Misc
Such Great Heights: Where Are the World’s Tallest Buildings?
Such Great Heights: The World’s Tallest Buildings
It seems that humanity is always vying to exceed our past accomplishments, and nowhere is the evidence clearer than in the tallest buildings that make up our cities.
We’ve previously looked at how the architectural feats of humanity have simply grown in magnitude over time, tracing this progress as far back as the Stone Age.
The question now is, how much higher and further into the skies can we reach? This infographic by Alan’s Factory Outlet looks at the glittering urban skyscrapers on every continent. We also examine some interesting facts about each region.
Asia: Growing Ever Upwards
The first name on this list certainly needs no introduction. Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Middle East. With just a one minute elevator ride to the Burj Khalifa’s pinnacle, it must seem like even the sky is no longer the limit.
Building | City, Country | Height | # Floors |
---|---|---|---|
Burj Khalifa | 🇦🇪 Dubai, UAE | 828m / 2,715ft | 163 |
Shanghai Tower | 🇨🇳 Shanghai, China | 632m / 2,073ft | 128 |
Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel | 🇸🇦 Mecca, Saudi Arabia | 601m / 1,971ft | 120 |
Goldin Finance 117 | 🇨🇳 Tianjin, China | 597m / 1,958ft | 128 |
Ping An Finance Center | 🇨🇳 Shenzhen, China | 592m / 1,965ft | 115 |
Ping An Finance Center from Shenzhen edges into fifth place on the list, and it’s worth mentioning the speed of change occurring in the city. China’s hi-tech capital will see the completed construction of approximately 51 buildings over 145m (476ft) by the end of 2020.
North America: Concrete Jungle
The One World Trade Center, built to memorialize the loss of the Twin Towers after September 11th, 2001, is also informally called the “Freedom Tower”. It’s exactly 1,776ft high—symbolizing the year the U.S. Declaration of Independence was adopted.
Building | City, Country | Height | # Floors |
---|---|---|---|
One World Trade Center | 🇺🇸 New York City, U.S. | 541m / 1,776ft | 104 |
Central Park Tower | 🇺🇸 New York City, U.S. | 472m / 1,550ft | 98 |
Willis Tower | 🇺🇸 Chicago, U.S. | 442.1m / 1,451ft | 110 |
111 West 57th Street | 🇺🇸 New York City, U.S. | 435m / 1,428ft | 82 |
One Vanderbilt | 🇺🇸 New York City, U.S. | 427m / 1,401ft | 67 |
While the Central Park Tower has reached its full height, parts of the interior are still undergoing construction. The price of luxury apartments in the complex start at $7 million for a two-bedroom, just in case you had any extra change lying around.
In fact, the illustrious New York City holds four of the top five buildings on the continent. However, a nod also goes to the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in Chicago, an imposing office building which held the title of world’s tallest building for 25 years, until the Petronas Towers were erected in Kuala Lumpur.
Europe: Russia’s Reign
The top five tallest buildings in Europe can all be found in Russia. What’s more, those from Moscow are all clustered within a single towering business district known as “Moscow-City”.
Building | City, Country | Height | # Floors |
---|---|---|---|
Lakhta Center | 🇷🇺 Saint Petersburg, Russia | 462.5m / 1,517ft | 87 |
Federation Tower: East Tower | 🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia | 373.7m / 1,226ft | 101 |
OKO: South Tower | 🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia | 354.1m / 1,161ft | 85 |
Neva Tower 2 | 🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia | 345m / 1,132ft | 79 |
Mercury City Tower | 🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia | 338.8m / 1,112ft | 75 |
This begs the question—why doesn’t Europe build more skyscrapers? There’s an interesting historical reasoning behind this. As North America’s new age ideals and influence on the world stage grew, European cultural values focused on preserving heritage.
Of course, with globalization, things have changed somewhat, and major financial centers of London, Paris and more boast unique skylines of their own.
Oceania: The Views Down Under
Australia’s buildings unsurprisingly dominate the tallest ones in the region. In the surfer’s paradise, Q1 on the Gold Coast has a twist in its design—literally. Its architecture is loosely based on studies of ribbons moving in the wind, as they wrap around the tower.
