This is a list of deserts sorted by the region of the world in which the desert is located.

Africa

• Kalahari Desert – a desert covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa
• Karoo Desert – a desert covering parts of southern South Africa
• Namib Desert – a desert in present-day Namibia
• Danakil Desert – a desert lying in the Afar Triangle and covering northeastern Ethiopia, southern Eritrea, southern Djibouti and northwesternmost Somalia
  • Eritrean Coastal Desert – a desert lying along the southern part of the coast of Eritrea and the coast of Djibouti
• Guban Desert – a desert lying along the coast of northwestern Somalia
• Grand Bara Desert – a desert covering parts of south Djibouti
• Chalbi Desert – a desert in northern Kenya along the border with Ethiopia
• Nyiri Desert – a desert located in southern Kenya along the border with Tanzania
• Lompoul Desert – a desert lying in northwestern Senegal between Dakar and Saint-Louis
• Sahara Desert – Africa's largest desert and the world's largest hot desert which covers much of North Africa comprising:
  • Ténéré – a desert covering northeastern Niger and western Chad

    

  • Tanezrouft – a desert covering northern Mali, northwestern Niger as well as central and southern Algeria, at the west of the Hoggar Mountains
  • El Djouf – a desert which covers northeastern Mauritania and parts of northwestern Mali
  • Djurab Desert – a desert covering northern central Chad
  • Tin-Toumma Desert – a desert covering southeastern Niger, at the south of the Ténéré
  • Libyan Desert (also called Western Desert) – a desert covering eastern Libya, western Egypt and northwestern Sudan at the west of the Nile River
    • White Desert – a desert covering a part of western Egypt and located in Farafra, Egypt
  • Eastern Desert – a desert covering eastern Egypt and northeastern Sudan between the Nile River and the Red Sea
    • Nubian Desert – a desert covering northeastern Sudan between the Nile River and the Red Sea
    • Bayuda Desert – a desert covering eastern Sudan located just at the southwest of the Nubian Desert
  • Sinai Desert – a desert located on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt
  • Atlantic Coastal Desert – a desert lying along the western coast of the Sahara Desert and occupies a narrow strip in Western Sahara and Mauritania

Asia

• Arabian Desert – desert complex on the Arabian Peninsula comprising:
  • Al Khatim Desert – a desert near Abu Dhabi
  • Al-Dahna Desert – a desert being the main central division of the Arabian Desert and covering parts of Saudi Arabia
  • Empty Quarter (Rub' al Khali) – the world's largest sand desert and covering much of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen
  • Nefud Desert – a desert in northern part of the Arabian Peninsula
  • Ramlat al-Sab`atayn – a desert in north-central Yemen
  • Wahiba Sands – a desert covering great parts of Oman

    

  • Judaean Desert – a desert in eastern Israel and the West Bank
  • Negev – a desert located in southern Israel
• Bromo Sand Sea – a volcanic desert in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java, Indonesia
• Dasht-e Kavir – a desert in central Iran
• Dasht-e Lut – a large salt desert in southeastern Iran
• Polond Desert – a desert in eastern Iran
• Maranjab Desert – a desert in central Iran
• Katpana Desert – a cold desert in Pakistan
• Indus Valley Desert – a desert located in Pakistan
• Kharan desert – a desert located in Pakistan
• Syrian desert – a desert located in Syria, Jordan and Iraq
• Thal Desert – a desert in Pakistan
• Thar Desert – a desert in India and Pakistan

  

  • Cholistan Desert – a desert in Pakistan
• Dasht-e-Margo – a desert in southwestern Afghanistan
• Kyzyl Kum – a desert in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
• Kara Kum – a large desert in Central Asia
• Lop Desert – a desert in China
• Ordos – a desert in northern China
  • Kubuqi Desert – a desert in northern China
  • Mu Us Desert – a desert in northern China
• Gobi – a desert in Mongolia and China
  • Badain Jaran Desert – a desert in China
  • Hami Desert – a desert in China
  • Tengger Desert – a desert in China
• Taklamakan – a desert located in China
• Gurbantünggüt Desert – a desert located in northwestern China
• Kumtag Desert – a desert in northwestern China
• Karapinar Desert – a desert in Southern Central Anatolia

