Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

The Tallest 15 Cities in China

September 2012

With over 1.3 billion citizens and a rapidly urbanizing population, China is developing tall buildings more than any other country globally. Currently it has 239 buildings 200 meters or more in height under construction. In this study, we look at the tallest 15 cities in China, based on the number of 200m+ buildings in that city, analyzing each city’s share of both total country population and total number of tall buildings.

Figure 1. China's tallest 15 cities based on number of 200m+ buildings in each city. View Larger
Notes: 1. Data accurate as of August 2012. 2. Data souce: The Skyscraper Center 3. Population data: U.N. (2010)

Figure 2. Timeline of Chinese Skyscraper Completion View Larger
Note: Dots represent building type, completion year and height; bars represent total number of buildings completed.

Figure 3. Future Tallest Ten: 2015 View Larger
Tallest: 660 meters, Average: 517 meters

This article was originally featured in the CTBUH Journal 2012 Issue III and is also available as a PDF download (download the Tall Buildings in Numbers article).

Note: The focus on buildings over 200 meters in height is driven by the need to ensure accuracy of data, rather than suggesting that this is the threshold for a tall building.