Tallest Dams in the World: Top 10

Tallest dams in the world are led by China's new Shuangjiangkou Dam, about 315 metres high, ahead of the Jinping-I arch dam and Tajikistan's Nurek Dam.

This Finepedia guide, written in October 2026, ranks the 10 tallest man-made dams on Earth by structural height, from the gorges of south-west China to the Alps and the Caucasus. Every entry lists its height, its type, its river and what it powers. For more on giant engineering, see the Finepedia guides Largest Dams in the World: Top 10 and Tallest TV and Observation Towers: Top 10.

How We Chose These

Height here is measured from the lowest point of the foundation to the crest, the top of the wall. Our Largest Dams guide ranks dams by the water they hold; this guide ranks them only by height, so the two lists hardly overlap. We counted dams that are finished or already holding water and making power, and left out natural barriers such as Tajikistan's Usoi landslide dam. Figures follow Wikipedia's List of tallest dams, checked against operators and news agencies. Some heights differ by a few metres between sources, and we note this where it matters.

The 10 Tallest Dams at a Glance

1. Shuangjiangkou Is the New World Record Holder

The Shuangjiangkou Dam fills a narrow valley of the upper Dadu in China's Sichuan province. Its rock-fill wall with a gravel core is the tallest dam ever built, and its first generator was connected to the grid on 26 June 2026.

Key Facts

• Height: about 315 metres, according to its operator (older designs gave 312 metres)
• River: the Dadu, a tributary of the Yangtze
• Power: four 500-megawatt units, 2,000 MW in total
• Reservoir: about 2.9 billion cubic metres

Why It Matters

By the end of August 2026, three of the four generators were running, with the last due before the end of the year. The reservoir also evens out the river's flow, so power stations further down the Dadu can produce more electricity.

2. Jinping-I Is the Tallest Arch Dam

The Jinping-I Dam stands on the Yalong River in Liangshan, Sichuan, where the river loops around the Jinping Mountains. At 305 metres, no arch dam on Earth stands higher; it is a thin curved wall of concrete that pushes the water's force into the canyon sides.

Key Facts

• Height: 305 metres
• Type: double-curvature concrete arch
• Built: 2005 to 2014
• Power station: 3,600 MW

Did You Know?

The Yalong makes a 150 km loop around the Jinping Mountains, but the two arms of the bend are only about 16 km apart. That steep fall in a short distance makes the bend ideal for hydropower, and a second plant, Jinping-II, sits downstream; its last generator started in November 2014.

3. Nurek Was the World's Tallest for Decades

The Nurek Dam holds back the Vakhsh River in Tajikistan. It was built by the USSR between 1961 and 1980 and was then the tallest dam on the planet, a title it kept until Jinping-I passed it in 2013.

Key Facts

• Height: 300 metres (some sources give 304 metres)
• Type: earth-fill embankment with a central core
• Power station: about 3,015 MW
• Completed: 1980

Why It Matters

As of early 2024 the dam supplied about 70 per cent of Tajikistan's electricity. Upstream on the same river, the Rogun Dam is being built and has long been planned at 335 metres, which would make it taller than any dam on this list.

4. Lianghekou Rises Where Three Rivers Meet

The Lianghekou Dam, whose name means "mouth of two rivers", stands in Yajiang County, Sichuan, where the Yalong is joined by the Xianshui and Qingda rivers. It is China's tallest embankment dam built with a clay core.

Key Facts

• Height: 295 metres
• Type: clay-core rock-fill embankment
• Power: 3,000 MW, fully in service by March 2022
• Main works began: October 2014

Did You Know?

Its huge reservoir can store water from wet years to use in dry ones. This helps the chain of power stations downstream on the Yalong make more electricity by smoothing out floods and low flows.

5. Xiaowan Towers Over the Upper Mekong

The Xiaowan Dam crosses the Lancang River, the Chinese name for the upper Mekong, in Yunnan province. Built between 2002 and 2010, it briefly held the record for arch dams.

Key Facts

• Height: 292 metres (sometimes given as 294.5 metres)
• Type: concrete arch
• Power: 4,200 MW
• Cost: about 32 billion yuan, nearly 3.9 billion US dollars

Why It Matters

Because the Mekong flows on through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, large Chinese dams such as Xiaowan are watched closely by countries downstream, where millions of people depend on the river for fishing and farming.

