The ten highest mountains on Earth ranked by summit elevation above sea level — every one an eight-thousander in the Himalaya and Karakoram.
Every mountain on this list clears 8,000 metres above sea level, the elevation that defines the elite group climbers call the "eight-thousanders." All ten sit in Asia, strung across the Himalaya and the Karakoram along the borders of Nepal, China, India, and Pakistan — the collision zone where the Indian and Eurasian plates are still pushing rock skyward. This is a ranking by raw summit elevation, not by difficulty or prominence, so a peak like Lhotse ranks high despite rising barely 600 m above the pass that ties it to Everest. Whether you're settling a pub argument, prepping a geography lesson, or just curious how K2 stacks up against Everest, the numbers below are the officially surveyed heights.
At 8,848.86 m, Everest is the highest point on Earth's surface above sea level — the number one spot by definition. The figure is the official height jointly certified by Nepal and China in December 2020 after a coordinated resurvey.
The second-highest mountain and the highest peak of the Karakoram, K2 stands 8,611 m tall — about 238 m short of Everest. Also called Mount Godwin-Austen, it is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous eight-thousanders to climb.
The world's third-highest mountain at 8,586 m, Kangchenjunga is also the highest point in India. Its name means 'Five Treasures of Snow,' a reference to its five distinct peaks.
Fourth-highest at 8,516 m, Lhotse is joined to Everest by the South Col. Its modest prominence of just 610 m reflects that it rises from the same massif as its taller neighbour.
The fifth-highest mountain at 8,485 m, Makalu is an isolated, four-sided pyramid peak about 19 km southeast of Everest. Its striking symmetry makes it one of the most recognizable of the eight-thousanders.
Sixth-highest at 8,188 m, Cho Oyu sits a few kilometres west of Everest. It is generally considered the most accessible of the eight-thousanders to climb.
At 8,167 m, Dhaulagiri I is the seventh-highest mountain and the highest peak lying entirely within Nepal. Its name means 'White Mountain'.
The eighth-highest mountain at 8,163 m, Manaslu rises in the Mansiri Himal of west-central Nepal. Its name derives from a Sanskrit word meaning 'mountain of the spirit'.
Ninth-highest at 8,125 m, Nanga Parbat is the western anchor of the Himalayas. Its enormous 4,608 m prominence and grim toll of climbing deaths earned it the nickname 'Killer Mountain'.
Rounding out the top ten at 8,091 m, Annapurna I was the first eight-thousander ever climbed, in 1950. It carries one of the highest fatality-to-summit ratios of any major peak.
| # | Name | elevation_ft | prominence_m | range | location | first_ascent_year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount Everest | 29031.7 | 8848.86 | Himalayas (Mahalangur Himal) | Nepal / China (Tibet) | 1953 |
| 2 | K2 | 28251 | 4020 | Karakoram | Pakistan / China (Xinjiang) | 1954 |
| 3 | Kangchenjunga | 28169 | 3922 | Himalayas (Kangchenjunga Himal) | Nepal / India (Sikkim) | 1955 |
| 4 | Lhotse | 27940 | 610 | Himalayas (Mahalangur Himal) | Nepal / China (Tibet) | 1956 |
| 5 | Makalu | 27838 | 2378 | Himalayas (Mahalangur Himal) | Nepal / China (Tibet) | 1955 |
| 6 | Cho Oyu | 26864 | 2344 | Himalayas (Mahalangur Himal) | Nepal / China (Tibet) | 1954 |
| 7 | Dhaulagiri I | 26795 | 3357 | Himalayas (Dhaulagiri Himal) | Nepal | 1960 |
| 8 | Manaslu | 26781 | 3092 | Himalayas (Mansiri Himal) | Nepal | 1956 |
| 9 | Nanga Parbat | 26657 | 4608 | Himalayas (Nanga Parbat Himal) | Pakistan | 1953 |
| 10 | Annapurna I | 26545 | 2984 | Himalayas (Annapurna Himal) | Nepal | 1950 |
Mountains are ranked by the elevation of their summit above mean sea level, in metres, highest first (rank 1 = highest). Inclusion is limited to independent mountains — the recognized eight-thousanders with sufficient topographic prominence per the UIAA list — so subsidiary and satellite summits are excluded. Elevations, prominence figures, mountain ranges, and first-ascent years come from the consolidated UIAA list compiled on Wikipedia's "Eight-thousander" article and cross-checked against each peak's individual reference. Mount Everest uses the official 8,848.86 m height jointly announced by Nepal and China in December 2020 after a coordinated resurvey. The order is fully reproducible from the elevation column alone.
Mount Everest, at 8,848.86 m (29,031.7 ft) above sea level, is the highest mountain on Earth. That figure is the official height jointly announced by Nepal and China in December 2020 following a coordinated resurvey.
Almost. Nine of the top ten are in the Himalayas, spanning Nepal, China, India, and Pakistan. The exception is K2, the second-highest, which belongs to the Karakoram range on the Pakistan-China border.
This list ranks mountains by summit elevation above sea level, not by prominence. Lhotse's summit reaches 8,516 m, making it the fourth-highest peak, even though it rises only 610 m above the pass connecting it to Everest because both share the same massif.
An eight-thousander is a mountain whose summit exceeds 8,000 m above sea level and which has enough topographic prominence to count as an independent peak under the UIAA list. There are 14 in total; the 10 highest are ranked here.