Disputed Statements

The Balkans, Regions

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population

Currently States 55000000.000000

Narrower definition; broader country-inclusive counts run above 75 million.

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica tier 1

The Caspian Sea, Bodies of Water

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Description

Currently States The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water on Earth by surface area, bordered by Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Azerbaijan. It sits in a deep basin left behind by the ancient Paratethys Sea, carries brackish rather than fresh water, and has no natural outlet to any ocean.

Whether the Caspian is properly a sea or the world's largest lake is a genuine, unresolved classification dispute among geographers: its marine origin, tectonic basin and brackish water argue for sea, while its total enclosure and lack of any natural ocean outlet argue for lake, and the surrounding states have had to negotiate the question directly, since which label applies affects how its waters and seabed resources are divided among them.

Source National Geographic Atlas of the World tier 1

The Caucasus, Regions

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Area (sq km)

Currently States 440000.000000

The Caucasus straddles the conventional Europe-Asia boundary and different sources draw the region's own outer edge differently; this is the commonly cited approximate figure.

Source Caucasus (EBSCO Research Starters)

The Gran Chaco, Regions

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population

Currently States 9000000.000000

A broader regional figure from the same Wikipedia article, differing from the approximately 4 million estimate for present-day inhabitants of the Chaco proper cited in the introduction; the two figures appear to use different regional boundaries.

Source Gran Chaco (Wikipedia) tier 2

The Levant, Regions

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population

Currently States 57600000.000000

Narrow definition: Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Palestine only; wider historical or cultural definitions of the Levant are not counted here.

Source Levant (Wikipedia) tier 2

The Levant, Regions

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Area (sq km)

Currently States 325000.000000

Figure from a country-by-country size comparison; other rough tallies of the same country set run well above this depending on which countries and which portions of them count as core Levant, and no single authoritative regional total was found.

Source MapFight (Country and Region Size Comparison) tier 3

The Maghreb, Regions

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Area (sq km)

Currently States 6045741.000000

Wikidata Q28227 states this area with no supporting reference of its own. The Maghreb boundary is itself contested, since Western Sahara's status is disputed and its inclusion changes the total.

Source Wikidata tier 2

The Mediterranean, Regions

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Area (sq km)

Currently States 2085292.000000

Mediterranean Basin biogeographic definition; this atlas region entity (the coastal lands of three continents) is narrower than the full basin and carries no single agreed total of its own.

Source Mediterranean Basin (Wikipedia) tier 2

The Middle East, Regions

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Area (sq km)

Currently States 7222000.000000

Definitions vary by which states are counted (Cyprus and Egypt are borderline); figures in the literature range from about 6 to 7.2 million sq km.

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica tier 1

The Sahel, Regions

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Area (sq km)

Currently States 3053200.000000

The Sahel has no strictly defined boundary; this figure is a commonly cited estimate for the semi-arid transitional belt.

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica tier 1

Wadden Sea, Bodies of Water

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Length (km)

Currently States 500.000000

Approximate coastal length as commonly reported for the trilateral World Heritage system; sources vary in whether they measure the outer barrier-island chain or the inner tidal-flat coastline, and the atlas has not yet read a single authoritative figure covering both conventions.

Source Wadden Sea Quality Status Report tier 1