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Countries with the Highest Average Elevation

Can you name the countries that have the highest average elevation across the entire national territory?
Source: Wikipedia
Quiz by slkrr9
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Last updated: December 10, 2019
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First submittedAugust 31, 2015
Times taken55,281
Average score65.0%
Rating4.97
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Meters
Continent
Country
Feet
3280
Asia
Bhutan
10,761
3265
Asia
Nepal
10,712
3186
Asia
Tajikistan
10,453
2988
Asia
Kyrgyzstan
9,803
2161
Africa
Lesotho
7,090
1996
Europe
Andorra
6,549
1884
Asia
Afghanistan
6,181
1871
Americas
Chile
6,138
1840
Asia
China
6,037
1792
Asia
Armenia
5,879
Meters
Continent
Country
Feet
1598
Africa
Rwanda
5,243
1555
Americas
Peru
5,102
1528
Asia
Mongolia
5,013
1504
Africa
Burundi
4,934
1432
Asia
Georgia
4,698
1350
Europe
Switzerland
4,429
1330
Africa
Ethiopia
4,364
1305
Asia
Iran
4,281
1250
Asia
Lebanon
4,101
1192
Americas
Bolivia
3,911
+2
Level 76
Aug 31, 2015
Great!
+41
Level 33
Aug 31, 2015
If it were independent, Tibet would easily top this list.
+35
Level 71
Dec 20, 2017
It would have an average height of about 4,500 Meters
+34
Level 44
Nov 1, 2021
If Olympus Mons on Mars was an independent country it would top this list by 25,000 meters
+35
Level 77
Nov 3, 2021
This response is either pro-China or pro-Mars.
+7
Level 68
Oct 31, 2023
No, it wouldn't, because that's just the summit of Olympus Mons, not its average elevation.
+2
Level 76
Aug 31, 2015
Cool quiz, though I checked the original database the Wikipedia entry was created from, and it's missing about 30 countries, especially several low-lying ones.
+14
Level 77
Sep 20, 2015
That just sounds wrong. Lebanon is higher than Liechtenstein? Surprised by China too, it's so big.
+3
Level 77
Sep 20, 2015
Apparently Liechtenstein being one of those missing from the list.
+4
Level ∞
Sep 20, 2015
I was actually a little skeptical as well, and looked up Liechtenstein and Lebanon. I couldn't find any evidence to overturn what was in the Wikipedia data.
+13
Level 74
Mar 8, 2020
Liechtenstein is on the outskirts of the Alps, not in them, although it is surrounded by them on one side.
+12
Level 48
Mar 8, 2020
A big part of Liechtenstein is in the Rhine Valley which is only about 450 metres. A big part is in the alps aswell but it isn't enough to bring the average up that high.
+19
Level 67
Nov 3, 2021
Liechtenstein isn't big enough to have two big parts. ;-)
+1
Level 73
Jan 3, 2023
As far as I can see on Google Maps, one part is a road, and the other is half a mountain (buttom to the summit, and then the other half is in Austria).
+12
Level 33
Sep 20, 2015
China because of the Tibetan plateau -- that's a huge section of the country that averages 5000 m.
+17
Level 76
Nov 7, 2015
Not just that. Huge areas of central and south western China are pretty high up in the mountains. Even a few 100km inland from the extremely populous coastline in South Eastern provinces like Fujian are really mountainous.
+4
Level 33
Sep 20, 2015
Lebanon is correct - the country is almost completely mountainous - check it on a topo map. Don't know what the correct value for Liechtenstein is, however. I'd be happy to add it into the quiz if anyone can verify that it deserves to be there! That's about the only missing country from the list that I think could potentially be in there.
+6
Level 82
Nov 7, 2015
I've been to Lebanon and there is no reason to be skeptical. It's a very tiny country, and though of course it has a coastline on the Mediterranean, you don't have to go far inland to reach the mountains that rise up steeply.
+1
Level 67
Dec 20, 2017
You could even count the Mediterranean Sea coast as the base of the mountain. 10 minute drive from the water you can get over 500m.
