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The tallest waterfalls in the world

Ranked by total drop, from Angel Falls down.

Rich Childs · CC BY 2.0

Ranked by total height, including every tier. Height is the most argued-over number in the waterfall world — surveys disagree, tiers get counted differently, and seasonal falls can all but vanish — so treat the order below the top few as approximate.

50 waterfalls

1 Angel FallsVenezuela · World's tallest uninterrupted waterfall 979 m 2 Tugela FallsSouth Africa · Among the world's tallest waterfalls (disputed second) 948 m 3 Tres Hermanas FallsPeru 914 m 4 Oloʻupena FallsUnited States 900 m 5 Yumbilla FallsPeru · One of the five tallest waterfalls in the world 896 m 6 VinnufossenNorway 845 m 7 James Bruce FallsCanada 840 m 8 Puʻukaʻoku FallsUnited States 840 m 9 Browne FallsNew Zealand 836 m 10 RamnefjellsfossenNorway 818 m 11 Waihilau FallsUnited States 792 m 12 Colonial Creek FallsUnited States 788 m 13 MongefossenNorway 773 m 14 Mutarazi FallsZimbabwe · Zimbabwe's highest waterfall 772 m 15 Gocta FallsPeru · One of the world's tallest waterfalls, unknown to the wider world until 2006 771 m 16 KjelfossenNorway · Among Norway's tallest waterfalls, above the Nærøyfjord 755 m 17 Yosemite FallsUnited States · Tallest waterfall in Yosemite, and among the tallest in North America 739 m 18 Yutaje FallsVenezuela 715 m 19 MardalsfossenNorway · Runs at full natural force only a few weeks a year 705 m 20 Cascade BlancheFrance 640 m 21 LangfossNorway · One of Norway's tallest waterfalls visible from the road 612 m 22 Talnikovy WaterfallRussia 600 m 23 La ChorreraColombia · Colombia's tallest waterfall 590 m 24 Seerenbach FallsSwitzerland · One of the highest total-drop waterfalls in Europe 585 m 25 MovranBosnia and Herzegovina 584 m 26 Sutherland FallsNew Zealand · New Zealand's tallest waterfall 580 m 27 RöthbachfallGermany 470 m 28 Kunchikal FallsIndia · Often cited as India's tallest waterfall by total height 455 m 29 Hiʻilawe WaterfallUnited States 442 m 30 Della FallsCanada · One of Canada's tallest waterfalls, and among its most remote 440 m 31 Gavarnie FallsFrance 422 m 32 Seven Sisters WaterfallNorway · Centerpiece of the UNESCO-listed Geirangerfjord 410 m 33 Hunlen FallsCanada 396 m 34 Lofoi FallsDemocratic Republic of the Congo 384 m 35 VermafossenNorway 381 m 36 Krimml WaterfallsAustria · Tallest waterfall in the Alps 380 m 37 Takakkaw FallsCanada · One of Canada's tallest waterfalls 373 m 38 Shōmyō FallsJapan 350 m 39 Vaipō WaterfallFrance 350 m 40 Pissing Mare FallsCanada 343 m 41 Gastein WaterfallAustria · A waterfall running through the center of an Alpine spa town 341 m 42 Cachoeira da FumaçaBrazil · One of Brazil's tallest waterfalls 340 m 43 Nohkalikai FallsIndia · India's tallest plunge waterfall 340 m 44 Dudhsagar FallsIndia · India's tallest railway-adjacent waterfall 310 m 45 Wallaman FallsAustralia · Australia's tallest permanent single drop (268 m), 305 m in total 305 m 46 Riandahy FallsMadagascar 300 m 47 Staubbach FallsSwitzerland · The waterfall that inspired a Goethe poem 297 m 48 VettisfossenNorway · Norway's tallest completely unregulated waterfall 275 m 49 Baatara Gorge WaterfallLebanon · One of the world's most unusual waterfalls, behind three natural bridges 255 m 50 Jog FallsIndia · India's second-tallest plunge waterfall 253 m

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Questions people ask

What is the tallest waterfall in the world?

Angel Falls (Kerepakupai Merú) in Venezuela is usually named the tallest waterfall in the world, at 979 metres in total, including an unbroken free fall of about 807 metres off the rim of Auyán-tepui. Some measurements that count total height differently, including the World Waterfall Database's ranking, place Tugela Falls in South Africa first.

What is the second highest waterfall in the world?

Tugela Falls in South Africa's Drakensberg, at about 948 metres over five main tiers, is usually named the second highest after Angel Falls. An amateur survey in 2016 claimed it is taller than Angel Falls, but that measurement has not been accepted, and the ranking depends on how the lower cascades of each fall are counted.

How is a waterfall's height measured?

Most rankings use total height: the vertical distance from the lip of the highest tier to the base of the lowest, including cascades in between. Others rank the tallest single uninterrupted drop. Surveys disagree, seasonal falls change shape, and many remote falls have never been professionally measured, so treat any ranking below the top few as approximate.

Which country has the most tall waterfalls?

Norway. Glaciers carved its fjords and valleys so deeply that it has more of the world's very tallest falls than any other country — six of the top twenty in the World Waterfall Database's total-height ranking. How many waterfalls are there in the world?

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