Geographic extremes: the highest, lowest, coldest
Every superlative on this page is a real measurement of a real place somebody has been. The interesting part is rarely the number. It is what living at the number is like, and how often the record holder is somewhere ordinary people go to work every morning.
How far below sea level is the shore of the Dead Sea?
About 430 m
The Dead Sea surface sits around 430 m below sea level, the lowest exposed land on Earth, and it drops a little further each year as the Jordan is drawn off upstream.
Source: Israeli Hydrological Service measurements
Which is the southernmost city in the world?
Ushuaia, Argentina
Ushuaia sits at about 54.8 degrees south. Puerto Williams in Chile is further south but is a town rather than a city by most counts.
Source: Argentine and Chilean national statistics
Which sovereign country receives the fewest tourists each year?
Tuvalu
Tuvalu receives on the order of 2,000 visitors a year. There are only a couple of flights a week and the runway doubles as a public space between them.
Source: UN World Tourism Organization arrivals data
Which country receives the most international tourists?
France
France has led for decades with roughly 90 million arrivals a year, helped by being a transit country for travellers heading elsewhere in Europe.
Source: UN World Tourism Organization
Which is the longest mountain range on Earth?
The mid-ocean ridge
The global mid-ocean ridge runs about 65,000 km around the planet, mostly under water. The Andes, longest on land, is about a tenth as long.
Source: NOAA Ocean Exploration
Which country has the lowest average elevation?
The Maldives
The Maldives averages about 1.5 m. The Netherlands averages about 30 m despite a quarter of it being below sea level, because of higher ground in the east.
Source: National elevation surveys
Which country has the highest average elevation?
Bhutan
Bhutan averages over 3,000 m, higher than Nepal, because Nepal includes low southern plains while Bhutan is almost entirely mountainous.
Source: National elevation surveys
Which is the most remote capital city from any other capital?
Wellington, New Zealand
Wellington is about 2,300 km from Canberra, its nearest capital. That is further than any other capital is from its nearest neighbour.
Source: Great-circle distances between capital coordinates
Which is generally called the windiest place on Earth?
Commonwealth Bay
Katabatic winds pouring off the ice sheet average around 80 km/h and have been recorded far higher. Douglas Mawson called it the home of the blizzard.
Source: Australian Antarctic Division; Mawson expedition records
Which pair of neighbouring countries has never fought a war with each other?
Sweden and Norway since 1814
The brief 1814 conflict was the last. Sweden has avoided war entirely since then, one of the longest unbroken records of any state.
Source: Convention of Moss, 1814; Swedish military history
Which island is shared by the most sovereign countries?
Borneo, shared by three
Borneo is split between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Land borders on islands are rare: Ireland has one, Hispaniola one, and Borneo is the only three-way split.
Source: National boundary records
Which country is the most elongated relative to its width?
Chile
Chile runs about 4,300 km north to south while averaging around 180 km wide, a ratio of roughly 24 to 1. That is the most extreme of any sizeable country.
Source: Instituto Geografico Militar de Chile
How far is the most landlocked point on Earth from the nearest ocean?
About 2,500 km
The Eurasian pole of inaccessibility sits in northwestern China, roughly 2,500 km from the nearest coastline in any direction.
Source: Continental pole of inaccessibility calculations
What is unusual about Lesotho's elevation?
Its entire territory is above 1,000 m
Lesotho has the highest low point of any country, at about 1,400 m. Nowhere in the country drops below that, which is why it is called the Kingdom in the Sky.
Source: Lesotho national survey data
Nauru holds which distinction?
The smallest republic
Nauru covers about 21 km2 with roughly 12,000 people. Only Monaco and Vatican City are smaller, and neither is a republic.
Source: Republic of Nauru government data