These Are The World’s Tallest Skyscrapers

The modern skyscraper: born in America, adopted by China, and now a key part of iconic city skylines around the world.

But how tall have they become in the 150 years that humans have been building them?

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu, ranks the world’s tallest skyscrapers as of August 2024.

Data was accessed from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

The Eight Tallest Buildings in the World

Standing a towering 828 meters (2,717 feet) tall, the Burj Khalifa, Dubai’s iconic building is named after a former UAE president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Completed in 2010, this steel and glass edifice took six years to build and cost $1.5 billion.

Over 28 kilometers of tiny LED lights on the facade create stunning media displays; most famously lighting up for New Year’s Eve. This also, effectively, makes it the world’s largest LED screen.

Constructed a decade later, Malaysia’s Merdeka 118 is the newest skyscraper in the rankings. Finished in 2023, the building ranks second, standing at 679 m (2,228 ft) tall.

Meanwhile, China’s Shanghai Tower ranks third at 632 m and and the country has two more buildings amongst the tallest list. They are: Shenzhen’s Ping An Finance Center (#5) and Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre (#8). Both between 500–600m (1,600–1,900 ft).

Of course, New York City’s One World Trade Center, rebuilt and completed in 2014, also makes it to the list. The skyscraper’s height in feet (1,776 ft) is a deliberate reference to the year the U.S. became independent.

Most skyscrapers are chock-filled with offices. But the commercial real estate sector in the U.S. is struggling. Check out this chart that tracks how commercial real estate prices are affected by tightening monetary policy.