Countries by Highest Elevation
Complete ranking of 242 countries • m • Data refreshed May 5, 2026
Leader
China
Field size
242 countries
Lowest rank
Cayman Islands
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About Highest Elevation Rankings
China leads all 242 countries in Highest Elevation with a value of 8.8K m, while Cayman Islands ranks last at 1.00 m. This represents a 8,849-fold difference between the highest and lowest values.
What Highest Elevation Measures
Highest national elevation point from the frozen public-domain CIA World Factbook snapshot.
Why This Ranking Matters
Examining Highest Elevation across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.
Global Range
Values range from 1.00 m (Cayman Islands) to 8.8K m (China) — a 8.8K-fold difference across 242 countries.
Regional Patterns
Asian countries lead with 9 entries in the top 20, though representation spans multiple continents. Regional factors clearly play a role, but outliers from other parts of the world show that national policy and geography matter as much as continental trends.
Values are broadly distributed across countries, with the middle 50% ranging from 749 m to 3.1K m. The overall spread from 1.00 m to 8.8K m reflects significant global variation.
Notable Outliers
The top of the ranking is competitive: China and Nepal are separated by only 0%, indicating that the leading positions could shift with updated data.
Continental Leaders
Highest Highest Elevation
The 5 strongest Highest Elevation reads.
Lowest Highest Elevation
The 5 lowest Highest Elevation reads.
Data Note
Rankings are based on the latest available data from CIA World Factbook (frozen snapshot), covering 242 of 249 countries and territories. Countries without data for this metric are excluded from the ranking. All values represent the most recently reported figures.
