Where Is Your Country’s First Floor?

Map created by reddit user depredador93

The map above shows one of the odder things about the world, not all countries define the first floor of a building the same way. For example, In Canada and the US the first floor is the floor at street level.

But, in the UK the floor at street level is called the ground floor and the next level up is called the first floor.

Something I found slightly confusing when I moved from Canada to the UK!

And let’s not even ask about the countries using both systems!#

Amazingly depredador93 outlines all the evidence in a Google Doc you can see here with the key finds below:

Country or territory	Map category	Evidence
Afghanistan	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Albania	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Algeria	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
American Samoa	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - US territory
Andorra	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Angola	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Portuguese usage
Anguilla	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British territory
Antigua and Barbuda	ONE LEVEL UP	ADOMS headquarters EIA - Government EIA plans: ground floor / first floor
Argentina	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - planta baja / primer piso
Armenia	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - Soviet-era convention
Aruba	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Dutch usage
Australia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Austria	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Erdgeschoss (Parterre) / 1. Stock; Vienna adds Hochparterre and Mezzanin in between
Azerbaijan	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - Soviet-era convention
Bahamas	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Bahrain	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Bangladesh	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Barbados	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Belarus	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview
Belgium	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Belize	ONE LEVEL UP	DFC Belize property listing, Parcel 1152 Block 20, Cayo - British usage: ground floor / first floor
Benin	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Bermuda	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British territory
Bhutan	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Bolivia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - planta baja / primer piso
Bosnia and Herzegovina	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Botswana	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Brazil	ONE LEVEL UP	ABNT NBR 13994 via CREA-SC (PDF), item 5.1.8.7 - térreo / primeiro andar
British Virgin Islands	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British territory
Brunei	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Bulgaria	BOTH SYSTEMS	NSI 2021 pilot census, instructions to enumerators - партер exists, but blocks and the census count the street level as 1-ви етаж
Burkina Faso	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Burundi	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Cabo Verde	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Cambodia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
Cameroon	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Canada	STREET LEVEL	OQLF terminology record for "rez-de-chaussée" - Quebec says rez-de-chaussée but counts it as the premier étage (OQLF)
Cayman Islands	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British territory
Central African Republic	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Chad	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Chile	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - primer piso = street level
China	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - 一楼 = street level
Colombia	STREET LEVEL	Alcaldía de Barranquilla, Museo del Carnaval press release - primer piso = street level; some project descriptions use planta baja then primer piso
Comoros	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Cook Islands	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - New Zealand usage
Costa Rica	BOTH SYSTEMS	UNA, Programa Desarrollo de Recursos Humanos, contact page; UCR staff directory - primer piso is street level in most speech; planta baja / primer piso in many buildings
Croatia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - prizemlje / 1. kat
Cuba	BOTH SYSTEMS	Cubadebate, "Biografía de un palacio"; Cubadebate, "Toda la historia está en un palacio…" - planta baja then 2do piso in some buildings; planta baja / piso 1 in others
Curaçao	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Dutch usage
Cyprus	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Czechia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - přízemí / 1. patro; technical podlaží numbering counts the street level as 1.NP
Denmark	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - stuen / 1. sal
Djibouti	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Dominica	ONE LEVEL UP	ESMP, DBMC Building ground floor - Government ESMP: ground floor
Dominican Republic	STREET LEVEL	Diario Libre, "Edificio Baquero (1927)" - primer piso and planta baja both name the street level
DR Congo	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
East Timor	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Ecuador	BOTH SYSTEMS	Ley de Propiedad Horizontal; gob.ec regulation page - municipal and everyday usage counts street level as primer piso; national law and listings put primer piso above planta baja
Egypt	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
El Salvador	BOTH SYSTEMS	Sala de lo Penal, jurisprudencia.gob.sv, DDBB7 - primer nivel = street level for some; planta baja then primer piso for others, in the same building
Equatorial Guinea	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Eritrea	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Estonia	STREET LEVEL	EKI Estonian-English dictionary, "esimene korrus" - esimene korrus = street level
Eswatini	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Ethiopia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Falkland Islands	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British territory
Faroe Islands	ONE LEVEL UP	Bústaðir, Óðinshædd housing plans - stovuhædd, then 1. hædd
Fiji	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Finland	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - 1. kerros = street level; some newer blocks label it 0 or P
France	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - rez-de-chaussée / 1er étage
French Polynesia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French territory
Gabon	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
