus, and the Black Sea and Bosphorus area. There is no coastline to settle it.

The second decision is North America against South America. Split them at the Isthmus of Panama, and you get an extra continent. Merge them as America, and you lose one. The land is continuous, but the connection is narrow, and the two regions have distinct histories.

The third decision is Australia against Oceania. This does not change the count by itself, but it changes the label and the area. Count the mainland landmass, and the seventh continent is Australia, at about 7.7 million square kilometers. Count the wider Pacific region, and the seventh entry is Oceania, at about 8.5 million square kilometers including island groups. Oceania is a region spread across several tectonic plates, not a single geological continent.

The fourth decision is Antarctica. Include it, and the count goes up by one. Leave it out because it has no permanent population, and the count goes down by one. School geography usually includes it. Sporting and population based counts usually leave it out.

Apply those four decisions to the seven continent list and you can build every common model. Seven keeps both pairs separate and keeps Antarctica. Six with Eurasia merges the first pair only. Six with America merges the second pair only. Five in the Olympic version merges the second pair and drops Antarctica. Five in the other version merges both pairs and keeps Antarctica. The models are not competing discoveries. They are different combinations of the same four choices.

The Geological View: Plates Are Not Continents

Geology adds a useful complication, because it explains why a map of tectonic plates does not match a map of continents. Britannica notes that continents loosely correlate with the positions of tectonic plates. Loosely is the right word. The Earth’s outer layer, the lithosphere, is broken into plates that move slowly over the layer beneath. Some plates are mostly continental, some are mostly oceanic, and several plates carry both a continent and part of an ocean floor.

The major plates usually named in school and survey material include the Pacific, North American, South American, African, Eurasian, Indo Australian or Australian, and Antarctic plates, plus smaller plates such as the Nazca, Cocos, Caribbean, Arabian, and Philippine Sea plates. Notice what that list does to the school map. The Eurasian Plate carries both Europe and most of Asia, which is why geologists are comfortable with Eurasia. The western edge of North America sits against the Pacific Plate along faults such as the San Andreas system, where the United States Geological Survey describes the two plates grinding past each other. The land and islands grouped as Oceania sit across more than one plate region, which is why Oceania does not match a single plate.

School continents are not wrong and plates are not right. They are two different divisions of the same planet, made for different purposes. Plates explain earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building. Continents explain human geography, history, and the way people have divided the world into regions they can talk about.

One geological story helps to fix the deep history in mind. Britannica describes Pangaea as a supercontinent of the Early Permian to Early Jurassic periods that incorporated almost all modern landmasses, with matching fossil and geological records and matching coastline shapes, most famously the eastern coast of South America and the western coast of Africa, as evidence. The continents of today are the broken pieces of that supercontinent.

Borderline Cases: Zealandia and Other Near Misses

If the geological test were the only test, the school list would already have an eighth entry: Zealandia, also given the Maori name Te Riu-a-Māui in New Zealand material. It is a mostly submerged mass of continental crust in the southwest Pacific, beneath and around New Zealand and New Caledonia. The Science Learning Hub of the University of Waikato gives its area as 4,920,000 square kilometers, about three fifths the size of Australia, with 94 percent of it covered by the Pacific Ocean. Only New Zealand, New Caledonia, and smaller island groups rise above the water.

The case for Zealandia was made in full by Nick Mortimer of GNS Science in New Zealand and colleagues in a 2017 paper in GSA Today, titled “Zealandia: Earth’s Hidden Continent.” The paper argued that Zealandia meets the geological tests: it is a continuous expanse of continental crust, physically separate from Australia’s continental crust, significantly elevated above the surrounding oceanic crust, and large enough to count as a continent rather than a fragment. The name had been proposed earlier, in 1995, by geophysicist Bruce Luyendyk. The Science Learning Hub adds a crucial caution: there is no group that officially names continents, and internationally people cannot even agree whether there are five or seven continents, so agreement on eight seems unlikely in the near future. Zealandia is therefore best described as a geological continent proposed by geologists, but not yet adopted in school lists. It does not change the answer to a school question today, but it is the strongest candidate to change the answer in the future.

Zealandia also helps to explain why some other candidates do not qualify. Greenland, already discussed, is a large island counted as part of North America, and at about one fourth the size of Australia it is far smaller than the smallest school continent. India was once a separate landmass that drifted north and collided with Asia, building the Himalayas, but it is now joined to Asia and is counted as part of Asia. Madagascar is a large island off Africa, counted as part of Africa. The pattern is consistent: islands belong to the nearest continent in the school convention, unless a geological argument as strong as Zealandia’s is made, and even then the school list may take a long time to change.

Which Answer Should You Give?

The practical answer depends on where you are and why you are being asked.

If you are in a school in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, or much of Western Europe, and the question is a standard geography question, answer seven, and name them: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. That is the model your textbook and your examiner almost certainly use.

If you are in a school in Latin America, Spain, or Portugal, the expected answer may be six, with North America and South America counted together as America. If you are in Russia or parts of Eastern Europe, the expected answer may be six, with Europe and Asia counted together as Eurasia. In both cases, give the answer your course teaches, and, if the question allows it, add one sentence noting the other model.

