List of tallest towers facts for kids

The Tokyo Skytree in Tokyo, Japan has been the tallest tower since 2012.

Imagine a really tall structure that stands all by itself, without any wires holding it up. That's what we call a tower! Towers are built to be much taller than they are wide. People can usually go inside them for different reasons, like visiting an observation deck or working with special equipment.

But not every tall building is a tower! For example, regular buildings and skyscrapers where people live or work are not towers. Also, structures like radio and TV masts that need support wires are not considered towers. We also don't include bridge towers, wind turbines, chimneys, or most statues because they aren't designed for regular public visits.

Towers are super useful! They are often used for telecommunications, which means sending TV signals, radio waves, and phone calls. Many also have amazing viewing platforms where you can see cities from high above.

The Tokyo Skytree in Japan is the tallest tower in the world. It was finished in 2012 and stands at an incredible 634 meters (about 2,080 feet) tall!

World's Tallest Towers

These are the most impressive towers that stand completely on their own, without any extra support wires.

Towers Over 250 Meters Tall

This table shows the tallest towers in the world that are over 250 meters (about 820 feet) high. The towers marked in bold were once the tallest in the world!

Rank	Name	Height	Year Built	Structure Type	Country	City	Cool Facts
1	Tokyo Skytree	634 m (2,080 ft)	2012	Steel	Japan	Tokyo	The tallest tower in the world since 2010.
2	Canton Tower	604 m (1,982 ft)	2010	Steel & concrete	China	Guangzhou	Was the tallest tower for a short time in 2010. It's the second tallest now.
3	CN Tower	553.3 m (1,815 ft)	1976	Concrete	Canada	Toronto	Was the tallest freestanding structure in the world from 1975 to 2007. It was also the world's tallest tower until 2009.
4	Ostankino Tower	540.1 m (1,772 ft)	1967		Russia	Moscow	Was the tallest freestanding structure in the world from 1967 to 1975. It's the tallest in Europe.
5	Oriental Pearl Tower	468 m (1,535 ft)	1994	Concrete	China	Shanghai	Was the tallest in China from 1994 to 2007.
6	Milad Tower	435 m (1,427 ft)	2008		Iran	Tehran	The tallest in the Middle East and West Asia.
7	Kuala Lumpur Tower	421 m (1,381 ft)	1994		Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	The tallest in Malaysia and South East Asia.
8	Tianjin Radio and Television Tower	415.2 m (1,362 ft)	1991		China	Tianjin	Was the tallest in Asia from 1991 to 1994.
9	Central Radio and TV Tower	405 m (1,329 ft)	1992			Beijing
10	Zhongyuan Tower	388 m (1,273 ft)	2011	Steel		Zhengzhou
11	Kyiv TV Tower	385 m (1,263 ft)	1973	Lattice Tower	Ukraine	Kyiv	It was hit during a conflict in 2022 but is still standing.
12	Tashkent Tower	374.9 m (1,230 ft)	1985	Steel	Uzbekistan	Tashkent	The tallest in Central Asia.
13	Liberation Tower	372 m (1,220 ft)	1996	Concrete	Kuwait	Kuwait City
14	Almaty Tower	371.5 m (1,219 ft)	1983	Steel	Kazakhstan	Almaty
15	Riga Radio and TV Tower	368.5 m (1,209 ft)	1986		Latvia	Riga	The tallest in the European Union.
16	Berliner Fernsehturm	368.03 m (1,207.4 ft)	1969	Concrete	Germany	Berlin	The tallest structure in Germany.
17	Çamlıca Tower	365.5 m (1,199 ft)	2020		Turkey	Istanbul
