The remarkable performance of lead halide perovskites in solar cells can be attributed to the long carrier lifetimes and low non-radiative recombination rates, the same physical properties that are ideal for semiconductor lasers. Here, we show room-temperature and wavelength-tunable lasing from single-crystal lead halide perovskite nanowires with very low lasing thresholds (220 nJ cm(-2)) and high quality factors (Q ∼ 3,600). The lasing threshold corresponds to a charge carrier density as low as 1.5 × 10(16) cm(-3). Kinetic analysis based on time-resolved fluorescence reveals little charge carrier trapping in these single-crystal nanowires and gives estimated lasing quantum yields approaching 100%. Such lasing performance, coupled with the facile solution growth of single-crystal nanowires and the broad stoichiometry-dependent tunability of emission colour, makes lead halide perovskites ideal materials for the development of nanophotonics, in parallel with the rapid development in photovoltaics from the same materials.