The highest countries in the world by mean elevation

Which country sits highest? The question has two answers, depending on whether you mean the tallest peak or the average height of the whole country. By average, the mean elevation above sea level, the winners are almost all in the Himalayas and Central Asia. One country still breaks the pattern, not because it has the tallest mountain but because it simply never drops low.

The cluster on the roof of the world

Three countries sit so close at the top that the order changes from one source to the next. Bhutan has a mean elevation of around 3,280 metres, Nepal about 3,265 and Tajikistan around 3,186 metres. For scale, Bhutan's average height is greater than the summit of the Zugspitze, Germany's tallest mountain. Behind them comes Kyrgyzstan at just under 2,988 metres, another country made almost entirely of mountains.

• Bhutan: around 3,280 m mean elevation.
• Nepal: around 3,265 m on average.
• Tajikistan: around 3,186 m, over 90 per cent highland.
• Kyrgyzstan: around 2,988 m, mountains almost throughout.
• Lesotho: around 2,160 m, yet never below 1,000 m.

Lesotho, the kingdom in the sky

Lesotho is the odd one out on the list. It has none of the truly great peaks, yet it is the only country on Earth that lies entirely above 1,000 metres. Even its lowest point, where two rivers meet at the border, still sits at 1,400 metres, making it the highest low point of any nation. More than 80 per cent of the country lies above 1,800 metres. Little wonder it is often called the kingdom in the sky.

Bolivia's altiplano

Bolivia does not top the average tables, because the east drops away into the flat Amazon basin. The west, though, sits on the altiplano, a high plateau at around 3,700 metres between two Andean ranges. La Paz, Bolivia's seat of government, lies there at roughly 3,640 metres, the highest administrative capital in the world. The airport in neighbouring El Alto is higher still, above 4,000 metres. Sucre, the constitutional capital, sits lower, at a little over 2,800 metres.

Height is not the same as a peak

The most common slip: a tall mountain does not make a tall country. Nepal is home to Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth, yet it does not run away with the average list, because deep valleys count too. Lesotho, the other way round, has no famous summit and still ranks very high. A neat European example is Andorra: tiny, set in the Pyrenees, with a mean elevation of nearly 2,000 metres and, in Andorra la Vella, the highest capital on the continent.

In CountryRush these high-altitude countries turn up as outline and flag, from Bhutan to Lesotho. The Daily Trip makes sure the small mountain states come up too, not just the usual suspects.