What is the longest river in Asia?
The Yangtze River in China, at about 6,300 km, is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world, after the Nile and the Amazon.
The Yangtze (Chang Jiang) is about 6,300 km long. It is the longest river in Asia, the third longest in the world after the Nile and the Amazon, and the longest river that flows entirely within one country. It rises on the Tibetan Plateau and reaches the East China Sea at Shanghai. Its basin holds roughly a third of China's people, and the Three Gorges Dam on its middle course is the world's largest power station by capacity.
The ten longest rivers in Asia
| # | River | Length (km) | Countries in basin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yangtze (Chang Jiang) | 6,300 | China |
| 2 | Yenisei | 5,539 | Russia, Mongolia |
| 3 | Yellow River (Huang He) | 5,460 | China |
| 4 | Ob–Irtysh | 5,410 | Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia |
| 5 | Amur (measured from the Argun) | 4,400 | Russia, China, Mongolia |
| 6 | Lena | 4,400 | Russia |
| 7 | Mekong | 4,350 | China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam |
| 8 | Brahmaputra | 3,969 | China, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan |
| 9 | Euphrates (with Shatt al-Arab) | 3,596 | Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran |
| 10 | Indus | 3,180 | China, India, Pakistan |
Three of the top six are Siberian rivers in Russia (the Yenisei, Ob–Irtysh and Lena), which flow north to the Arctic Ocean. If you only count rivers in the 49 countries usually listed as Asian, the order after the Yangtze is the Yellow River, then the Mekong.
Why river lengths differ between sources
River lengths are hard to measure precisely. The figure changes with which headwater is treated as the source, whether a river is measured together with its tributaries (the Yenisei and Ob figures include the Angara–Selenga and Irtysh systems, and the Amur is about 2,800 km on its own but about 4,400 km counted from the head of the Argun), and how meanders and deltas are traced. Published lengths for the Mekong range from about 4,350 km to about 4,900 km, for example.
Read more on the rivers of Asia page.
Lengths: commonly cited river-system lengths (rounded); individual sources vary.
Related questions
What is the longest river in Southeast Asia?
The Mekong, at roughly 4,350 km (some sources give more). It rises in Tibet and flows through or along the borders of China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before reaching the South China Sea.
What is the longest river in South Asia?
The Brahmaputra system (about 3,969 km) is the longest by most measurements, followed by the Indus (about 3,180 km). The Ganges is shorter but carries more cultural weight and supports more people.