About 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water.

Quick Scoop: Key Facts

  • Roughly 71% of Earth’s surface is water, and about 29% is land.
  • Around 97% of all that water is salty ocean water; only about 3% is freshwater.
  • Most freshwater is frozen in glaciers and ice caps (about 69% of freshwater), with much of the rest underground.

In everyday terms, when people ask “how much percent of the Earth is water,” they almost always mean “how much of Earth’s surface is covered by water,” and the accepted answer is about 71%.

TL;DR: About 71% of Earth’s surface is water, mostly salty oceans, with only a small fraction available as liquid freshwater for people and ecosystems.

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