Gambia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Georgia	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - Soviet-era convention
Germany	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Erdgeschoss / 1. Stock
Ghana	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Greece	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - ισόγειο / 1ος όροφος
Greenland	ONE LEVEL UP	Inatsisartut visitor guide, trilingual - Greenlandic quleriit allersaat = stueetagen; quleriit siullersaat = 1. sal (Inatsisartut signage)
Grenada	ONE LEVEL UP	St Giles Anglican School drawings - Government procurement drawings: ground / first floor
Guam	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - US territory
Guatemala	BOTH SYSTEMS	USAC thesis 08_0673_MI - primer nivel = street level for many; buildings also signed planta baja / nivel 0 then primer piso
Guernsey	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Guinea	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Guinea-Bissau	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Guyana	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Haiti	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
Honduras	STREET LEVEL	AMDC procurement documents on HonduCompras - primer piso del Edificio Ejecutivo is the street-level office
Hong Kong	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British scheme; some older buildings still count from 1 in Chinese
Hungary	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - földszint / 1. emelet; Budapest adds a félemelet
Iceland	STREET LEVEL	Reglugerð 406/1978 um fasteignaskráningu (island.is) - 1. hæð is normally street level; some raised buildings label a lower entrance level jarðhæð
India	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - ground floor / first floor
Indian Ocean Territories	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Australian territory
Indonesia	BOTH SYSTEMS	Grhatama Pustaka, Yogyakarta provincial library floor guide - lantai dasar / lantai 1 in this guide; lantai 1 is the street level in most everyday signage
Iran	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - همکف / طبقه اول
Iraq	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Ireland	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Isle of Man	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Israel	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - קומת קרקע (0) / קומה 1
Italy	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - piano terra / primo piano; an ammezzato or piano rialzato may sit in between
Ivory Coast	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
Jamaica	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Japan	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - 1階 = street level
Jersey	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Jordan	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Kazakhstan	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview
Kenya	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Kiribati	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Kosovo	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Kuwait	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Kyrgyzstan	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview
Laos	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
Latvia	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - pirmais stāvs = street level
Lebanon	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Lesotho	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Liberia	ONE LEVEL UP	Liberia Land Authority, ESMP for HQ renovations - ground floor / first floor in Liberia Land Authority and listing usage
Libya	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Liechtenstein	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Lithuania	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - pirmas aukštas = street level
Luxembourg	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Macau	ONE LEVEL UP	Macao Government Headquarters floor guide - 地下 / 一樓 as in Hong Kong; Portuguese R/C / 1.º andar
Madagascar	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
Malawi	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Malaysia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Maldives	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Mali	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Malta	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Marshall Islands	ONE LEVEL UP	Ministry of Finance, D10 ESIA report - Finance ministry ESIA: ground / first / second floor
Mauritania	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Mauritius	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Mexico	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - planta baja / primer piso
Micronesia	STREET LEVEL	Kosrae International Airport master plan - Kosrae airport master plan: first floor (storage) under the second floor (offices), US usage
Moldova	BOTH SYSTEMS	Floor-numbering overview - Romanian parter / etajul 1; Soviet-era blocks and Russian speakers count the street level as 1
Monaco	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Mongolia	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview
Montenegro	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Montserrat	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British territory
Morocco	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
Mozambique	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Portuguese usage
Myanmar	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Namibia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Nauru	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British and Australian usage
Nepal	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Netherlands	ONE LEVEL UP	Ziekenhuis Rivierenland floor plan - begane grond / eerste verdieping
New Caledonia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French territory: rez-de-chaussée / 1er étage
New Zealand	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Nicaragua	STREET LEVEL	buscocasita.com listing, Estelí - planta baja and primer piso name the same street-level floor
Niger	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Nigeria	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Niue	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - New Zealand usage
Norfolk Island	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Australian territory
North Korea	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview
North Macedonia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Northern Cyprus	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Turkish usage
Northern Mariana Islands	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - US territory
Norway	STREET LEVEL	Norwegian-English dictionary on Google Books, p. PT60 - 1. etasje = street level
