List of reservoirs by surface area

Below are the reservoirs (artificial lakes) in the world with a surface area exceeding 500 km2. Reservoirs can be formed conventionally, by damming the outlet of a canyon or valley to form a lake; the largest of this type is Ghana's Lake Volta, with a water surface of 8500 km2. Reservoirs can also be formed by damming the outlets of natural lakes to regulate water levels, such as ones at Uganda's Owen Falls Dam (Lake Victoria) and Russia's Irkutsk Dam (Lake Baikal); they are included here and indicated with a light blue cell background.

Large reservoir area does not necessarily coincide with large volume, as reservoirs with a large area tend to be shallow, such as at Suriname's 1560 km2 Brokopondo Reservoir, with an average depth of just 13 m. In comparison, Canada's Kinbasket Lake, with an average depth of 58 m, has a volume 25 percent greater – but with a surface area of just 430 km2, does not meet the cutoff for inclusion in this list.