Skyscrapers of Asia

Asia has more skyscrapers than the rest of the world combined. On this next map in the skyscraper series, we’re going to have a closer look at where all these skyscrapers are located.

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With over 7,500 skyscrapers, Asia has by far the largest number of skyscrapers of any continent. More than 80% of the world’s skyscrapers are in Asia. High-rise buildings are more common in Asian countries than in other parts of the world. The high population density in these countries, makes it a necessity. However, that does not always result in a lot of skyscrapers. Taiwan and South Korea have a similar population density, but South Korea has more than 10 times the amount of skyscrapers Taiwan has, despite only having double the population of Taiwan. Taiwan does in fact have a very large number of high-rise buildings, but only 64 of them are over 150 metres. The fact that Taiwan is a country prone to a lot of earthquakes, also plays a role.

China is the country with the largest number of skyscrapers, with a whopping 3,448 skyscrapers. 936 of them are located in Guangdong province. Guangdong even has more skyscrapers than the United States (858), which has the second highest number of skyscrapers in the world. Guangdong is also where the city with the largest number of skyscrapers in the world is located: Shenzhen. With 586 skyscrapers, it has slightly more than Hong Kong, which comes in second with 582 skyscrapers.

South Korea has the second largest number of skyscrapers in Asia (and 3rd in the world) with 785 skyscrapers. Most of these are located in the north west of the country around the cities of Seoul and Incheon. Surprisingly, not Seoul, but Incheon is the city in South Korea with the largest number of skyscrapers.

Malaysia also ranks quite high, regarding the number of skyscrapers. Kuala Lumpur is Asia’s third with 370 skyscrapers.

The tallest building in Asia, and also the world, can be found in Dubai. It’s the Burj Khalifa with a height of 828 metres (2,717 ft). Dubai also ranks 5th in Asia with 278 skyscrapers.

But what exactly defines a skyscraper, you might ask? A universal definition of a skyscraper does not exist. One of the most used definitions is a building with an architectural height of at least 150 metres. That same definition is used for this map.

The data for this map is gathered from CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) and Emporis. In this map the definition from the CTBUH for buildings and architectural height is being applied.

Building: To be considered a building, at least 50 percent of its height must be occupiable. Telecommunications or observation towers that do not meet the 50 percent threshold are not eligible for inclusion on CTBUH’s “Tallest” lists. (Occupiable: this is intended to recognize conditioned space which is designed to be safely and legally occupied by residents, workers, or other building users on a consistent basis. It does not include service or mechanical areas which experience occasional maintenance access, etc.)

Architectural height: The architectural height measures from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building, including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functional-technical equipment. This measurement is the most widely utilized.