Where are the World’s Wettest and Driest Countries?
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From tropical rainforest nations to the sandy deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, the world’s wettest and driest countries are a study in contrasts.
We map and rank the countries that receive the highest and lowest average annual precipitation in millimeters, per latest data from the World Bank.
Ranked: Top 10 Wettest Countries
Colombia tops the list of nations with the highest average precipitation at 3,240 millimeters (128 inches) in a year.
Its Tutunendo district is the one of the world’s wettest places, averaging nearly 12,000 mm (463 inches) of rain annually.
| Rank | Country | Average Annual Precipitation (mm) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇨🇴 Colombia | 3,240 |
| 2 | 🇸🇹 Sao Tome & Principe | 3,200 |
| 3 | 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea | 3,142 |
| 4 | 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands | 3,028 |
| 5 | 🇵🇦 Panama | 2,928 |
| 6 | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | 2,926 |
| 7 | 🇼🇸 Samoa | 2,880 |
| 8 | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | 2,875 |
| 9 | 🇧🇳 Brunei | 2,722 |
| 10 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 2,702 |
Note: Figures are rounded.
Off the coast of Africa however, Sao Tome & Principe is not far behind Colombia, receiving about 3,200 mm of rain in 2020.
Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands also average more than 3,000 mm of rain in a year, and Panama (2,928 mm) rounds out the top five.
Noticeably, all 10 countries lie in close proximity to the equator, and near oceans, where rising hot and humid air leads to abundant rainfall.
Ranked: Top 10 Driest Countries
On the other end of the scale, Egypt records the lowest average annual rainfall across all countries, at 18 mm (0.7 inches). For comparison, Colombia receives nearly 180x the amount of rain Egypt does.
| Rank | Country | Average Annual Precipitation (mm) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇪🇬 Egypt | 18 |
| 2 | 🇱🇾 Libya | 56 |
| 3 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 59 |
| 4 | 🇶🇦 Qatar | 74 |
| 5 | 🇦🇪 UAE | 78 |
| 6 | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | 83 |
| 7 | 🇩🇿 Algeria | 89 |
| 8 | 🇲🇷 Mauritania | 92 |
| 9 | 🇯🇴 Jordan | 111 |
| 10 | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | 121 |
Note: Figures are rounded.
In fact, countries from North Africa and the Middle East make up the entirety of this list of the driest countries in the world.
Learn More About Rainfall From Visual Capitalist
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out Mapping the Unequal Distribution of Global Precipitation which divides the world into two halves: one that receives more than global average of rain (or snow), and one that receives less.
