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Countries with the Most Skyscrapers

Name the countries that have the most skyscrapers, defined as a building above 150 meters in height.
Quiz by manchesterutd10
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Last updated: January 2, 2023
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First submittedJanuary 18, 2014
Times taken100,117
Average score81.0%
Rating4.93
3:00
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 / 21 guessed
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#
Country
2988
China
872
United States
317
United Arab Emirates
276
South Korea
272
Japan
266
Malaysia
143
Australia
#
Country
133
Indonesia
132
Canada
126
Philippines
125
Thailand
106
India
95
Singapore
67
Turkey
#
Country
66
Panama
60
Brazil
51
Mexico
51
Russia
47
Qatar
40
Saudi Arabia
40
Vietnam
+50
Level ∞
Mar 18, 2021
Note: The source includes Taiwan as part of China so I manually separated those out.
+69
Level 73
Jun 4, 2016
Always fun when you learn something new. 49 skyscrapers in Panama! Do they line the canal?
+66
Level 70
Oct 18, 2016
Look up a picture of Panama City's skyline and you will understand... (honestly looks unlike any other city in Central America)
+25
Level 82
May 11, 2018
Wow, I see what you mean--looks like Hong Kong. And less than 2 million in the metro area?
+11
Level 84
May 7, 2018
More than Russia, amazing.
+30
Level 72
May 7, 2018
I was shocked when I flew into Panama City last year. Skyscrapers everywhere.
+28
Level 80
May 7, 2018
That's what laissez faire capitalism can do in just a few years.
+20
Level 50
Sep 26, 2018
It also usually ends up destroying people's lives (great depression).
+24
Level 82
Jan 16, 2019
Cycles of boom and bust can be effectively avoided or at least reduced in severity through targeted regulation and at any rate are preferable to never-ending economic stagnation, which seems to be the most common alternative.
+11
Level 50
Feb 16, 2019
They can, but not in a true laissez faire system. A mixture of both free enterprise and government interference is always a good way to go, but it's a difficult thing to get the balance right.
+9
Level 82
Feb 1, 2021
There are no true laissez faire systems in the world. Except maybe in parts of Somalia.
+1
Level 85
Jan 3, 2023
Somalia - Libertarian Paradise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ul-Efi1Xys

+9
Level 28
Sep 4, 2018
That's what canal money will do for your country. Notice other Central American countries don't have a skyline like this.
+1
Level 66
Feb 20, 2023
So the USA built them a canal, gave it to them, and they use the proceeds to fund a skyline? What does the USA get?
+3
Level 24
Aug 19, 2016
I only missed Qatar..
+1
Level 59
Aug 12, 2020
I only missed Israel...
+3
Level 59
Apr 2, 2021
It seems Israel has departed from the list now...
+6
Level 82
Aug 19, 2016
Only missed Panama. Should have got that one. I've seen Panama City's skyline before...
+1
Level 67
Aug 19, 2016
Got all but 1. Missed Turkey
+1
Level 61
Aug 19, 2016
The drop in percentage guessed from Turkey to Panama is amazing - each one is guessed over 50% of the time and then Panama only 20%
+6
Level 73
Aug 21, 2016
Because all of these countries are either heavily populated or super rich, with the lone exception...Panama
+1
Level 66
Mar 31, 2021
Count me in as a contributor to those stats. 20/21, missed Panama, probably wouldn't have guessed it if you gave me 100 guesses.
+1
Level 58
Aug 19, 2016
lol got panama but not australia :(
+1
Level 49
Feb 10, 2024
I got neither, and these are the only two I missed lol
+6
Level 63
Aug 22, 2016
Being born and raised not too far from Frankfurt, Germany I thought Germany would make the list. But here comes the funny thing: While Frankfurt has 14 skyscrapers above 150 m there is only one other German city (Bonn) with only 1 of such skyscrapers.
+1
Level 85
May 7, 2018
This quiz says a skyscraper is "defined as a building above 150 meters in height." Both the Ulm Minster and the Cologne Cathedral fit that description.
+17
Level 63
Jul 31, 2018
You wouldn't call a cathedral a Skyscraper though, would you? The 150 meter definition as mentioned above the quiz is correct but it's missing the addition "...continuously habitable high-rise building that has over 40 floors...".
+1
Level 56
Oct 2, 2016
Got them all with 6 seconds left. France early got me!
+3
Level 82
May 7, 2018
China has almost as many as the next five combined. I bet in 1980 - and possibly 1990 - it would not have even made the list (certainly not without the help of Hong Kong).
+15
Level 66
May 12, 2018
If you asked people which had more skyscrapers, London or Panama, I think you would get a lot of wrong answers
+2
Level 59
Jun 22, 2018
and Brazil?
+2
Level 53
Mar 19, 2020
Brazil actually has 32 buildings above the height of 150m.

