About 71% of Earth’s surface is covered by water, leaving about 29% as land.

Quick Scoop

  • Roughly 71% of Earth’s surface is water (mostly oceans).
  • Only a very small fraction of that water is usable fresh water for humans, since about 97% is salty ocean water.
  • This huge water coverage is why Earth is often called the “Blue Planet” when seen from space.

In other words, if you could look at Earth like a pie chart, just under three- quarters of the “slice” you see on the surface would be water, and just over one-quarter would be land.

TL;DR: About 71% of Earth’s surface is covered by water; the rest is land.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.