Oman	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Pakistan	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Palau	STREET LEVEL	UNOPS invitation to bid, OEK Building renovation, Koror - UNOPS bid for the OEK Building: first floor and ground floor name the same level below the second
Palestine	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Panama	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - planta baja (PB) / piso 1
Papua New Guinea	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Paraguay	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - planta baja / primer piso
Peru	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - primer piso = street level
Philippines	BOTH SYSTEMS	Floor-numbering overview - US counting alongside British ground floor
Pitcairn Islands	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British territorial convention
Poland	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - parter / 1. piętro; a wysoki parter is still the ground floor
Portugal	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - rés-do-chão / 1.º andar; a sobreloja may sit in between
Puerto Rico	STREET LEVEL	UPR Río Piedras evacuation plan, Ciencias Naturales fase I - primer piso = street level (US usage); planta baja is a name for the same floor
Qatar	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Republic of the Congo	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
Romania	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - parter / etajul 1
Russia	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - первый этаж = street level
Rwanda	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Saint Barthélemy	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French territory
Saint Helena	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British territory
Saint Kitts and Nevis	ONE LEVEL UP	SKNIS, Gingerland Secondary School technical wing - Government information service: ground floor / first floor
Saint Lucia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Saint Martin	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French territory
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French territory
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	ONE LEVEL UP	Official Gazette no. 18, 2020 - Official gazette: ground floor / first floor
Samoa	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British and New Zealand usage
San Marino	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Saudi Arabia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Senegal	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
Serbia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - prizemlje / 1. sprat
Seychelles	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Sierra Leone	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Singapore	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - Switched from the British scheme in 1983
Sint Maarten	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Dutch usage
Slovakia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - prízemie / 1. poschodie
Slovenia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - pritličje / 1. nadstropje
Solomon Islands	ONE LEVEL UP	National Medical Store ESIA - Government ESIA: ground floor / first floor
Somalia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Somaliland	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
South Africa	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - ground floor / first floor
South Korea	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - 1층 = street level
South Sudan	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Spain	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - planta baja / primero; an entresuelo or principal may sit in between
Sri Lanka	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Sudan	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Suriname	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Dutch usage
Sweden	BOTH SYSTEMS	SCB, Bostads- och byggnadsstatistisk årsbok 2011 - Lifts and plans often start at 1 at street level; addresses count stairs (1 tr = one flight up)
Switzerland	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Syria	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
São Tomé and Príncipe	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Taiwan	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - 一樓 = street level
Tajikistan	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview
Tanzania	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Thailand	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - ชั้น 1 = street level; malls sometimes label it G
Togo	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Tonga	ONE LEVEL UP	Attorney General's Office, working environment - Attorney General's office description: ground floor / first floor
Trinidad and Tobago	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British usage
Tunisia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French usage
Turkey	ONE LEVEL UP	Resmî Gazete 2006-07-31, lift regulation, section 5 art. 31 - zemin kat / 1. kat
Turkmenistan	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview
Turks and Caicos Islands	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - British territory
Tuvalu	ONE LEVEL UP	PRIF Tuvalu infrastructure plan - Government infrastructure plan: ground floor / first floor
Uganda	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Ukraine	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - перший поверх = street level
United Arab Emirates	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - G / M / 1 lift panels
United Kingdom	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
United States	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview
United States Virgin Islands	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview - US territory
Uruguay	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - planta baja / primer piso
Uzbekistan	STREET LEVEL	Floor-numbering overview
Vanuatu	ONE LEVEL UP	Lapetasi Star Terminal construction report - Government construction report: ground / first / second floor
Vatican City	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Venezuela	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - planta baja / primer piso
Vietnam	BOTH SYSTEMS	Floor-numbering overview - North counts from 1; South uses trệt / lầu 1
Wallis and Futuna	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - French territory
Western Sahara	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview - Morocco-administered; French and Spanish usage both put the first floor one flight up
Yemen	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Zambia	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Zimbabwe	ONE LEVEL UP	Floor-numbering overview
Åland	STREET LEVEL	Mariehamn planning material - våning 1 is the street-level residential floor