It should've been on this list

+1
Level 24
Aug 29, 2018
Where is the European continent inc. UK, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, etc? And Brazil?
+23
Level 80
Aug 29, 2018
For centuries, there were rules such as "No building may be taller than our cathedral." It takes a while to get away from that, especially where there's a lot of old buildings that fall under historical protection rules.
+2
Level 83
Sep 1, 2018
That rule still stands in York, I think.
+5
Level 62
Sep 29, 2020
Also, they're ugly
+3
Level 57
Dec 15, 2021
I don't know about the others but for the UK it has a lot to do with economics. London really dominates the UK financially so that's where they'd be, but London is built on clay rather than bedrock. That makes it much more difficult and expensive to build huge great skyscrapers.
+14
Level 66
Aug 29, 2018
I think it's good that there aren't many on the European continent. They are ugly and detrimental to a good community feel at street level. Skyscrapers seem to be a very nouveau riche kind of accessory.
+4
Level 74
Feb 20, 2023
Yes, my gut feeling is that they appeal more to cultures that feel the need to prove themselves with ostentatious displays and less to cultures that feel secure in their identity as successful people. There's a lot underlying all that, both positive and negative on both sides.
+12
Level 77
Aug 29, 2018
Indeed, what is the point of a skyscraper? Unless you are very short of space (perhaps applies to Qatar and Singapore on this list), the disadvantages (cost, aesthetics, community) seem to outweigh the advantages. They seem to me like status symbols for those with more money than good sense. In my view, Europe is ahead of the game in turning the tide against them.
+22
Level 82
Aug 29, 2018
Turning the tide against efficient use of urban space? Or you mean to say that they are at the cutting edge of sticking with buildings that are hundreds of years old instead of adopting more modern ones?

The view of Hong Kong from Victoria Peak is breathtaking and stunningly beautiful. Not every city in the world needs to look like Hobbiton. I'm not saying there's no place in the world for such cookie cutter quaint-and-impractical-but-at-least-the-tourists-like-them villages, but it makes little sense to be a snob about it.

+11
Level 71
Mar 18, 2021
''Or you mean to say that they are at the cutting edge of sticking with buildings that are hundreds of years old instead of adopting more modern ones?''

And what do you want us to do? Demolish the historical center of each city to make space for skyscrapers?

Skyscrapers are suitable for the urban centres that started evolving from 20th century onward.

+14
Level 82
Apr 2, 2021
you think that Tokyo, New York, Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Chicago, Mecca, or Moscow only started developing in the 1900s? This comment makes no sense. Europe is not the only place in the world with history.
+2
Level 38
Nov 24, 2022
Yes but we take pride in preserving our culture
+2
Level 80
Nov 30, 2022
I really want to say something about forcing that culture onto others, but I’m not about to get into that fight…
+8
Level 50
Aug 31, 2018
I'm with Kal on this one... They have - finally - announced a "concrete stop" in my country (Belgium) because there is too little 'free soil' left for water to drain away in after heavy rains for example. Using the space where we build things more efficiently by building up higher, seems to make perfect sense to me. Of course, that argument mainly applies for (large) cities, I wouldn't appreciate a 200m+ construction in the middle of acres of grassy fields.
+7
Level 50
Sep 26, 2018
I think that both have advantages and both can look amazing, but it is worth pointing out that many (though not all) cities with lots of skyscrapers tend to have low-density urban sprawl around them, while many cities without so many are very densely-populated around the edge as well.
+3
Level 67
Dec 11, 2022
You have to keep in mind they didn't have the technology back then to build tall skyscrapers when most of Europe started to urbanize. Many of the countries in the list have only urbanized over the past century or have growing populations. Most European countries have a slow growing or shrinking population, so they don't need as much space for housing, work, and entertainment. Also, buildings in most European cities are intentionally kept low so they don't block the view of landmarks (e.g.-Eiffel Tower in Paris, Colosseum in Rome).
+2
Level 48
Sep 1, 2018
Very surprised that Brazil (Sao Paulo) didn't make the list :O
+4
Level 88
Dec 8, 2019
If the threshold were lowered a bit, down to 100m even, Brazil would skyrocket on the list. Every city in Brazil has a sea of mid-rise buildings.
+1
Level 50
Oct 2, 2018
Korea is not accepted for South Korea.
+14
Level 66
Jan 20, 2020
And it shouldn't be, seeing as there is both a North Korea and a South Korea.
+1
Level 56
Oct 20, 2023
lmaoo
+1
Level 37
Jan 15, 2019
panama makes this list while the netherlands only has like 3 in rotterdam
+1
Level 70
May 16, 2020
Panama and turkey are the ones i missed honestly didn’t think turkey had any
+4
Level 46
Jun 24, 2021
let me guess, you're american
+5
Level 80
Nov 30, 2022
Good grief. Everyone’s ignorant about some things. Don’t shame them for learning. Whether or not you know something is not a matter of nationality. I promise that there was a point in your life, no matter where you’re from, when you didn’t know Turkey had a lot of skyscrapers.
+1
Level 22
Jul 17, 2020
I almost forgot Qatar and Canada.
+1
Level 43
Aug 19, 2020
I'm such an idiot. I forgot the U.S...
+1
Level 48
Sep 8, 2021
;)
+1
Level 53
Jan 5, 2021
Panama was a desperation strike - didn't really expect it!
+6
Level 53
Jan 26, 2021
Europe: "We don't do that here"
+2
Level 60
Mar 18, 2021
That feeling when get all but one... And there's still one minute left
+1
Level 45
Mar 25, 2021
Definitely surprised to see Panama on here.
+2
Level 59
Apr 2, 2021
Panama City skyline is truly spikier than I would have ever imagined!
+2
Level 59
Apr 2, 2021
Most of the ones I expected were on here, but the order was far different to what I predicted....
+2
Level 71
Apr 2, 2021
Everyone here is talking about Panama, which is certainly a surprise...but personally, I think I might find the UAE even more mind-boggling. A country that small (both size and population-wise) and they have more skyscrapers than the entirety of Japan and 8 times more than Saudi Arabia?

