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River

Euphrates

2,800 km from source to mouth · Iraq, Turkey and Syria.

IraqTurkeySyriaIraq, Turkey and SyriaFlows into Shatt al-Arab1st longest in Iraq

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthNasiriyahAr RaqqahRamadi
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

2,800km

Average flow

820m³/s

Basin

673,000km²

Drop

1,384m

from 1,384 m to 0 m

Countries

3

The journey

From source to mouth

2,800 km of river and 60 stops on the way: 33 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,384 m0 m
Sourceat 1,384 m0 km
Keban Reservoir399 km²328 km
Atatürk Reservoir695 km²684 km
Atatürk Dam685 km
Ar Raqqah531,952 people1,060 km
Deir ez-Zor271,800 people1,228 km
Al Qā’im74,100 people1,411 km
Ramadi223,500 people1,842 km
Al Fallūjah190,159 people1,913 km
Nāḩiyat ash Shināfīyah22,643 people2,204 km
Nasiriyah541,600 people2,429 km
Shatt al-Arabat 0 m2,800 km
01,0002,0002,800 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 1,384 m
  2. 0 kmTercan12,235 people
  3. 251 kmYuva47 people
  4. 252 kmToybelen95 people
  5. 320 kmMurat Rivertributary
  6. 328 kmKeban Reservoir399 km²
  7. 440 kmKömürhan Bridge
  8. 492 kmKarakaya Reservoir195 km²
  9. 493 kmKarakaya Dam
  10. 684 kmAtatürk Reservoir695 km²
  11. 685 kmAtatürk Dam
  12. 789 kmBirecik Reservoir35 km²
  13. 791 kmEuphrates Viaduct
  14. 803 kmBirecik44,284 people
  15. 803 kmBirecik Bridge
  16. 825 kmKarkamış Reservoir23 km²
  17. 831 kmKarkamış Bridge
  18. 831 kmJarābulus24,997 people
  19. 852 kmSayur Brooktributary
  20. 876 kmQal'at Najm
  21. 903 kmTishrin Reservoir157 km²
  22. 904 kmTishrin Dam
  23. 912 kmQabbāsīn12,000 people
  24. 1,004 kmAl-Tabqa87,880 people
  25. 1,005 kmEuphrates Lake637 km²
  26. 1,006 kmEuphrates Dam
  27. 1,029 kmKadiran Dam
  28. 1,060 kmAr Raqqah531,952 people
  29. 1,068 kmBalikh Rivertributary
  30. 1,228 kmDeir ez-Zor271,800 people
  31. 1,228 kmDeir ez-Zor suspension bridge
  32. 1,274 kmKhabur Rivertributary
  33. 1,293 kmAl Mayādīn54,534 people
  34. 1,325 kmSubaykhān25,514 people
  35. 1,361 kmHajīn29,237 people
  36. 1,392 kmAs Sūsah8,797 people
  37. 1,403 kmĀlbū Kamāl57,572 people
  38. 1,411 kmAl Qā’im74,100 people
  39. 1,562 kmRāwah13,000 people
  40. 1,563 km‘Anat al Qadīmah19,719 people
  41. 1,578 km‘Anah27,000 people
  42. 1,643 kmLake Qadisiyah339 km²
  43. 1,654 kmḨadīthah30,925 people
  44. 1,775 kmHīt31,901 people
  45. 1,842 kmRamadi223,500 people
  46. 1,913 kmKing Faisal Bridge
  47. 1,913 kmAl Fallūjah190,159 people
  48. 1,913 kmNew Bridge
  49. 1,998 kmJurf Al Sakhar Bridge
  50. 2,033 kmAl-Musayab101,873 people
  51. 2,042 kmSaddat al Hindīyah35,720 people
  52. 2,065 kmAl Hindīyah139,578 people
  53. 2,076 kmEuphrates Tunnel
  54. 2,134 kmKufa110,000 people
  55. 2,165 kmAl Mishkhāb23,189 people
  56. 2,204 kmNāḩiyat ash Shināfīyah22,643 people
  57. 2,296 kmAs Samawah152,890 people
  58. 2,429 kmNasiriyah541,600 people
  59. 2,493 kmNāḩiyat al Fuhūd21,551 people
  60. 2,553 kmAl Madīnah255,000 people
  61. 2,576 kmAl Qurnah134,174 people
  62. 2,800 kmShatt al-Arabat 0 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Asia

