What is the highest point on Earth above sea level?

The highest point on Earth above sea level is the summit of Mount Everest. Its officially accepted elevation is 8,848.86 metres, based on a joint Nepal–China survey announced in 2020. Everest stands in the Himalayas on the border between Nepal and Tibet, an autonomous region of China.

The mountain is known as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet. The English name Everest honours George Everest, a nineteenth-century Surveyor General of India, although he did not personally survey the mountain. The first confirmed ascent was made in 1953 by Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal.

K2 is the second-highest mountain at 8,611 metres, while Kangchenjunga and Lhotse are also higher than 8,000 metres. Everest’s elevation is measured above sea level; other definitions, such as height from base to summit or distance from Earth’s centre, produce different rankings.