Yes, I know the UAE is famous for its skyscrapers. It was one of the first countries I guessed. Still, I wouldn't have thought it would be that high up on the list!

+3
Level 61
Aug 23, 2021
There are actually three main reasons for that. The first is property development rights. That means they do not own the land for a long period of time with the main partner in Dubai so they build high to get the most out of their investment in the short time they have part ownership of the property. The second is resource distribution efficiency. that means since almost all of their goods are imported like food and water. Instead of having a spread out country of cities and towns they compact them to make it easier on the countries funds for infrastructure. They spend less on infrastructure and get more with short routes to give out imports. Third is the pressure to divest away from oil. Their oil reserve are not nearly as large as surrounding countries. Most of these other cities built over centuries but UAE has had to do this in a short amount of time, by building large buildings they are hoping once oil runs out they have something in the future to build on with the skyscrapers.
+3
Level 61
Aug 23, 2021
It is a little more complicated than that but that is the short version since we have only so many characters to use in an explanation. Look up Ferj Osio's article in Quora about this subject. He was one of the top architects that built many of the skyscrapers in Dubai and other cities in the UAE. The title is "Why Does Dubai Have So Many Skyscrapers"
+1
Level 22
Apr 5, 2021
The uk should make the list as they have 34 skyscrapers in London and 2 in Manchester.
+1
Level 36
Apr 5, 2021
What about Uk, Malaysia and Hong Kong?
+3
Level 71
Apr 6, 2021
Unless it changed since yesterday, Malaysia is on the list. And Hong Kong isn't a country so its figures will be included with those of China
+1
Level 26
May 11, 2021
I actually got Panama somehow because I decided to type all of the North American countries.
+7
Level 78
Sep 1, 2021
Did you try St Kitts and Nevis?
+3
Level 59
Jan 3, 2023
bro tried grenada 💀
+1
Level 28
Dec 21, 2022
I somehow thought it said cities and spent the whole time wondering why New York wasn't on there.

I DID GET ONE THO-

+1
Level 65
Jan 2, 2023
Nice quiz!
+3
Level 56
Jan 3, 2023
How dare you take my points from me‽
+1
Level 67
Jan 7, 2023
The UK has 46 skyscrapers that are taller than 150m, according to the source.
+1
Level 64
Feb 20, 2023
I forgot my own country. Embarrassing.
+1
Level 67
Feb 20, 2023
Missed Singapore and Panama
+1
Level 32
Feb 28, 2023
Panama surprised me! :)
+1
Level 21
May 5, 2023
Panama only gets 31%!!?!!!!!?!??????!?!!!?!??!?!!?!??!?!!?
+1
Level 21
May 5, 2023
Though it also took me forever to get Philippines!
+1
Level 60
Sep 8, 2023
Wow, Panama was very random
+1
Level 35
Jan 13, 2024
Wow. Forgot those middle eastern countries