Driest Places on Earth
Place↕ | Country/Region↕ | Annual Rainfall (mm)↕ | Type↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McMurdo Dry Valleys | Antarctica | 0 | Polar desert | Considered driest place on Earth, no rain for nearly 2 million years in some spots, NASA Mars analog |
| Arica | Chile | 1 | Coastal desert | Driest inhabited city, averaged 0.76 mm/year, Atacama Desert coast |
| Al-Kufrah | Libya | 1 | Hot desert | Sahara oasis town, among driest inhabited places, 0.86 mm/year |
| Aswan | Egypt | 1 | Hot desert | Upper Egypt on the Nile, Nubian Desert climate, essentially rainless |
| Luxor | Egypt | 1 | Hot desert | Valley of the Kings, less than 1 mm annually, hyper-arid |
| Ica | Peru | 3 | Coastal desert | Huacachina oasis, sand dunes, Nazca Lines nearby |
| Wadi Halfa | Sudan | 2 | Hot desert | Lake Nubia, temperatures hit 53C, Nubian Desert |
| Iquique | Chile | 3 | Coastal desert | Atacama port city, camanchaca fog, nitrate boomtown history |
| Pelican Point | Namibia | 8 | Coastal desert | Walvis Bay area, Namib Desert, Benguela current keeps it dry |
| Death Valley | United States | 60 | Subtropical desert | Badwater Basin, hottest air temperature ever recorded (56.7C), Mojave |
| Calama | Chile | 5 | High desert | Near Chuquicamata copper mine, 22 years with no rainfall on record |
| Cairo | Egypt | 24 | Hot desert | Largest city in Arab world in a desert, Nile keeps it livable |
| Riyadh | Saudi Arabia | 100 | Hot desert | Capital of Saudi Arabia on Najd plateau, Arabian desert |
| Dakhla Oasis | Egypt | 1 | Hot desert | Western Desert oasis, fossilized whales nearby, 0.3 mm/year |
| Pica | Chile | 1 | High desert | Atacama oasis town, famous lemons grown from ancient springs |
| Turpan | China | 16 | Cold desert | Xinjiang depression, second-lowest point in China, grape valley |
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Frequently asked questions
How is the Driest Places On Earth list ranked?
The Driest Places on Earth list is currently sorted by the source data's default ordering. Community voting is not enabled on this dataset.
How many entries are in this Driest Places On Earth dataset?
This dataset contains 16 entries, each with multiple sortable, filterable columns. The full table is visible on this page and can be downloaded as a CSV, JSON, or Excel file.
Can I download the Driest Places On Earth data?
Yes. The download buttons at the top of the page give you the full 16-row dataset as CSV, JSON, or Excel. Use of the data is permitted under a Creative Commons Attribution license — credit dtbse.com when you republish.
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