What is the elevation of Mount Everest in meters (as of 2020)?

As of 2020, Mount Everest’s official elevation is 8,848.86 metres. Nepal and China announced this jointly on 8 December 2020, replacing the long-used rounded figure of 8,848 metres.

The measurement reflects a modern joint survey by the two countries, which share the mountain’s summit border. Earlier figures varied because surveyors used different methods and because the mountain’s snow and ice cap complicates the definition of its highest point. China has also published a rock-only elevation of about 8,844 metres.

Everest’s height has been revised several times. Andrew Waugh announced an early figure of 8,840 metres in 1856, after the mountain was surveyed as Peak XV. India’s Survey of India later calculated 8,847.73 metres, while a 1975 Chinese measurement gave 8,848.13 metres. The familiar 29,002-foot figure was an earlier rounded conversion.

The mountain is still changing. The Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates continue converging, pushing the Himalayas upward, while earthquakes, erosion and changes in the summit snow cap can affect measurements. That is why the 2020 figure should be treated as the official surveyed elevation for that date, rather than an eternal fixed number.