Western Hemisphere

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For the geopolitical term, see Western world.
The Western hemisphere.

The Western Hemisphere[1][2] is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the Antimeridian, the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.[3] While the Americas has yet to reach 1 billion people, the Western Hemisphere has reached this figure.

In this sense, the Western Hemisphere consists of the Americas, the western portions of Europe and Africa, the extreme eastern tip of Russia, numerous territories in Oceania, and a portion of Antarctica, while excluding some of the Aleutian Islands to the southwest of the Alaskan mainland.

The term is often used in political rhetoric to refer to only North and South America (or the New World) and adjacent islands; however, the Western Hemisphere technically includes all of the aforementioned territories.

In an effort to define the Western Hemisphere as the parts of the world which are not part of the Old World, there also exist projections which use the 20th meridian west and the diametrically opposed 160th meridian east to define the hemisphere.[4][5] This projection excludes the European and African mainlands and a small portion of northeast Greenland, but includes more of eastern Russia and Oceania.

The population of the geographical Western Hemisphere exceeds 1 billion. Of the 4 hemispheres, only the Southern Hemisphere is less populated.

The highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere is Aconcagua at 6,960.8 metres (22,837 ft). [6]

Countries in both hemispheres[edit]

Below is a list of the countries which are in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres on the IERS Reference Meridian, in order from north to south:

Below is a list of the countries which are in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres along the 180th meridian, in order from north to south:

Countries in the Western Hemisphere but not in the Americas[edit]

The following nations lie outside the Americas yet are in part or entirely within the Western Hemisphere.


  1. ^ Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd ed.), London, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 2001 
  2. ^ "Western Hemisphere", Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary (based on Collegiate vol., 11th ed.), Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2006 
  3. ^ Britannica 
  4. ^ Olson, Judy M (1997), "Projecting the hemisphere", in Robinson, Arthur H; Snyder, John P, Matching the map projection to the need, Bethesda, MD: Cartography and Geographic Information Society, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping .
  5. ^ "Western Hemisphere", Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary (3rd ed.), Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2001, p. 1294 .
  7. ^ http://www.eldey.de/English/sights/neighbours/greenland/greenland.html
  8. ^ http://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/faq/geography.html

Coordinates: 0°N 90°W﻿ / ﻿0°N 90°W﻿ / 0; -90