6. Baihetan Has the World's Biggest Turbines

The Baihetan Dam stands on the Jinsha River, the upper Yangtze, on the border of Sichuan and Yunnan. Its double-curved arch feeds a power station that is second in size only to the Three Gorges plant.

Key Facts

• Height: 289 metres
• Turbines: 16 units of 1,000 MW each, the largest ever made
• Fully running: 20 December 2022
• Base width: 72 metres, narrowing to 13 metres at the top

Did You Know?

Baihetan is part of a chain of giant dams on the Yangtze that includes Wudongde, Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba and the Three Gorges. Together they send power from the mountains of the west to the big cities of eastern China.

7. Xiluodu Straddles Two Provinces

The Xiluodu Dam spans the Jinsha River between Yunnan and Sichuan, just before the river leaves the mountains for the Sichuan Basin. It feeds one of the biggest power stations anywhere.

Key Facts

• Height: 285.5 metres
• Type: concrete arch
• Power: 13,860 MW
• Built: 2005 to 2014

Why It Matters

Besides producing electricity, the dam helps control floods and silt, and its managed releases are meant to improve shipping downstream. It is run by China Yangtze Power and ranks fourth among the world's power stations.

8. Grande Dixence Is Europe's Tallest Dam

High in the Swiss canton of Valais, the Grande Dixence Dam seals off the top of a side valley above Hérémence. No gravity dam anywhere is higher; this kind of wall resists the water purely through its own enormous weight.

Key Facts

• Height: 285 metres
• Built: 1950 to 1961
• Reservoir: Lac des Dix, holding about 400 million cubic metres
• Power: about 2,000 GWh a year, enough for some 400,000 Swiss homes

Did You Know?

No Alpine lake above 2,000 metres is bigger than its reservoir, the Lac des Dix. Pumping stations bring in meltwater from the glaciers, and a 16 km pressure tunnel carries it to power plants in the Rhône valley.

9. Enguri Is a Dam Between Two Sides

The Enguri Dam stands on the Enguri River in north-western Georgia. It is the tallest arch dam outside China, and its power plant has long been one of the country's main sources of electricity.

Key Facts

• Height: 271.5 metres
• Built: from 1961, completed in 1987
• Turbines: 20 units of 66 MW each
• Share: about 46 per cent of Georgia's electricity in 2007

Why It Matters

The dam is on Georgian-controlled land, but its power station lies in the breakaway region of Abkhazia. Under a 1992 agreement the two sides share the electricity, with Abkhazia due 40 per cent and the rest of Georgia 60 per cent.

10. Yusufeli Is Turkey's Tallest Dam

Turkey's Yusufeli Dam is a curved concrete wall across the Çoruh in Artvin province, close to the Black Sea. It started operating at the end of 2022, and no dam in the country is higher.

Key Facts

• Height: 270 metres (some sources give 275 metres)
• Type: concrete arch
• Power: 540 MW
• River plan: one of 13 dams planned on the Çoruh

Did You Know?

The reservoir flooded the old town of Yusufeli, home to about 7,000 people, who were moved to a newly built town nearby. The project was criticised for its impact on wildlife in the valley.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which dam is the tallest on Earth?

China's Shuangjiangkou Dam on the Dadu River, about 315 metres high, is the tallest man-made dam and began making power in 2026. The tallest arch dam is Jinping-I at 305 metres.

What happened at the Vajont Dam?

Italy's Vajont Dam, about 262 metres high and just outside this top ten, survived a disaster in 1963 when a huge landslide fell into its lake. The wave that swept over the dam killed around 2,000 people in the valley below, with estimates up to 2,500.

Conclusion

From the Swiss Alps to the canyons of Sichuan, these ten dams are among the boldest feats of modern engineering, holding back rivers with walls taller than most skyscrapers. They supply clean power to millions, but they also change valleys and the lives of those who live in them. For more on giant engineering, read the Finepedia guides Largest Dams in the World: Top 10 and Tallest TV and Observation Towers: Top 10.