Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Erie make up the
largest body of fresh water on Earth, accounting for one-fifth
of the freshwater surface on the planet with 6 quadrillion
gallons.
The area of all the
Great Lakes is 95,160 square miles (246,463 square kilometers)
and span 750 miles (1,200 km) from west to east. The square
mileage is larger than the state of Texas.
The lakes are on the
U.S. and Canadian border, touching Ontario in Canada and
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and New York in the United States. The St.
Lawrence River connects Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, which leads out to the Atlantic Ocean.
As of 2017, more than
30 million people live in the Great Lakes basin, according to
the US Environmental Protection Agency. This equates to 10
percent of US residents and 30 percent of Canadian residents.
More than 3,500 species of plants and animals inhabit the Great
Lakes basin, as well as more than 170 species of fish.