“The precise height of Mount Everest had been contested ever since a group of British surveyors in India declared the height of Peak XV, as it was initially called, to be 8,778 metres in 1847. The new height was announced as per the joint measurement efforts by Nepal and China, the two countries the 8848.86-metre mountain straddles. The new height converts to 29,031 feet. The official height was announced simultaneously in Kathmandu and Beijing amid a programme attended by Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.”
“‘This is a historic day,’ Foreign Minister Gyawali said, making the much-awaited declaration on Tuesday. ‘The new height of Mt Everest is 8,848.86 metres.’ Chinese Foreign Minister Wang too announced the mountain’s height to be 8,848.86 metres immediately afterwards. Nepal had been working on the measurement of Everest since 2011. According to Nepal’s Department of Survey, the measurement is within centimeters of accuracy. A range of methods including traditional ones and those based on the latest technology were used to come up with the figure” – Kathmandu Post.