Building | City, Country | Height | # Floors |
---|---|---|---|
Q1 | 🇦🇺 Gold Coast, Australia | 323m / 1,058 ft | 78 |
Australia 108 | 🇦🇺 Melbourne, Australia | 316.7m / 1,039 ft | 100 |
Eureka Tower | 🇦🇺 Melbourne, Australia | 297m / 974.4ft | 91 |
Crown Sydney | 🇦🇺 Sydney, Australia | 271.3m / 889.1ft | 75 |
Aurora Melbourne Central | 🇦🇺 Melbourne, Australia | 270.5m / 889.1 ft | 92 |
The Eureka Tower has a fascinating story behind it, too. It’s named after the 1854 Victorian gold rush, with elements of the building reflecting this history—from a gold crown to a red stripe for revolutionary bloodshed.
South America: Views From the Top
The tallest buildings in South America are mainly residential, and often found in Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela—but Chile is the one standout exception to this rule.
Building | City, Country | Height | # Floors |
---|---|---|---|
Gran Torre Santiago | 🇨🇱 Santiago, Chile | 300m / 984ft | 62 |
Yachthouse Residence Club Towers 1 and 2 | 🇧🇷 Balneário Camboriú, Brazil | 281m / 922ft | 81 |
Alvear Tower | 🇦🇷 Buenos Aires, Argentina | 239m / 784ft | 54 |
Infinity Coast | 🇧🇷 Balneário Camboriú, Brazil | 235m / 771ft | 66 |
Parque Central Complex: East Tower | 🇻🇪 Caracas, Venezuela | 225m / 738ft | 59 |
Gran Torre Santiago is a retail and office complex, and the largest shopping mall across Latin America. It’s often considered the heart of Chile, and built to hold its ground steadfastly in the earthquake-prone country.
Africa: Budding Buildings
Located in South Africa’s largest city, The Leonardo is the jewel of Johannesburg. The tallest building in Africa was also designed by an architectural team of mostly women.
Building | City, Country | Height | # Floors |
---|---|---|---|
The Leonardo | 🇿🇦 Johannesburg, South Africa | 234m / 768ft | 55 |
Carlton Center | 🇿🇦 Johannesburg, South Africa | 223m / 732ft | 50 |
Britam Tower | 🇰🇪 Nairobi, Kenya | 200m / 660ft | 31 |
Ponte City Apartments | 🇿🇦 Johannesburg, South Africa | 173m / 568ft | 54 |
UAP Tower | 🇰🇪 Nairobi, Kenya | 163m / 535 ft | 33 |
For African nations, these tallest buildings mean much more than just breaking engineering records. In a journal article, it’s posited that skyscrapers can act as a symbol of power and the continent’s drive towards modernity.
Future Superstar Skyscrapers
A few more mammoth buildings are expected to rise up in the next couple years. Saudi Arabia’s 167-floor Jeddah Tower, while currently on hold, could someday take over the first place crown.
Meanwhile, Dubai’s set to outdo itself—and compete directly with Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom Tower is inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and is proposed to break the 1 kilometer-high (or 0.6 mile) mark not yet achieved by any building.
Who knows what greater heights we could scale this century?
Each of us is carving a stone, erecting a column, or cutting a piece of stained glass in the construction of something much bigger than ourselves.
—Adrienne Clarkson, Former Governor General of Canada
Automotive
The Most Fuel Efficient Cars From 1975 to Today
This infographic lists the most fuel efficient cars over the past 46 years, including the current leader for 2023.

The Most Fuel Efficient Cars From 1975 to Today
When shopping for a new car, what is the most important factor you look for? According to Statista, it’s not design, quality, or even safety—it’s fuel efficiency.
Because of this, automakers are always looking for clever ways to improve gas mileage in their cars. Beating the competition by even the slimmest of margins can give valuable bragging rights within a segment.
In this infographic, we’ve used data from the EPA’s 2022 Automotive Trends Report to list off the most fuel efficient cars from 1975 to today.
Editor’s note: This is from a U.S. government agency, so the data shown skews towards cars sold in North America.
Data Overview
All of the information in the above infographic is listed in the table below. Data was only available in 5-year increments up until 2005, after which it switches to annual.