18	Colombo Lotus Tower	351.5 m (1,153 ft)	2019		Sri Lanka	Colombo	The tallest structure in South Asia.
19	The Strat	350.2 m (1,149 ft)	1996		United States	Las Vegas	The tallest observation tower in the United States.
20	West Pearl Tower	339 m (1,112 ft)	2004		China	Chengdu
21	Macau Tower	338 m (1,109 ft)	2001		China	Macau
22	Europaturm	337.5 m (1,107 ft)	1979		Germany	Frankfurt
23	Dragon Tower	336 m (1,102 ft)	2000	Lattice Tower	China	Harbin
24	Tokyo Tower	332.6 m (1,091 ft)	1958	Lattice Tower	Japan	Tokyo	Was the tallest in the world from 1958 to 1967.
25	Arqiva Tower (Emley Moor)	330.4 m (1,084 ft)	1971	Concrete	United Kingdom	Emley	The tallest freestanding structure in the United Kingdom.
26	Eiffel Tower	330 m (1,080 ft)	1889	Lattice Tower	France	Paris	The first tower to go over 300 meters! It was the tallest tower in the world from 1889 to 1956.
27	Huai'an TV Tower	329.8 m (1,082 ft)	2015		China	Huaiyin
28	Sky Tower (Auckland)	328 m (1,076 ft)	1997		New Zealand	Auckland	Was the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere for many years.
29	Vilnius TV Tower	326.5 m (1,071 ft)	1980		Lithuania	Vilnius
30=	Linyi Radio & TV Tower	326 m (1,070 ft)	2010	Steel	China	Linyi
30=	Saint Petersburg TV Tower	326 m (1,070 ft)	1962	Lattice Tower	Russia	Saint Petersburg
34	Rameswaram TV Tower	323 m (1,060 ft)	1995	Concrete	India	Rameswaram
35	Jiangsu Nanjing TV Tower	318.5 m (1,045 ft)	1996		China	Nanjing
37	Tallinn TV Tower	314 m (1,030 ft)	1980	Concrete	Estonia	Tallinn
38	Yerevan TV Tower	311.7 m (1,023 ft)	1977	Lattice Tower	Armenia	Yerevan
39	Tortoise Mountain TV Tower	311.4 m (1,022 ft)	1986	Concrete	China	Wuhan	China's first self-supported TV tower.
40	Baku TV Tower	310 m (1,020 ft)	1996		Azerbaijan	Baku
41	Sydney Tower	305 m (1,001 ft)	1981		Australia	Sydney
42	Liaoning Broadcast and TV Tower	305.5 m (1,002 ft)	1989		China	Shenyang
44=	Jaisalmer TV Tower	300 m (984 ft)	1993		India	Jaisalmer
44=	Samatra TV Tower	300 m (984 ft)	1999		India	Bhuj
44=	VRT Toren	300 m (984 ft)	1996		Belgium	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw
48	Zhuzhou Television Tower	293 m (961 ft)	1999	Lattice Tower	China	Zhuzhou
49	Fernmeldeturm Nürnberg	292 m (958 ft)	1977	Concrete	Germany	Nuremberg
50	Olympiaturm	289.5 m (950 ft)	1968			Munich
51	Telemax	282.2 m (926 ft)	1992			Hannover
52	Shijiazhuang TV Tower	280 m (920 ft)	1998	Lattice Tower	China	Shijiazhuang
53	Heinrich-Hertz-Turm	279.7 m (918 ft)	1968	Concrete	Germany	Hamburg
54	Central Plains Pearl TV Tower	278 m (912 ft)	1998	Steel	China	Luoyang
56	Georgia Tbilisi TV Broadcasting Tower	274.5 m (901 ft)	1972		Georgia	Tbilisi
57	Hillbrow Tower	269 m (883 ft)	1971	Concrete	South Africa	Johannesburg	The tallest in Africa.
58	Kaifeng TV Tower	268 m (879 ft)	1995		China	Kaifeng
59	Colonius	266 m (873 ft)	1981		Germany	Cologne
60	Minaret of Djamaa el Djazaïr	265 m (869 ft)	2019		Algeria	Algiers
61	Novorossiysk TV Tower	261.5 m (858 ft)	1996		Russia	Novorossiysk
62	Daqing Radio and Television Tower	260 m (850 ft)	1989	Lattice tower	China	Daqing
63=	Olympic Park Observation Tower	258 m (846 ft)	2014		China	Beijing
64	Endem TV Tower	257 m (843 ft)	2008	Concrete	Turkey	Istanbul
66	Fernmeldeturm Kühkopf	255 m (837 ft)	1976	Concrete	Germany	Koblenz
67=	Donauturm	252 m (827 ft)	1964		Austria	Vienna
67=	Fernsehturm Dresden-Wachwitz	252 m (827 ft)	1969		Germany	Dresden

