tallest buildings in the world

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

tallest buildings in the world, the highest-standing buildings on the globe, as determined by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), an international nonprofit organization headquartered in Chicago. The CTBUH recognizes a tall building as having 14 or more stories and standing more than 50 meters (165 feet) tall.

The development of tall buildings in the late 18th century came as a result of the coincidence of several technological and social developments. These developments included the installation of the first safe passenger elevator (in the Haughwout Department Store, New York City) in 1857, the use of a cast-iron and wrought-iron framework to support the weight of upper floors, and the refinement of the Bessemer process, first used in the United States in the 1860s, which allowed for the major advance in skyscraper construction. As steel is stronger and lighter than iron, the use of a steel frame made possible the construction of truly tall buildings. Further refinements in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in engineering, materials, and other technologies allowed for even greater construction heights, resulting in buildings that far surpass 14 stories or more. The engineers of the Burj Khalifa, Dubai, for example, used a buttressed core, a kind of concrete spine that runs through an entire structure, to build the tallest building in the world. The list below offers an introduction to a few of the other tallest buildings in the world, many of which have been built in the 21st century in Asia and the Middle East, where construction costs tend to be lower than in other parts of the globe.

	rank	building	location	year completed	height^* (meters)	height^* (feet)	occupied floors
	1	Burj Khalifa	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	2010	828	2,717	163
	2	Merdeka 118	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2023	679	2,227	118
	3	Shanghai Tower	Shanghai, China	2015	632	2,073	128
	4	Makkah Royal Clock Tower	Mecca, Saudi Arabia	2012	601	1,972	120
	5	Ping An Finance Center	Shenzhen, China	2017	599	1,965	115
	6	Lotte World Tower	Seoul, South Korea	2017	555	1,819	123
	7	One World Trade Center	New York, New York, U.S.	2014	541	1,776	94
	8	Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre	Guangzhou, China	2016	530	1,739	111
	9	Tianjin CTF Finance Centre	Tianjin, China	2019	530	1,739	97
	10	CITIC Tower	Beijing, China	2018	528	1,731	109
	11	Taipei 101	Taipei, Taiwan	2004	508	1,667	101
	12	Shanghai World Financial Center	Shanghai, China	2008	492	1,614	101
	13	International Commerce Centre	Hong Kong, China	2010	484	1,588	108
	14	Wuhan Greenland Center	Wuhan, China	2023	476	1,560	101
	15	Central Park Tower	New York, New York, U.S.	2020	472	1,550	98
	16	Lakhta Center	Saint Petersburg, Russia	2019	462	1,516	87
	17	Vincom Landmark 81	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	2018	461	1,513	81
	18	The Exchange 106	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2019	454	1,488	95
	19	Changsha IFS Tower T1	Changsha, China	2018	452	1,483	94
	20	Petronas Tower 1	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1998	452	1,483	88
	21	Petronas Tower 2	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1998	452	1,483	88
	22	Suzhou IFS	Suzhou, China	2019	450	1,476	95
	23	Zifeng Tower	Nanjing, China	2010	450	1,476	66
	24	Wuhan Center Tower	Wuhan, China	2019	443	1,454	88
	25	Willis Tower	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.	1974	442	1,451	108
^*To the architectural top, as measured from the level of the lowest significant open-air pedestrian entrance to the topmost architectural feature of the building, including spires but not including antennas, signage, flag poles, or other functional or technical equipment.
Source: Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.