+3
Level 68
Nov 9, 2015
Liechtenstein mostly is in the Rhine valley, which is at about 450m, so this could be correct...
+5
Level 83
Dec 29, 2015
When I went to Liechtenstein, it felt as if it was surrounded by mountains but not actually up a mountain.
+5
Level 82
Feb 19, 2017
Indeed, it reaches high mountains in the east , almost 3000m, but most of it is in the Rhine valley/plain. It's not like Andorra.
+5
Level 45
Nov 30, 2020
I live in Beirut, and going to my mountain village that is over 1000 meters in altitude takes only 15 minutes from the city center! In Lebanon, the coast basically touches the mountains, as I am less that 500 meters away from the coast but I am 100 meters in altitude. We also have the highest point in the Levant and Mount Lebanon (Original Lebanon) is almost purely mountains.
+8
Level 33
Sep 20, 2015
The five that just missed the list: Bolivia, Taiwan, Namibia, Zambia, Turkey.
+1
Level 47
Sep 13, 2022
Bolivia just made the list :)
+5
Level 77
Oct 1, 2015
Suprised that Pakistan isn't on here.
+1
Level 27
Jul 3, 2020
Me too, but its a pretty big country
+1
Level 88
Nov 7, 2015
Bolivia is missing?
+2
Level 33
Nov 8, 2015
Bolivia would be the next one if the list were longer.
+1
Level 82
Nov 7, 2015
I only missed Lesotho
+2
Level 76
Nov 7, 2015
I didn't, remembering that Lesotho is called the 'kingdom of the sky' - also it's by far the country with the highest lowest point - see http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/63858/countries-with-highest-lowest-points
+1
Level 82
Nov 7, 2015
Aside from knowing that it's a tiny country surrounded by South Africa with one of the highest rates of HIV prevalence in the world where the indigenous language is "Sotho" (pronounced soo-too), and occasionally being able to remember the capital city on the world capitals quiz, I must admit to being completely ignorant about Lesotho.
+1
Level 76
Nov 7, 2015
According to my data, which I took from https://www.pdx.edu/econ/country-geography-data (which is the same data Wikipedia refers to!), Ecuador shouldn't be on the list being at 1117m and should be replaced by Uganda at 1200m
+1
Level 33
Nov 7, 2015
Good find ... I will go through that list later and see if there are any other discrepancies. Unfortunately, it seems that Liechtenstein is still not accounted for there (I still think it might make it into the list, but can't find any data).
+1
Level 76
Nov 7, 2015
the only other difference I found is that Andorra is not present in the data, however a Wikipedia page specific on Andorra gives the height used in this quiz
+2
Level 56
Nov 8, 2015
"Countries with the Lowest Average Elevation", anyone?
+3
Level 76
Nov 8, 2015
The problem is that so many low-lying countries are missing from the Wikipedia data (eg Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu would easily make the list, but all are missing), and some of the other data is clearly rubbish - for instance, Cyprus is claimed to have an average elevation of just 30 - thirty - feet despite having mountain ranges and a highest peak of over 6000 feet.
+1
Level 82
Nov 8, 2015
Does the data not include Northern Cyprus? I think the big mountains are on that side of the island.
+1
Level 33
Nov 8, 2015
Even if you only considered the Greek part of Cyprus, it is obviously wrong. The terrain is quite rugged and clearly higher than Denmark. Jamaica is similarly wrong. I wonder if there is some issue with island countries getting calculated incorrectly?

It doesn't build a lot of confidence for the dataset as a whole, but most of the rest of the countries' values make reasonable sense.

+2
Level 76
Nov 9, 2015
I think it was just a mistake on the wikipedia page since the original data says 91m instead of 9m. I have edited the wikipedia page. I have also edited the Ecuador data to see if it helps correct this quiz...
+2
Level 82
Feb 19, 2017
Nope the longest range is (mostly?) on the northern side but the highest mountains are in the south Cyprus.
