Facts and Statistics

Physical features of the Great Lakes

Feature	Units	Lake Superior	Lake Michigan	Lake Huron	Lake Erie	Lake Ontario	Total
Average Depth (measured at low water)	feet	483	279	195	62	283
	meters	147	85	59	19	86
Maximum Depth (measured at low water)	feet	1,332	925	750	210	802
	meters	406	282	229	64	244
Volume (measured at low water)	cubic miles	2,900	1,180	850	116	393	5,439
	cubic km	12,100	4,920	3,540	484	1,640	22,684
Water Area	square miles	31,700	22,300	23,000	9,910	7,340	94,250
	square km	82,100	57,800	59,600	25,700	18,960	244,160
Land Drainage Area	square miles	49,300	45,600	51,700 (includes St. Marys River)	30,140 (includes the St. Clair-Detroit system)	24,720 (includes the Niagara River)	201,460
	square km	127,700	118,000	134,100	78,000	64,030	521,830
Shoreline Length (including islands)	miles	2,726	1,638	3,827	871	712	10,210
Total is greater than the sum of the shoreline length for the lakes because it includes the connecting channels (but not the St. Lawrence River)	km	4,385	2,633	6,157	1,402	1,146	17,017
Retention Time	years	191	99	22	2.6	6

Population

Feature	Units	Lake Superior	Lake Michigan	Lake Huron	Lake Erie	Lake Ontario	Total
Population	U.S. 1990	425,548	10,057,026	1,502,687	10,017,530	2,704,284	24,707,075
	Canada 1991	181,573		1,191,467	1,664,639	5,446,611	8,484,290
Totals		607,121	10,057,026	2,694,154	11,682,169	8,150,895	33,191,365

How the statistics were calculated

Great Lakes Water Volume

Reference	1	2	3	4	Average
	Volume in cubic km
Lake Superior	12,100	12,230	11,600	12,088	12,004
Lake Michigan	4,920	4,920	4,680	4,918	4,860
Lake Huron	3,540	3,537	3,580	3,543	3,550
Lake Erie	484	483	545	484	499
Lake Ontario	1,640	1,637	1,710	1,638	1,656
Lake St. Clair	n/a	n/a	n/a	4	4
Totals	22,684	22,807	22,115	22,675	22,573

References

Coordinated Great Lakes Physical Data. Coordinating Committee on Great Lakes Basic Hydraulic and Hydrologic Data. Chicago, IL and Cornwall, ON. p. 9. (1977).
Large Lakes Ecological Structure and Function. Max M. Tilzer and Colette Serruya, eds. Springer-Verlag. Berlin-Heidelberg, p 26 (1990) [Derived from Inventory of the Morphometric and Limnological Characteristics of the Large Lakes of the World. Charles E. Herdendorf, The Ohio State University. Technical Bulletin OHSU-TB-17, Sea Grant Program. March 1984. p. 67.]
Atlas of World Water Balance (Explanatory Text). USSR National Committee for the International Hydrological Decade, Leningrad, p 32.(1977)
The Water Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition. F. van der Leeden, F.L. Troise and D.K. Todd. Lewis Publishers, USA. p. 188. (1990)

World Fresh Surface Water Volume

Reference	1	2	3	4	Average
	Volume in cubic km
Freshwater lakes	86,499	125,000	91,000	100,000	100,625
Rivers	2,115	1,250	2,120	1,700	1,796
Reservoirs	4,286	n/a	n/a	n/a	4,286
Totals	92,900	126,250	93,120	101,700	106,707

References

WCMC Biodiversity Series No. 8. Freshwater Biodiversity: a preliminary global assessment. UNEP-WCMC. (From Annon. USSR Committee for the International Hydrological Decade. 1978). http://www.unep-wcmc.org/index.html?http://www.unep-wcmc.org/information_services/publications/freshwater/1.htm~main
Water in Crisis, A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources. Peter H. Gleick Ed. Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security. Stockholm Environmental Institute. Oxford University Press. 1993. p. 120.['Nace 1967 cited in Reference 2. p. 120.]
UNESCO 1974 cited in Reference 2. p. 120.
WRI 1988 cited in Reference 2. p. 120.

Fresh Surface Water Volume of North America

Waterbody Type	Volume in cubic km
Freshwater lakes	25, 600
Rivers	250
Reservoirs	950
Totals	26, 800

Reference:

WCMC Biodiversity Series No. 8. Freshwater Biodiversity: a preliminary global assessment. UNEP-WCMC. (From Annon. USSR Committee for the International Hydrological Decade. 1978). http://www.unep-wcmc.org/index.html?http://www.unep-wcmc.org/information_services/publications/freshwater/1.htm~main Data also cited in World Water Balance and Water Resources of the Earth. USSR Committee for the International Hydrological Decade. UNESCO. p. 349.

Calculations

Great Lakes compared to World Fresh Surface Water = (22,573 km³ X 100) / 106,707 km³ = 21 %
Great Lakes compared to North America Fresh Surface Water = (22,573 km³ X 100) / 26,800 km³ = 84%

Population by lake basin

	Lake Superior	Lake Michigan	Lake Huron	Lake Erie	Lake Ontario	Total
US (1990)	425,548	10,057,026	1,502,687	10,017,530	2,704,284	24,707,075
Canada (1991)	181,573	n/a	1,191,467	1,664,639	5,446,611	8,484,290

Reference: The Great Lakes - An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book, United States Environmental Protection Agency and Government of Canada, Third Edition, 1995.

Population of the United States
248,709,873
Reference: U.S. Census 1990 Lookup Database C90STF3C1, Level: Nation.

Population of Canada
248,709,873
Reference: Statistics Canada, Population and Dwelling Counts for Canada, Provinces and Territories, 1991 and 1996 Censuses - 100% Data.