Future Towers: Proposed or Under Construction

Engineers and architects are always planning new and even taller towers! Here are some exciting projects that are either being built or are still in the planning stages.

Tower	Year	Country	City	Height	Status	Purpose	Ref
Dubai Creek Tower	?	United Arab Emirates	Dubai	828+ m	on-hold	observation
Hanoi Broadcast Tower	?	Vietnam	Hanoi	636 m	vision	observation / telecommunications
Huanghe Landmark Tower	?	China	Lanzhou	588 m	proposed	observation / telecommunications
The Constellation	?	Qatar	Doha	500 m	vision	observation
Icon Siam Tower	?	Thailand	Bangkok	459 m	proposed	observation / telecommunications
Tower Infinity	?	South Korea	Incheon	448 m	under construction	observation
Holy Mosque Twin Minarets	?	Saudi Arabia	Mecca	420 m	under construction	religious
Vodno Telecommunication Tower	2024	North Macedonia	Skopje	155 m	under construction	observation / telecommunications
Malacca Tower	?	Malaysia	Malacca City	135 m	proposed	observation / telecommunications

How Towers Measure Up: A Diagram

This diagram helps you see how some of the world's tallest towers compare in height.

The History of Tallest Towers

The title of "tallest tower" has changed many times throughout history. This timeline shows which tower held the record and for how long!

From	To	Tower	Country	City	Height
280 BC	1180 AD	Pharos Lighthouse	Egypt	Alexandria	122 m (400 ft)
1180	1240	Malmesbury Abbey Tower	United Kingdom	Malmesbury	131.3 m (431 ft)
1240	1311	Tower of Old St Paul's Cathedral		London	150 m (490 ft)
1311	1549	Tower of Lincoln Cathedral		Lincoln	159.7 m (524 ft)
1549	1647	Tower of St Mary's Church	Germany	Stralsund	151 m (495 ft)
1647	1874	Tower of Strasbourg Cathedral	France	Strasbourg	142 m (466 ft)
1874	1876	Tower of St. Nikolai	Germany	Hamburg	147 m (482 ft)
1876	1880	Tower of Rouen Cathedral	France	Rouen	151 m (495 ft)
1880	1884	Tower of Cologne Cathedral	Germany	Cologne	157.38 m (516.3 ft)
1884	1889	Washington Monument	United States	Washington, DC	169.3 m (555 ft)
1889	1956	Eiffel Tower	France	Paris	312.27 m (1,024.5 ft)
1957	1958	Eiffel Tower	France	Paris	320.75 m (1,052.3 ft)
1958	1967	Tokyo Tower	Japan	Tokyo	332.6 m (1,091 ft)
1967	1975	Ostankino Tower	Russia	Moscow	540.1 m (1,772 ft)
1975	2009	CN Tower	Canada	Toronto	553.33 m (1,815.4 ft)
2009	2011	Canton Tower	China	Guangzhou	604 m (1,982 ft)
2011	present	Tokyo Skytree	Japan	Tokyo	634 m (2,080 ft)

See also

• List of tallest freestanding structures
• Lattice tower
• Partially guyed tower
• Additionally guyed tower
• List of tallest church buildings
• List of tallest crosses
• List of tallest structures
• List of fire lookout towers
• Smog tower
• Karla Tower

Images for kids

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  The Tokyo Skytree in Tokyo, Japan has been the tallest tower since 2012.