Europe

Spain

• Bardenas Reales – a semi-arid desert in Navarre, Spain (455 km²)^[1]
• Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park
• Monegros Desert – a semi-arid desert in Aragón, Spain
• Tabernas Desert – a semi-arid desert in Almería, Spain (280 km²)^[2]

Other European nations

• Błędów Desert – a semi-desert in Poland
• Highlands of Iceland – the interior plateau of Iceland; not a desert by climate, but effectively one because precipitation penetrates the volcanic soil so quickly that the land is infertile (20,000 km²)
• Ryn Desert – a desert in western Kazakhstan and southwestern Russia
• Oltenian Sahara - a desert in Dolj County, Oltenia, Romania
• Oleshky Sands – a sand desert in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine
• Lieberose Desert - a desert on a former military training ground in southern Brandenburg, Germany

North America

• Chihuahua Desert – a desert in Mexico and the United States
• Great Basin Desert
  • Black Rock Desert
  • Death Valley
• Mojave Desert – a desert in the United States
• Red Desert (Wyoming)
• Sonoran Desert – a desert in the United States and Mexico
  • Colorado Desert
  • Gran Desierto de Altar
• Thompson Plateau – a desert in Canada

Oceania

Australia

• Central Desert – a central Australian desert
• Gibson Desert – a central Australian desert
• Great Sandy Desert – a northwestern Australian desert
• Great Victoria Desert – the biggest desert in Australia
• Little Sandy Desert – a western Australian desert
• Simpson Desert – a central Australian desert
• Strzelecki Desert – a south-central Australian desert
• Tanami Desert – a northern Australian desert

New Zealand

• Rangipo Desert – a barren desert-like plateau (with 1500–2500 mm/yr rainfall) on the North Island Volcanic Plateau in New Zealand

South America

• Atacama Desert – a desert in Chile and Peru
• La Guajira Desert – a desert in Colombia and Venezuela
• Monte Desert – in Argentina, a smaller desert above the Patagonian Desert
• Patagonian Desert – the largest desert in the Americas, located in Argentina
• Sechura Desert – a desert located south of the Piura Region of Peru
• Jalapão – a desert park in Tocantins, Brazil

Polar regions

Antarctic

• Antarctic Desert – the largest desert in the world^[3][4]
  • Meyer Desert – a small desert close to the South Pole

Arctic

• Arctic Desert – the second largest "desert" in the world, though it consists of frozen ocean, land ice, and tundra, so (like the rest of this section) not a desert climate in any conventional sense
  • North American Arctic – a large tundra in Northern America
    • Greenland – mostly covered by land ice, like Antarctica
  • Russian Arctic – a large tundra in Russia

Pseudo-deserts

Some geographical features are referred to as "deserts", and this word may even feature in their names, despite not meeting any meteorological definitions for a desert.^{[citation needed]}

• Accona Desert – area of Siena, Italy.
• Barreiro da Faneca – clayey expanse in the Azores.
• Błędowska Desert – area of sands in Poland.
• Carcross Desert – sand-dune system in Yukon, Canada.
• Chara Sands – region of Siberia, Russia.
• Deliblatska Peščara – sand expanse in Vojvodina, Serbia.
• Desert of Maine – 40-acre expanse of glacial sand-dunes in Maine, United States.
• Desert of Wales – a large, upland area of Wales.
• Dunas dos Ingleses – sand-dune system in Brazil.
• Dungeness – single expanse in South East England, United Kingdom, misleadingly nicknamed "Britain's only desert".^[5]
• Joaquina Beach – beach in Brazil.
• Kaʻū Desert – an area of desertification in Hawaii, due to the acid rainfall caused by the nearby Kīlauea volcano.
• Larzac – limestone karst plateau in the south of the Massif Central, France.
• Lençóis Maranhenses National Park
• Melnik Desert Canyon – a canyon in Bulgaria.
• Oltenian Sahara – area of desertification in Oltenia, Romania.
• The Stone Desert – rock formation in Bulgaria.
• Red Desert – desert-like region in South Africa.
• Sand dunes of Lemnos – sand-dune expanse on Lemnos, Greece.
• Sands of Đurđevac – sand-dune system in Croatia.
• Sleeping Bear Dunes – lakeshore in Michigan, United States.
• Słowiński National Park – sand-dune expanse in Poland.
• Tottori Sand Dunes – sand-dune system in Tottori Prefecture, Japan.
• Chad Basin National Park – desert park in northern Nigeria.