What is the longest river in Asia?
Quick answer
The Yangtze River in China is the longest river in Asia, at about 6,300 km (3,900 mi). It’s the third-longest river in the world, after the Nile and the Amazon, and the longest river flowing entirely within one country. It runs from the Tibetan Plateau to the East China Sea at Shanghai.
The Yangtze’s journey
| Stretch | Highlights |
|---|---|
| Source | Glaciers of the Tanggula Mountains, Tibetan Plateau |
| Upper course | Deep gorges, including Tiger Leaping Gorge |
| Middle course | The Three Gorges and the Three Gorges Dam |
| Lower course | Wide plains, Wuhan and Nanjing |
| Mouth | Empties into the East China Sea near Shanghai |
In China it’s called Chang Jiang, “Long River.” The name “Yangtze” originally referred only to the lower part near the coast.
A river that powers China
- About 400 million people, nearly a third of China’s population, live in its basin.
- It provides water for rice farming and a busy shipping route.
- The Three Gorges Dam, completed in 2012, is the world’s largest hydropower station by capacity. Building it displaced over a million people.
Longest rivers in Asia
| Rank | River | Length (approx.) | Countries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yangtze | 6,300 km | China |
| 2 | Yellow River (Huang He) | 5,460 km | China |
| 3 | Mekong | 4,900 km | China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam |
| 4 | Lena | 4,400 km | Russia |
| 5 | Ob–Irtysh system | 5,400 km | Russia, Kazakhstan, China |
River systems that combine tributaries, like Ob–Irtysh, are measured differently, so rankings vary slightly.
Wildlife at risk
The Yangtze river dolphin (baiji) was declared functionally extinct in 2006, the first dolphin species driven to extinction by humans. The Yangtze finless porpoise survives but is critically endangered. China banned fishing on the river for ten years starting in 2021.
The world’s longest rivers
| River | Length |
|---|---|
| Nile | ~6,650 km |
| Amazon | ~6,400 km |
| Yangtze | ~6,300 km |
For other continents, see the longest river in Europe and the longest river in the US.
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