Which country has the most World Heritage sites?

A World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as being of special cultural or physical significance. The list is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 UNESCO member states which are elected by the General Assembly.

As of July 2015, 1031 sites are listed: 802 cultural, 197 natural, and 32 mixed properties, in 163 states parties. According to the sites ranked by country, Italy is home to the greatest number of World Heritage Sites with 51 sites, followed by China (48), Spain (44), France (41), Germany (40), Mexico (33), and India (32). UNESCO references each World Heritage Site with an identification number; however, new inscriptions often include previous sites now listed as part of larger descriptions. Consequently, the identification numbers exceed 1,200, even though there are fewer on the list.

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8 Comments

Sean Philips

Douglas Bell, you are incorrect. With 54 sites Italy takes the crown as the country with the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites, closely followed by China with 32. Europe dominates in the top 10 UNESCO countries with an impressive 220 sites across Italy, Germany, Spain, France and the UK.Mar 3, 2018

Joseph A. Robitaille

My answer is of 2015, great question and interesting answer.

John Cameron

The explanation is from 2015, it is now 2019, this is a constantly changing number and currently China has more.

Lorna Lake

It seems to me that these sorts of questions are problematic in that such lists are often increased which means that quizzes are outdated. Maybe it's wiser for such quizzes to be framed as "as of 2017 or 2018, etc" .. then arguments would be unnecessary.