I came across an interesting statistic (thanks, Ian, for sharing) about the countries that have more than 1 WHS per 1 million inhabitants.

These are:

Andorra - Antigua and Barbuda – Armenia – Austria - Bahrein - Barbados - Belgium - Belize - Bosnia Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Cabo Verde – Croatia - Cyprus - Czechia – Denmark - Dominica – Estonia – Fiji - Finland - Georgia – Greece – Iceland - Israel - Italy – Kiribati - Latvia - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Malta - Marshall Islands - Mauritius - Micronesia - Mongolia - Montenegro - North Macedonia - Norway - Palau - Panama – Portugal - Saint Kitts and Nevis - Saint Lucia - San Marino – Seychelles - Slovakia - Slovenia - Solomon Islands - Spain – Suriname - Sweden - Switzerland – Vanuatu - Vatican City

(Considering “every country deserves at least 1 WHS”, the ones with more than 1 are bolded.)

Plotted on a map, the overachievers appear as follows. 32 of these 52 countries are in Europe!

A WHS for every million?

If we continue with the hypothesis that a country is allowed 1 WHS for every 1 million inhabitants, we can also apply it the other way around. Using the 2025 data on worldpopulationreview, the List would have 8250 WHS and

• India can have 1463 WHS (it has 44)
• China can have 1416 WHS (has 60)
• USA: 347 (has 26)
• Indonesia: 285 (has 10)
• Pakistan: 255 (it has only 6!)
• Nigeria: 237 (only 2!)

Surely Indonesia, Pakistan and Nigeria are among the most underrepresented countries on the List. Taken by % of global population: India could have 18,29% of 1248 WHS (228) and Pakistan for example, at 3.19%, 40 WHS.

From here, we can also derive the Most populous countries without a single WHS. These are:

• Somalia (19.6 million)
• Burundi (14.3 million)
• South Sudan (12.1 million)

How relevant is population size anyway?

Not so much, I think. It is irrelevant to Natural WHS – it could even be argued that countries with a lower population (and certainly a lower population density) are more suited to have pristine nature.

It is also not very relevant to cultural WHS: most WHS are between 50 and 3,000 years old. So the current population size of, let’s say, Nigeria, does not result in more cultural sites worthy of WH status (what it does is produce contemporary music and Nollywood movies). Having a large population spanning all or most of the 1st century BC to 1950 does seem to help. Countries that once ruled or were a main part of a large continental or global empire have a higher chance as well.

Which other parameters could influence the number of WHS per country?

There are:

• Land size: the larger the country, the bigger the chance that something worthwhile can be found. But it needs diversity as well. And a fairly large population, to get to those cultural WHS.
• Early date of ratification of the WH convention: says something about the enthusiasm, and also has had more years to nominate.

Looking at the Top 10 Countries with the Most WHS, as shown with number of WHS, ranking of its population size, year of ratification, and global ranking of its land size:

So you must be fairly populous, but land size is not that important. You must have joined within 12 years of the start of the WH scheme (Russia and China were fairly late).

Any statistics gurus out here that can find a correlation between the number of WHS and demographic or historical data?

Earlier this week, I started to update our Whales connection, but quickly discovered that we don’t have one for Dolphins yet (except for the very specific River Dolphins). I don’t think there’s a reason to have a connection for Whales and not for Dolphins: they are about as common, and while the Whales may be more impressive, the Dolphins often are more fun!

The new connection can be found here. Please find below some findings while compiling it.

What’s the difference between Whales and Dolphins?

They are very closely related: scientifically speaking, a dolphin is a type of toothed whale. However, in common language, "whale" typically refers to the larger cetaceans, especially the baleen whales, while "dolphin" refers to the smaller, typically more agile members of the toothed whale group.

For the connection, I will include all of the Family Delphinidae: Oceanic dolphins. This also includes the Killer Whale, or Orca, the largest species of dolphin. Similarly, Pilot Whales and False Killer Whales are also dolphins.

What’s the best WHS to see Dolphins?

In terms of the number of named species, the Marquesas Islands and the Lagoons of New Caledonia stand out with 11 and 10 different species, respectively. The Great Barrier Reef reportedly holds 19 species, but I have not been able to find details for all of those.

20 WHS have “dolphins” named in their official description; in 6 of those, dolphin behaviour or other specifics are highlighted in their OUV statements. These include the "famous population of Bottlenose Dolphin" in Shark Bay, Dolphin Bay at Fernando da Noronha, "the only known place in the world with such a large population of resident dolphins", and the Bijagos as a "sanctuary for in particular the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin".

At the other 17 WHS listed in the Connection, the presence of dolphins is less important, but sightings can still be good. Chances are good at Surtsey (read this review) and Socotra, for example. Although the dolphins at Socotra suffered a "mass death event" in June 2025, possibly caused by marine pollution.

Which Dolphin species stand out at WHS?

By far the most common type is the Common Bottlenose Dolphin, seen at 18 WHS. The Orca comes second, being present at at least 14 WHS.

Special ones are:

• The Atlantic humpback dolphin, to be found at Banc d'Arguin and the Bijagos Archipelago, is the only Critically Endangered dolphin species.
• The Irrawaddy Dolphin can be found in both rivers and coastal areas, such as estuaries (notably the Sundarbans).
• The Tucuxi is mostly found in freshwater rivers, but is not a river dolphin. It occurs in the waters of the Central Amazon Conservation Complex.

Any Missing WHS that are known for their Dolphins?

The waters of the Azores and the main islands of Hawaii are top places to spot dolphins. These regions, however, do not have a marine WHS yet.

Do you know of more WHS where Dolphins can be seen?