Amazon Rainforest Facts & Why It Matters for the Planet

Located in South America, the Amazon Rainforest spans 9 countries.

The Amazon is part of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

How big is the Amazon basin? Covering an area of approximately 2.3 million square miles (6 million square kilometers), it's home to the world's largest rainforest. 

As a whole, the Amazon Biome covers about 40% of the continent of South America.

The Amazon River is the world's largest river by volume of flow and size of the drainage basin.

Covering at least 4,000 miles, it carries the largest volume of freshwater on Earth—about 20% of the world's liquid freshwater.

The Amazon contributes 20% of the oxygen produced on land via photosynthesis. In contrast, phytoplankton produce a staggering 70% of Earth’s oxygen.

For this reason, it makes more sense to call the Amazon Earth’s air conditioner, rather than its lungs.

The Amazon Rainforest is one of the world's richest and most varied ecosystems,

Home to one-fifth of the world’s land species, including many found nowhere else in the world, studies have shown one hectare of Amazonian forest may contain 300 or more tree species.

It's safe to say you will find many interesting and diverse creatures lurking the forest floor, or moving from tree to tree.  

While many of the animals within the Amazon are gentle and friendly, there are definitely a few that you would want to keep your distance from, such as venomous snakes, poisonous frogs, jaguars  and flesh-eating piranhas!

What would you do if you came across any of these fascinating, but deadly, creatures?

In addition to being home to thousands of different tree and animal species, the Amazon Rainforest is home to more than 30 million people, including hundreds of indigenous groups and several dozen uncontacted or isolated tribes, showing that there are still parts of the Amazon that remain untouched.

In 2024, the BBC reported the discovery of an ancient city deep beneath lush vegetation in the Amazon Rainforest, where it was hidden for millennia. Built around 2,500 years ago, the city was likely inhabited for around 1,000 years. The area lies in the shadow of a volcano that helped form unusually rich soils for the region, but may have also led to the society's demise.

Over the past 40-50 years, 17% of the Amazon has been lost to deforestation and climate change—and it is estimated that if deforestation continues at this rate, there might not be much left in the next 40 years.