Is the Sahara the World's Largest Desert? No—Antarctica Is

No. The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert (~9.2 million km²), but the largest desert overall is Antarctica.

Desert Definition: An area receiving ≤250 mm (10 in) annual precipitation. Temperature is irrelevant.

• Antarctic Desert: ~14.2 million km² (5.5M sq mi). Polar desert, almost no precipitation.
• Arctic Desert: ~13.9 million km² (second largest).
• Sahara Desert: ~9.2 million km² (third largest, largest hot desert).

Antarctica's interior gets <50 mm/year (mostly snow); some valleys (McMurdo Dry Valleys) have seen no rain for 2 million years. So, by the correct climatic definition, the polar deserts dwarf the Sahara.