Why is Mount Everest getting taller?

The Himalayas formed as the Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate around 50 million years ago, and India is still moving north at about 4 to 5 centimetres a year. This compression keeps pushing the mountains upward, while erosion and earthquakes wear them down. China and Nepal jointly announced Everest’s official height as 8,848.86 metres in 2020. A 2024 study suggested that river erosion nearby, as the Arun River captured another river system, removed so much rock that the crust rebounded, adding roughly 15 to 50 metres to Everest over 89,000 years. Everest continues rising by around 2 millimetres a year.