Who wants to live in Gotham City. Although I'm a fan of the Caped Crusader.
Countries That Have the Most Skyscrapers
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In the late 19th century, tall steel-framed structures rose in Chicago, New York, and Boston, giving birth to the term “skyscraper.”
Of course, humanity had been constructing tall buildings for millennia (see also: pyramids) but skyscrapers were different. They weren’t ornamental, but meant for humans to work and live in.
More than a century later, skyscrapers are commonplace in the world’s most populous cities. We rank the top 12 countries by the number of their buildings at least 150 meters (492 feet) tall. Data is accessed from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, current up to August 2024.
China is the Only Country With More Than 1,000 Skyscrapers
The skyscraper may have been born in America, but it’s been adopted wholesale by another economic giant.
China has more than 3,000 skyscrapers, more than 3x the next ranked country. Its tallest city (based on aggregate building height) is the densely-populated Hong Kong.
Note: China’s figures from this source include Hong Kong and Taiwan.
And that’s not all, China takes the term skyscraper very seriously. It has roughly the same number of 300 meter or taller buildings (120) as India has total skyscrapers (122).
For context, the Eiffel Tower (the tallest building for 40 years till 1930) is roughly 300 meters (984 feet) tall.
Meanwhile, the U.S. holds firm to the #2 spot with almost 900 skyscrapers. More than one-third of them are in New York City.
Ranked third, the UAE is home to the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, which measures 828 m (2,717 ft) tall.
Interestingly, there is an obvious regional effect for skyscraper concentration. Ranks 4th–6th (Malaysia, Japan, South Korea) and 9th–12th (Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and India) are all from Asia.
On the other hand, no European countries make it to this list. Further down the list, Russia, with 85 skyscrapers, is the only one within the top 20.
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