If the question is about the Olympic Games, answer five: the inhabited continents, with the Americas counted together and Antarctica left out. If the question is about geology, explain that the count depends on the test, and mention Zealandia as the candidate for an eighth continent. If the question is a general knowledge quiz with no context given, seven is the safest answer, because it is the most widely taught model in English speaking countries.

One final habit will prevent most errors. When you see a count that surprises you, do not assume the source made a mistake. Check which of the four boundary decisions it made differently: Europe and Asia, the Americas, Australia and Oceania, or Antarctica.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many continents are there in the world?

Seven, on the model most commonly taught in the United States and the United Kingdom: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Other models give six or five, depending on whether Europe and Asia are merged as Eurasia, whether the Americas are merged as America, and whether Antarctica is included.

Why do some people say there are six continents?

Because they merge one pair of joined landmasses. One six continent model merges Europe and Asia as Eurasia. The other merges North America and South America as America. Each model is used in different countries, and each is internally consistent.

Why do some people say there are five continents?

Usually because of the Olympic model, which counts the inhabited continents and merges the Americas, leaving Antarctica out. A second five continent model merges both pairs, Eurasia and America, and keeps Antarctica. Check which version a source uses before quoting it.

Is Oceania a continent?

Oceania is a region, not a single geological continent. In school lists, Oceania is sometimes used as the name for the seventh entry instead of Australia, to include New Zealand and the Pacific island groups. The mainland continent itself is Australia. The wider Oceania region sits across several tectonic plates.

Is Europe really a continent if it is joined to Asia?

In the seven continent model, yes, by convention. Europe and Asia form one continuous landmass, and their boundary through the Urals, the Caspian region, the Caucasus, and the Black Sea and Bosphorus area is a historical and cultural line, not a coastline. If you require separation by water, they become one continent, Eurasia.

Is Antarctica a continent if nobody lives there permanently?

In school geography, yes. A continent does not need a permanent population or a country. Antarctica is a large, distinct, ice covered landmass, counted in the seven continent model but left out of inhabited land counts such as the Olympic five.

What is Zealandia, and is it the eighth continent?

Zealandia is a mostly submerged mass of continental crust beneath and around New Zealand and New Caledonia, about 4,920,000 square kilometers in area, with about 94 percent of it under water. Geologists led by Nick Mortimer argued in 2017 in GSA Today that it meets the geological tests for a continent. It is a strong candidate for an eighth continent, but it is not yet adopted in school lists, and there is no official body that names continents.

How many continents are there for kids to learn?

Seven, in most English speaking schools: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Learn them in size order, from largest to smallest, which is the order Britannica uses. Notice that Antarctica is larger than Europe, which surprises many learners.

Why is Greenland not a continent?

Because it is an island, counted as part of North America. Britannica notes that Greenland, the largest island in the world, is only about one fourth the size of Australia, the smallest school continent landmass.

Do continents move?

Yes, in geological terms. The Earth’s lithosphere is broken into plates that move slowly, carrying continents with them. That is the theory of plate tectonics, which explains the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea and the matching shapes of South America and Africa. The movement is far too slow to notice in a human lifetime, but over millions of years it remakes the map.

Sources & references

• Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Continent: Definition, Map, and Facts." Opened and read 2026-10-24. Definition of a continent as a large continuous mass of land conventionally regarded as a collective region; seven continents listed in order of size as Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia; Europe and Asia sometimes considered a single continent, Eurasia; Asia approximately 44,614,000 square kilometers and more than five times as large as Australia; Greenland about one fourth the size of Australia; continents loosely correlate with tectonic plates; Pangaea described as a supercontinent of the Early Permian to Early Jurassic periods incorporating almost all modern landmasses.
• National Geographic educational material, "Continents: What is a Continent?" as cited and quoted in reference summaries opened 2026-10-24. Statement that most people recognize seven continents, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia, from largest to smallest, although Asia and Europe are sometimes considered a single continent, Eurasia.
• University of Waikato Science Learning Hub, "Zealandia: the submerged continent." Opened and read 2026-10-24. Geological definition of a continent; Zealandia area 4,920,000 square kilometers, about three fifths the size of Australia, 94 percent covered by the Pacific Ocean; Mortimer and colleagues, GSA Today, Volume 27, Issue 3, March/April 2017, "Zealandia: Earth's Hidden Continent"; name proposed by Bruce Luyendyk in 1995; statement that there is no group that officially names continents.
• United States Geological Survey, "This Dynamic Earth" plate tectonics material, as summarized in the United States Geological Survey and National Park Service pages opened via search record 2026-10-24. Pacific Plate and North American Plate grinding past each other along the San Andreas fault system; continental crust described as relatively low density material that rides high above oceanic crust.
• United Nations Statistics Division, M49 geographical regions material, opened via search record 2026-10-24. M49 top level regions listed as Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, with Antarctica as a separate area code, used in this article only to show that statistical regions and school continents are different divisions, not to define the continent count.
• International Olympic Committee, Olympic Charter and Olympic symbol material, as quoted in reference summaries opened 2026-10-24. Olympic symbol represents the union of the five continents of the world and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games; current position that no continent is represented by any specific ring, with the earlier color to continent matching reversed in 1951.