At the mouth it carries 818 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.1 seconds. It drops from 1,384 m to 0 m, 0.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 673,000 km², about the size of MM. 21.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from February to March; lowest: from July to October. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 775% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • NasiriyahLargest city on its banks · 541,600 people
  • Basra International Airport (BSR)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 145 km from the city
  • On the water9 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From April to May and from October to NovemberThe best months to visit

Euphrates, month by month

Highest water: from February to March

Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from April to May and from October to November.

1,900
6°41 mmJan
2,200
8°34 mmFeb
2,200
12°34 mmMar
1,800
18°34 mmApr
1,300
24°22 mmMay
820
28°6 mmJun
470
31°1 mmJul
240
31°1 mmAug
170
27°3 mmSep
250
21°17 mmOct
580
14°29 mmNov
1,300
8°41 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 170 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,200 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire in IraqDiscover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Euphrates: the basin in numbers

463,867 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 775% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 21.7millionpeople live in the basin
  • 47/km²people per km²
  • 601maverage altitude of the basin
  • 256mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 18.2°Caverage air temperature
  • 3%protected areas
  • 1.3%covered by lakes
  • 185km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 15% Cropland
  • 21% Pasture
  • 1% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Euphrates: what you find on the way

  • 39DamsBağıştaş 1 Barajı, Bağıştaş 2 Barajı, Keban Dam and 36 more
  • 16Weirs
  • 47WaterfallsAbu Aishush and 46 more
  • 9Ferry piersŞehit Fethi Sekin İskelesi, Battalgazi İskelesi, Feribot İskelesi and 6 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Euphrates in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 8lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (8)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Keban Reservoirkm 296399km²
  2. Karakaya Reservoirkm 444195km²
  3. Atatürk Reservoirkm 616695km²
  4. Birecik Reservoirkm 71135km²
  5. Karkamış Reservoirkm 74323km²
  6. Tishrin Reservoirkm 814157km²
  7. Euphrates Lakekm 905637km²
  8. Lake Qadisiyahkm 1,480339km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (1)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Höbek Dağı13 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Euphrates: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Euphrates: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth93 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Euphrates in pictures

Fırat River Gaziantep.IMG 1474
YG01 · CC BY 4.0
20151228-Euphrates 9283
Aziz1005 · CC BY 4.0
Euphrates River (1)
Zhengan · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Euphrates River in Turkey, Rumkale (52031477798)
Carole Raddato from Frankfurt, Germany · CC BY-SA 2.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Shatt al-ArabIraqIraq200 km1,500 m³/s

Tributaries (6)

Murat RiverTurkeyTurkey722 km400 m³/sjoins at km 288Khabur RiverSyriaSyria486 km70 m³/sjoins at km 1,147Balikh RiverSyriaSyria100 km15 m³/sjoins at km 962

Also: Karasu River, Sayur Brook, Kadıgölü

In the same basin

TigrisIraqIraq1,850 km1,000 m³/sKarun RiverIranIran950 km580 m³/sGreat ZabIraqIraq473 km810 m³/sLittle ZabIraqIraq456 km220 m³/sKarkheh RiverIranIran870 km220 m³/sDiyala RiverIraqIraq231 km130 m³/sKhaburTurkeyTurkey194 km150 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

TigrisIraqIraq1,850 km1,000 m³/s0 km awayKarun RiverIranIran950 km580 m³/s95 km awayKarkheh RiverIranIran870 km220 m³/s71 km awayDiyala RiverIraqIraq231 km130 m³/s370 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q34589) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit