Pakistan has the most glaciers of any country outside the polar regions, with more than 7,000 concentrated in the Karakoram and Himalaya mountains. Other glacier-rich nations include Canada, Russia, the United States (Alaska), Argentina, Chile, Nepal, Tajikistan, Norway, and Iceland.
Introduction
Glaciers are slow-moving masses of ice that form where snow accumulates faster than it melts. They cluster in high mountain ranges and cold, wet climates. When people rank countries by glaciers, they usually exclude the two great polar ice sheets, because Antarctica is not a country and Greenland's ice sheet is a single continental-scale mass rather than a collection of a nation's mountain glaciers.
With those excluded, the leaders are mountain nations, especially those straddling the great ranges of Asia, the Americas, and the far north. This guide ranks the countries most defined by their glaciers.
Countries With the Most Glaciers
The Glacier Leaders
- Pakistan: Home to more glaciers than any country outside the polar regions, over 7,000 in total. Its northern mountains, where the Karakoram, Himalaya, and Hindu Kush meet, contain some of the largest glaciers on Earth outside the poles, including the vast Siachen and Baltoro glaciers beneath K2.
- Canada: Holds enormous glacier cover across the Rocky Mountains, Coast Mountains, and Arctic islands such as Ellesmere and Baffin. The Columbia Icefield is one of the largest in North America.
- Russia: Contains thousands of glaciers scattered across the Caucasus, Altai, Kamchatka, and its high Arctic islands.
- United States: Most of its glaciers are in Alaska, which holds tens of thousands of glaciers, including massive ones like the Bering and Hubbard glaciers. Smaller glaciers survive in Washington, Montana, and Wyoming.
- Argentina: Shares the Southern Patagonian Ice Field with Chile and is famous for the accessible, still-advancing Perito Moreno Glacier.
- Chile: The most glaciated country in South America, with extensive ice in Patagonia and the Andes, including large fields feeding fjords and lakes.
- Nepal: Packed with high-altitude Himalayan glaciers around Everest and other giant peaks, which feed rivers vital to hundreds of millions downstream.
- Tajikistan: Dominated by the Pamir Mountains, home to the enormous Fedchenko Glacier, one of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions.
- Norway: Hosts mainland Europe's largest glaciers, including Jostedalsbreen, the biggest ice cap on the European continent.
- Iceland: Covered in ice caps such as Vatnajokull, the largest ice cap in Europe by volume, sitting atop active volcanoes.
Pakistan's dominance surprises many people, since it is often associated with hot lowlands. But its far north sits at the collision of three great mountain systems, producing an extraordinary concentration of ice.
Why Ice Sheets Are Counted Separately
- Antarctica: Not a country, so its ice sheet is never attributed to a nation.
- Greenland: Its vast ice sheet is a single continental mass, distinct from mountain glaciers, and is usually excluded from country rankings.
- Mountain glaciers: These are what most rankings count, discrete rivers and fields of ice in mountain ranges.
Including the polar ice sheets would drown out every other comparison, since Antarctica and Greenland together hold the overwhelming majority of the world's ice. Excluding them lets us fairly compare the glaciated mountain nations.
People Also Ask
Which country has the most glaciers?
Pakistan has the most glaciers of any country outside the polar regions, more than 7,000, concentrated in the Karakoram and Himalaya. This includes some of the largest non-polar glaciers on Earth, such as Siachen and Baltoro.
Why aren't Antarctica and Greenland counted?
Antarctica is not a country, so its ice cannot be assigned to a nation. Greenland's ice is a single vast ice sheet rather than a set of mountain glaciers, so it is typically treated separately. Both hold far more ice than all mountain glaciers combined, which is why they are excluded from country rankings.
Where are the longest glaciers outside the poles?
Several of the world's longest non-polar glaciers are in the mountains of Central and South Asia. The Fedchenko Glacier in Tajikistan's Pamirs and the Siachen and Baltoro glaciers in Pakistan's Karakoram are among the longest, each stretching many tens of kilometres.