+3
Level 33
Nov 9, 2015
Per changes to the Wikipedia data, based on the original data set, Ecuador has been removed and Bolivia added.
+1
Level 87
Nov 9, 2015
Need to change the type-ins. Type Bolivia doesn't get the answer; you have to type "ecuador" to get credit
+2
Level 33
Nov 10, 2015
Weird... thought I had changed that, too. OK, it's been fixed as soon as the re-submit gets approved.
+2
Level 84
May 27, 2016
I'm confused. According to your own source list, Bhutan and Nepal should be #1 and #2 on the list at 3,280m and 3,265m respectively.
+1
Level ∞
May 29, 2016
The quiz has now been updated to reflect changes in the source data.
+1
Level 66
Dec 20, 2017
The top 4 all have an average height which is still higher than the highest peak here in Australia.
+1
Level 45
Dec 20, 2017
the source for this quiz is wikipedia...so how come turkey,taiwan or south africa aren't here?
+1
Level 74
Dec 20, 2017
I couldn't think of my last one, and I was considering Lebanon or somewhere in the Levantine, but dismissed it because I remembered its southern neighbor Israel is home to the lowest point on earth's surface. Surprising to see Lebanon on the list.
+1
Level 70
Aug 10, 2018
Surprising quiz. Italy? France? There is the Mont Blanc (in english the White Mount), and it is tall. Very good.
+4
Level 83
Sep 21, 2018
We call it Mont Blanc too.
+1
Level 82
Nov 1, 2021
it's probably because they're decently large with lots of low areas (especially near the coasts) so that brings the average down
+1
Level 50
Jan 5, 2019
Got all except china mongolia and andorra
+1
Level 93
Feb 20, 2019
lowest elevation winner: maldives 1.8m. Surprisingly not the country with the smallest elevation difference though https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/162493/countries-with-the-lowest-elevation-difference-2
+1
Level 46
Feb 24, 2020
Taking Greenland into account, shouldn't Denmark be up there (the ice cap is quite thick i seem to remember) ?
+2
Level 90
Mar 8, 2020
The quiz sites a source, and Denmark is tied for 5th lowest average elevation of 34 meters. Greenland is listed separately and is right behind Armenia with an average elevation of 1,790 meters. The Wikipedia source article mentions that the data is disputed, and there's a link to a discussion about it. But if you want to make a case for Denmark in this quiz, you'll actually have to make the case for Denmark in the Wikipedia article from where this quiz draws its data. Also note 2 things about ice caps: (1) they aren't a smooth coating over the underlying terrain - they fill in the valleys, etc., so where they are thickest, they are covering a valley, and (2) elevation is a measure of the land, not the ice covering it.
+1
Level 74
Mar 8, 2020
It's sad how little we know about Africa
+9
Level 90
Mar 8, 2020
"We" ?
+1
Level 64
Mar 8, 2020
Yeah, I would never have thought of Lesotho
+1
Level 50
Nov 7, 2020
I guessed Azerbaijan and Georgia but not Armenia
+1
Level 20
Feb 15, 2021
bro I typed afghanistan but it didn't count and afghanistan was LITERALLY on their???
+5
Level 79
Feb 19, 2021
there*
+1
Level 75
Nov 1, 2021
At least they used literally correctly - there's something to celebrate.
+1
Level 74
Nov 1, 2021
bro
+1
Level 79
Feb 19, 2021
Got all with 2:00 remaining!
+1
Level 55
Apr 1, 2022
I'm from Lebanon and didn't guess it, let alone surprised to see that we're actually on the list lol
+1
Level 55
Apr 1, 2022
I'm from Lebanon and didn't guess it, let alone surprised to see that we're actually on the list lol
+1
Level 53
Oct 7, 2022
Got all, rwanda and burundi were last guesses
+1
Level 76
Nov 17, 2023
I was interested to see the whole list but was really impressed by just how high Antarctica is. I knew it had mountains but I still would not have guessed it was over 2km high on average.