Italy leads the world with 62 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, ahead of China with 61 and France with 56, after the World Heritage Committee's July 2026 session.
Italy has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites of any country, with 62. China is second with 61 and France third with 56. The ranking counts cultural, natural and mixed properties inscribed for each state party as of the close of the World Heritage Committee's 48th session in July 2026, with transboundary sites counted for every participating country.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are places protected under the 1972 World Heritage Convention for their Outstanding Universal Value. To be inscribed, a property must meet at least one of ten selection criteria covering cultural and natural significance. This list ranks the ten countries (UNESCO states parties) with the most inscribed properties — cultural, natural and mixed — after the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Busan, South Korea, from 19 to 29 July 2026, which brought the List to 1,273 sites in 173 countries. Transboundary sites shared by several countries count once in each participating country's total.
Italy leads the world with 62 World Heritage properties — 56 cultural and 6 natural. They range from the Historic Centre of Rome (shared with the Holy See) and Pompeii to Florence and Venice; the newest, inscribed in 2026, is a system of 18th- and 19th-century 'condominio' theatres in Central Italy.
China's 61 World Heritage sites are the most balanced portfolio among the leaders: 42 cultural, 15 natural and 4 mixed. They include the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Terracotta Army; the newest, inscribed in 2026, is the Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites.
France has 56 World Heritage properties — 47 cultural, 7 natural and 2 mixed — six of them overseas. Two were added in 2026: the Beaches of the D-Day Landings in Normandy and the Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc, joining Mont-Saint-Michel, Versailles and the Lagoons of New Caledonia.
Germany holds 55 World Heritage properties: 52 cultural and 3 natural. They include Aachen Cathedral (its first, in 1978), Cologne Cathedral, the Bauhaus sites, the Wadden Sea and, since 2025, the Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria.
Spain has 50 World Heritage sites — 44 cultural, 4 natural and 2 mixed. They include the Alhambra in Granada, the historic centre of Córdoba, the works of Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona and the Routes of Santiago de Compostela.
India has 45 World Heritage properties — 37 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed (Khangchendzonga National Park). They include the Taj Mahal, the Ajanta and Ellora Caves and the Sundarbans; the newest, inscribed in 2026, is the Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath.
Mexico has 36 World Heritage sites — 28 cultural, 6 natural and 2 mixed. Its pre-Hispanic and colonial heritage spans Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza, Palenque and the historic centre of Mexico City, alongside natural properties such as the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
The United Kingdom has 35 World Heritage sites — 29 cultural, 5 natural and 1 mixed. They include Stonehenge, the Tower of London, the City of Bath and Edinburgh's Old and New Towns; the newest is the Flow Country, inscribed in 2024. Liverpool's maritime city was deleted from the List in 2021.
Russia's 33 World Heritage properties are 22 cultural and 11 natural. They include the Kremlin and Red Square, the historic centre of Saint Petersburg, Lake Baikal, the Volcanoes of Kamchatka and the Virgin Komi Forests.
Iran has 30 World Heritage sites — 28 cultural and 2 natural (the Lut Desert and the Hyrcanian Forests). Its first three, inscribed in 1979, were Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan, Persepolis and Chogha Zanbil; the newest, in 2026, is Alamut Castle and related fortifications.
| # | Name | region | cultural_sites | natural_sites | mixed_sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy | Europe | 56 | 6 | 0 |
| 2 | China | Asia | 42 | 15 | 4 |
| 3 | France | Europe | 47 | 7 | 2 |
| 4 | Germany | Europe | 52 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | Spain | Europe | 44 | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | India | Asia | 37 | 7 | 1 |
| 7 | Mexico | North America | 28 | 6 | 2 |
| 8 | United Kingdom | Europe | 29 | 5 | 1 |
| 9 | Russia | Europe / Asia | 22 | 11 | 0 |
| 10 | Iran | Asia | 28 | 2 | 0 |
Countries are ranked by the total number of World Heritage properties inscribed for each state party as of the close of the 48th World Heritage Committee session (Busan, 19–29 July 2026). Totals and the cultural/natural/mixed split are taken from Wikipedia's per-country 'List of World Heritage Sites in …' articles and the 'Countries with 15 or more sites' chart in its World Heritage Site article (as of July 2026, accessed 18 October 2026), which reproduce UNESCO's World Heritage List; UNESCO's own site could not be reached for this check. Transboundary properties count in the total of every participating state party, following UNESCO's convention, so the totals sum to more than the number of distinct sites. Rank 1 is the country with the most sites. Japan and the United States, tied on 27, are 11th.
The World Heritage Committee meets once a year and inscribes new properties at each session. Its 2026 session, held in Busan from 19 to 29 July, added 25 sites, bringing the List to 1,273 in 173 countries.
Yes. Transboundary properties are credited to each participating country — the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of Europe, for example, count for Italy, France, Germany, Spain and 14 other countries.
The United States has 27 World Heritage sites, tied with Japan for 11th place, three behind Iran in 10th.
Yes, though it is rare. Deleted sites include Germany's Dresden Elbe Valley (2009) and the UK's Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City (2021).
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