River
Irrawaddy River
2,170 km from source to mouth · Myanmar.
MyanmarFlows into Andaman Sea2nd longest in Myanmar
In numbers
Length
2,170km
Average flow
13,000m³/s
Basin
411,000km²
Drop
3,956m
from 3,956 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
2,170 km of river and 30 stops on the way: 19 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmGyita Quat 3,956 m
- 507 kmMali Rivertributary
- 553 kmMyitkyina90,894 people
- 739 kmBhamo54,721 people
- 797 kmShwegu58,696 people
- 864 kmKatha26,732 people
- 890 kmShweli Rivertributary
- 981 kmPinlegyi In0.4 km²
- 1,149 kmAmarapura237,618 people
- 1,154 kmIrrawaddy Bridge
- 1,155 kmAva Bridge
- 1,156 kmSagaing78,739 people
- 1,158 kmMyitnge Rivertributary
- 1,199 kmMu Rivertributary
- 1,272 kmMyingyan141,713 people
- 1,282 kmChindwin Rivertributary
- 1,313 kmPakokku Bridge
- 1,315 kmPauk In0.9 km²
- 1,335 kmNyaung-U48,528 people
- 1,377 kmChauk90,870 people
- 1,378 kmAnawrahta Bridge
- 1,438 kmYenangyaung110,553 people
- 1,474 kmMinbu57,342 people
- 1,478 kmMagway96,954 people
- 1,585 kmMyaydo57,395 people
- 1,590 kmThayetmyo98,185 people
- 1,656 kmPyay135,308 people
- 1,735 kmMyanaung42,252 people
- 1,815 kmHinthada134,947 people
- 1,843 kmZalun21,947 people
- 1,907 kmNyaungdon40,092 people
- 2,170 kmAndaman Seaat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Myanmar and China
At the mouth it carries 13,000 m³/s on average: 5.2 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 3,956 m to 0 m, 1.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 411,000 km², about the size of PY. 26.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- AmarapuraLargest city on its banks · 237,618 people
- Mandalay International Airport (MDL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 24 km from the city
- On the water353 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From November to MarchThe best months to visit
Irrawaddy River, month by month
Highest water: from August to September
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from November to March.
From about 2,300 m³/s in the lowest month to 45,100 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
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The basin
Irrawaddy River: the basin in numbers
376,349 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 26.7millionpeople live in the basin
- 72/km²people per km²
- 740maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,693mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 21.8°Caverage air temperature
- 10%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
- 6.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 39% Forest
- 15% Cropland
- 1% Pasture
- 2% 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
Irrawaddy River: what you find on the way
- 21Locks
- 2WaterfallsMoon Waterfall, Happy land
- 353Ferry piersSlow Ferry Jetty, Ferry to Mandalay, GAW WEIN JETTY and 350 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Irrawaddy 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
3mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Pinlegyi Inkm 9290.4km²
- Pauk Inkm 1,2440.9km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (3)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Nhkai Pum8.2 km away1,531m
- Weshi Pum7.4 km away1,025m
- Kawa Pum14 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
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
Irrawaddy River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (8)
Also: Shweli River, Mali River, Mu River, Myitnge River, Taping River, Derung-Nmai River, Dapein River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q26076) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, 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.
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