One of the earliest monastic sites in the Middle East that dates back to the 4th century, Saint Hilarion Monastery is currently located in an active conflict zone. — Unesco
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) has added 24 new sites to its World Heritage List, bringing the total number to 1,223 worldwide. However, there is an uneven distribution of where these sites are located, particularly in terms of cultural heritage selection, data portal Statista highlights, with Unesco having historically inscribed by far the largest number of heritage sites in Europe and North America.
As Statista points out, despite the combined total land area for North America and Europe (34 million sq km) being similar to that of Africa (30 million sq km), 490 cultural sites have so far been inscribed from Europe and North America, compared with just 61 in Africa. The Asia and Pacific region have the second highest number of inscribed cultural sites at 211, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean with 103.
