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River

Indus River

3,180 km from source to mouth · Pakistan, China and India.

PakistanChinaIndiaPakistan, China and IndiaFlows into Arabian Sea1st longest in Pakistan

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

3,180km

Average flow

6,600m³/s

Basin

1,165,000km²

Drop

5,151m

from 5,150 m to -1 m

Countries

3

The journey

From source to mouth

3,180 km of river and 55 stops on the way: 18 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

5,150 m-1 m
Tibetan Plateauat 5,150 m0 km
Gar Tsangpotributary301 km
Skardu112,996 people839 km
Katpana Lake0.4 km²844 km
Tarbela Lake208 km²1,340 km
Dera Ismail Khan109,686 people1,686 km
Sukkur499,900 people2,278 km
Larkana490,508 people2,356 km
Keenjhar Lake100 km²2,774 km
Arabian Seaat -1 m3,180 km
01,0002,0003,180 km
  1. 0 kmTibetan Plateauat 5,150 m
  2. 260 kmGar24,910 people
  3. 301 kmGar Tsangpotributary
  4. 332 kmSengge Zangbotributary
  5. 581 kmChoglamsar10,754 people
  6. 605 kmZanskar Rivertributary
  7. 626 kmAlchi Bridge
  8. 657 kmYapola Rivertributary
  9. 802 kmShyok Rivertributary
  10. 839 kmSkardu112,996 people
  11. 840 kmShigar Rivertributary
  12. 844 kmKatpana Lake0.4 km²
  13. 844 kmSatpara Streamtributary
  14. 975 kmBunji Bridge
  15. 981 kmJaglot27,000 people
  16. 981 kmGilgit Rivertributary
  17. 995 kmAstore Rivertributary
  18. 1,005 kmRaikot Bridge
  19. 1,154 kmDasu Dam
  20. 1,239 kmYouyi Bridge
  21. 1,339 kmTarbela Dam
  22. 1,340 kmTarbela Lake208 km²
  23. 1,365 kmMusa Banda/Musa khan kallay18,000 people
  24. 1,386 kmJamgah10,044 people
  25. 1,391 kmKabul Rivertributary
  26. 1,392 kmAttock Fort
  27. 1,394 kmAttock Bridge
  28. 1,405 kmHaro Rivertributary
  29. 1,521 kmSoan Rivertributary
  30. 1,533 kmKalabagh Dam
  31. 1,539 kmKalabagh15,976 people
  32. 1,582 kmKurram Rivertributary
  33. 1,601 kmChashma Barrage
  34. 1,637 kmKalur Kot29,578 people
  35. 1,686 kmDera Ismail Khan109,686 people
  36. 1,715 kmGomal Rivertributary
  37. 1,890 kmPayala Lake Ghazi Ghat1.2 km²
  38. 2,037 kmPanjnad Rivertributary
  39. 2,127 kmGuddu Barrage
  40. 2,275 kmRohri92,135 people
  41. 2,276 kmLansdowne Bridge
  42. 2,276 kmAyub Bridge
  43. 2,278 kmSukkur499,900 people
  44. 2,280 kmSukkur Barrage
  45. 2,295 kmBagarji8,005 people
  46. 2,356 kmLarkana490,508 people
  47. 2,518 kmDaulatpur14,574 people
  48. 2,529 kmSehwan75,167 people
  49. 2,592 kmSann8,834 people
  50. 2,610 kmManjhand140,766 people
  51. 2,678 kmKotri Barrage
  52. 2,685 kmMehran Railway Bridge
  53. 2,686 kmKotri Bridge
  54. 2,686 kmKotri259,358 people
  55. 2,774 kmKeenjhar Lake100 km²
  56. 2,819 kmChakomar Dhand0.5 km²
  57. 3,180 kmArabian Seaat -1 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 6,600 m³/s on average: 2.6 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 5,150 m to -1 m, 1.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,165,000 km², about the size of CO. 184 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: December. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (38% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • SukkurLargest city on its banks · 499,900 people
  • Begum Nusrat Bhutto International Airport Sukkur (SKZ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 8 km from the cityCar hire at KHI airport (Karachi)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water20 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From April to June and from September to OctoberThe best months to visit

Indus River, month by month

Highest water: from August to September

Lowest water: December. Best months to visit: from April to June and from September to October.

2,000
4°17 mmJan
4,000
6°19 mmFeb
6,100
11°25 mmMar
6,200
17°20 mmApr
4,800
22°16 mmMay
3,000
25°12 mmJun
4,700
26°49 mmJul
7,600
25°47 mmAug
7,700
22°21 mmSep
6,500
17°7 mmOct
3,200
11°4 mmNov
880
6°10 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 880 m³/s in the lowest month to 7,700 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 at KHI airport (Karachi)Discover 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

Indus River: the basin in numbers

854,650 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 38% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 184millionpeople live in the basin
  • 216/km²people per km²
  • 2,144maverage altitude of the basin
  • 425mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 12.7°Caverage air temperature
  • 8%protected areas
  • 0.4%covered by lakes
  • 3%glaciers
  • 14%permafrost
  • 49km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 12% Forest
  • 28% Cropland
  • 14% Pasture
  • 6% Towns and cities
  • 3% Ice

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

Indus River: what you find on the way

  • 28DamsNimoo Bazgo Hydroelectric Plant, Diamer-Bhasha Dam, Dasu Dam and 25 more
  • 31WeirsGhazi Barrage and 30 more
  • 1Locks
  • 7WaterfallsHussainabad Waterfall, Husseinabad waterfall (small), Karakorum Waterfall and 4 more
  • 3Boat ramps
  • 17Ferry piers

From OpenStreetMap, within 3.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Indus River 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.

  • 5lakes on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (5)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Katpana Lakekm 8860.4km²
  2. Tarbela Lakekm 1,407208km²
  3. Payala Lake Ghazi Ghatkm 1,9851.2km²
  4. Keenjhar Lakekm 2,913100km²
  5. Chakomar Dhandkm 2,9610.5km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Indus River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Indus River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth126 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

Indus River in pictures

Indus River Dera Ismail Khan
Proudpakistani11 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Indus Valley near Leh
KennyOMG · CC BY-SA 3.0
Confluence of Indus and Zanskar rivers
Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0
Indus river near Leh
Avani Tanya · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (21)

Shyok RiverPakistanPakistan550 km130 m³/sjoins at km 842Kabul RiverPakistanPakistan460 km1,200 m³/sjoins at km 1,461Gilgit RiverPakistanPakistan263 km1,000 m³/sjoins at km 1,031

Also: Gomal River, Panjnad River, Zanskar River, Soan River, Haro River, Kurram River, Shigar River, Astore River, Shingo River, Yapola River, Sengge Zangbo, River Jindi, Gar Tsangpo, Xiangquan He, Satpara Stream, Siran River, Ghizer River, Sumar River

In the same basin

Chenab RiverPakistanPakistan1,974 km1,600 m³/sSutlejPakistanPakistan1,500 km1,300 m³/sJhelum RiverPakistanPakistan774 km540 m³/sBeas RiverIndiaIndia470 km1,400 m³/sRavi RiverPakistanPakistan720 km230 m³/sKunar RiverAfghanistanAfghanistan480 km370 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Luni RiverIndiaIndia495 km150 m³/s365 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q7348) · 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 — 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