Model Year | Make | Model | Real World Fuel Economy (mpg) | Engine Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1975 | Honda | Civic | 28.3 | Gas |
1980 | VW | Rabbit | 40.3 | Diesel |
1985 | Chevrolet | Sprint | 49.6 | Gas |
1990 | Geo | Metro | 53.4 | Gas |
1995 | Honda | Civic | 47.3 | Gas |
2000 | Honda | Insight | 57.4 | Hybrid |
2005 | Honda | Insight | 53.3 | Hybrid |
2006 | Honda | Insight | 53 | Hybrid |
2007 | Toyota | Prius | 46.2 | Hybrid |
2008 | Toyota | Prius | 46.2 | Hybrid |
2009 | Toyota | Prius | 46.2 | Hybrid |
2010 | Honda | FCX | 60.2 | FCEV |
2011 | BMW | Active E | 100.6 | EV |
2012 | Mitsubishi | i-MiEV | 109 | EV |
2013 | Toyota | iQ EV | 117 | EV |
2014 | BMW | i3 | 121.3 | EV |
2015 | BMW | i3 | 121.3 | EV |
2016 | BMW | i3 | 121.3 | EV |
2017 | Hyundai | Ioniq Electric | 132.6 | EV |
2018 | Hyundai | Ioniq Electric | 132.6 | EV |
2019 | Hyundai | Ioniq Electric | 132.6 | EV |
2020 | Tesla | 3 | 138.6 | EV |
2021 | Tesla | 3 | 139.1 | EV |
From this dataset, we can identify three distinct approaches to maximizing fuel efficiency.
Downsizing
Prior to 2000, the best way for automakers to achieve good fuel efficiency was by downsizing. Making cars smaller (lighter) meant they could also be fitted with very small engines.
For example, the 1985 Chevrolet Sprint was rated at 49.6 MPG, but had a sluggish 0-60 time of 15 seconds.
Hybrids
The 2000s saw the introduction of mass-market hybrid vehicles like the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius. By including a small battery to support the combustion engine, automakers could achieve good MPGs without sacrificing so heavily on size.
While the Insight achieved better fuel economy than the Prius, it was the latter that became synonymous with the term “hybrid”. This was largely due to the Prius’ more practical 4-door design.
The following table compares annual U.S. sales figures for both models. Insight sales have fluctuated drastically because Honda has produced the model in several short spans (1999-2006, 2009-2014, 2018-2022).
Year | Insight Sales | Prius Sales |
---|---|---|
2005 | 666 | 107,155 |
2006 | 722 | 106,971 |
2007 | 3 | 181,221 |
2008 | - | 158,884 |
2009 | 20,572 | 150,831 |
2010 | 20,962 | 140,928 |
2011 | 15,549 | 136,464 |
2012 | 6,619 | 236,655 |
2013 | 4,802 | 234,228 |
2014 | 3,965 | 207,372 |
2015 | 1,458 | 184,794 |
2016 | 67 | 136,629 |
2017 | 3 | 108,661 |
2018 | 12,513 | 87,590 |
2019 | 23,686 | 69,718 |
2020 | 15,932 | 43,525 |
2021 | 18,685 | 59,010 |
2022 | 7,628 | 33,352 |
Source: goodcarbadcar.net
The Prius may have dominated the hybrid market for a long time, but it too has run into troubles. Sales have been declining since 2014, even setting historic lows in recent years.
There are several reasons behind this trend, with one being a wider availability of hybrid models from other brands. We also can’t ignore the release of the Tesla Model 3, which began shipping to customers in 2017.
Electric Vehicles
We’re currently in the middle of a historic transition to electric vehicles. However, because EVs do not use fuel, the EPA had to develop a new system called MPGe (miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent).
This new metric gives us the ability to compare the efficiency of EVs with traditional gas-powered cars. An underlying assumption of MPGe is that 33.7 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity is comparable to the energy content of a gallon of fuel.
The most fuel efficient car you can buy today is the 2023 Lucid Air, which achieves 140 MPGe. Close behind it is the 2023 Tesla Model 3 RWD, which is rated at 132 MPGe.
Check out this page to see the EPA’s top 10 most efficient vehicles for 2023.
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