Stair Riser & Going Heights Compared: 14 Countries Side by Side
Sam Petherbridge · Qualified Carpenter & Builder
Stand a New Zealand builder and a Japanese builder next to the same rise-and-run chalk line, and they’ll draw two genuinely different stairs. Japan’s Building Standard Law lets a private house stair run a 230 mm riser against just a 150 mm going — a stair steep enough to raise eyebrows almost anywhere else in the world. Meanwhile Australia, the UK, Ireland and most of Europe sit in a much gentler 190–220 mm riser / 220–280 mm going band. And two countries — Sweden and France — have quietly abandoned fixed rise/going numbers altogether, betting instead on case-by-case judgement over a one-size-fits-all rule.
We pulled together the maximum riser and minimum going figures from all 14 countries Chippy Tools covers, each one cited back to its governing code clause. Here’s how they stack up.
Maximum riser & minimum going, by country
| Country | Max riser | Min going/tread | Governing standard / clause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 190 mm | 240 mm (private stair) | NCC 2025 Housing Provisions 11.2 |
| USA | 7¾ in / 196 mm | 10 in / 254 mm | IRC 2021 R311.7.5.1–.2 (adopted per state/local — confirm edition) |
| New Zealand | 190 mm (main private stair) | 280 mm (main private stair) | NZBC D1/AS1 Table 6 (Acceptable Solution) |
| UK (England) | 220 mm | 220 mm | Approved Document K (2013), Table 1.1 — England only |
| Canada | 200 mm | 255 mm (run) | NBC 2020 9.8.4 (model code — provinces amend) |
| Ireland | 220 mm | 220 mm | TGD Part K 2014, Table 1 |
| France | No fixed rise/going. Only a design convention: 2×rise+going ≈ 60–64 cm (“loi de Blondel,” not codified law) | — | CCH — no statutory figure found by either verification pass |
| Germany | 200 mm | 230 mm | DIN 18065:2020-08 (residential stair band) — paywalled, no free primary URL |
| Spain | 20 cm / 200 mm | 22 cm / 220 mm | CTE DB-SUA 1 §4.1 (“uso restringido” — private dwelling stair) |
| Indonesia | 150–180 mm | 300 mm | Permen PUPR 14/2017, Lampiran II §1 |
| India | 190 mm | 250 mm | NBC 2016 Part 3 §12.18.1 / Part 4 §4.4.2.4.3.1 (model code, being superseded by SP 7:2026) — bis.gov.in |
| Japan | 230 mm | 150 mm | Building Standard Law Enforcement Order, Art. 23 |
| Norway | No fixed riser — sized via 2R+G formula = 620 mm ± 20 mm | 250 mm | TEK17 §12-14 |
| Sweden | No fixed riser or going (removed 1 Jul 2025 — case-by-case risk assessment only) | — | BFS 2024:9, Kap 2 §5 |
Figures are for an ordinary private/domestic stair. Public, commercial and multi-unit buildings usually sit under a stricter, separate clause — always confirm which category your stair falls into before you cut a stringer.
Japan’s stairs are genuinely steeper — this isn’t a translation error
The 230 mm riser / 150 mm going combination in Japan’s Enforcement Order is the standout figure on this list, and it’s real. Run the numbers through the usual 2×riser + going “comfort” check that a lot of other codes lean on informally, and Japan’s stair comes out well outside the range most builders elsewhere would consider comfortable — closer to a steep loft ladder than a household staircase. It’s a genuine, in-force cultural and regulatory difference driven by smaller average footprints, not an error in translation or a stricter reading of the source. If you’re building or importing a Japanese-spec stair design elsewhere, don’t assume it will pass a local inspection.
The 190–220 mm riser band is remarkably consistent
Strip out the outliers and there’s a clear consensus forming across Australia, the US, New Zealand, the UK, Canada, Ireland, Germany and Spain: 190–220 mm risers paired with 220–280 mm goings. That’s not a coincidence — it reflects decades of converging ergonomic research on what a comfortable, safe walking gait needs on a domestic stair. If you’re building to any of these eight codes, you’re within a fairly forgiving band of each other; a stringer cut to satisfy Australia’s NCC won’t be wildly out of step with Ireland’s TGD Part K.
France, Norway and Sweden have all backed away from a single fixed number
Three of the fourteen countries no longer set a simple maximum riser figure. France’s “loi de Blondel” (2×rise + going ≈ 60–64 cm) is a design convention, not codified law — there’s genuinely no statutory rise/going figure to cite. Norway achieves something similar through its own 2R+G formula (620 mm ± 20 mm) rather than two independent numbers. Sweden went the furthest: as of 1 July 2025, BFS 2024:9 dropped both the fixed riser and the fixed going entirely, requiring instead that each stair be assessed for safe use on its own merits. It’s a genuinely different regulatory philosophy — trusting a documented risk assessment over a blanket number — and it’s worth knowing if you’re used to working strictly “by the numbers.”
Check your own country’s full stair rules
The table above is the headline figures only. Each country’s building-code hub page has the full clause, handrail heights, winder rules and worked examples:
- Australia — NCC stair rules
- USA — IRC stair & guard rules
- New Zealand — stair & barrier requirements
- UK (England) — stair & barrier requirements
- Canada — stair & barrier requirements
- Ireland — stair & barrier requirements
- France — stair & barrier requirements
- Germany — stair & guard requirements
- Spain — stair & barrier requirements
- Indonesia — stair & handrail requirements
- India — stair & barrier requirements
- Japan — stair & guard requirements
- Norway — stair & guard requirements
- Sweden — stair & guard requirements
Get your rise and going right, every time
Whichever country’s numbers you’re building to, the maths behind a compliant stair is the same job every time: divide your floor-to-floor height into equal risers, check the going against your local minimum, and confirm the whole flight lands where you need it to. Chippy Tools’ stair calculator handles the rise, going, tread count and stringer length for you — including landings and deck stairs — in metric or imperial, so you’re not doing that arithmetic on the back of a offcut.
Skip the manual maths
Chippy Tools has professional calculators that handle these calculations for you — offline, on any device.
Frequently asked questions
- Which country has the steepest legal stairs?
- Japan. The Building Standard Law Enforcement Order lets a private house stair have a riser up to 230 mm paired with a going as shallow as 150 mm — noticeably steeper than the 190–220 mm risers and 220–280 mm goings you'll find across Australia, the US, NZ, UK, Canada, Ireland, Germany and Spain.
- Do all countries fix a maximum riser height and minimum going?
- No. France has no statutory rise/going figure at all — only a non-binding design convention (the 'loi de Blondel,' roughly 2×rise + going ≈ 60–64 cm). Norway sizes its stairs with a similar 2R+G formula rather than two separate fixed numbers. Sweden went further still, removing its fixed riser and going entirely in a 1 July 2025 reform in favour of case-by-case risk assessment.
- What's the typical range for a private stair riser and going?
- Across most of the countries with a fixed figure, riser height sits in a fairly tight 190–220 mm band and going in a 220–280 mm band — Australia (190 mm / 240 mm), the US (196 mm / 254 mm), New Zealand (190 mm / 280 mm), the UK (220 mm / 220 mm), Canada (200 mm / 255 mm), Ireland (220 mm / 220 mm), Germany (200 mm / 230 mm) and Spain (200 mm / 220 mm) are all clustered around this range.
- Why does this matter if I'm building to my own country's code?
- Because riser and going set the walking comfort and safety of every step in the flight — get the ratio wrong and a stair feels either exhausting (too steep) or awkward (too shallow). Always check the figure that applies in your own jurisdiction and edition; the table below is a starting point, not a substitute for your local code.