In order to qualify for inclusion in the QS World University Rankings® -Geography 2016, universities must offer a course or the option to specialize in these disciplines, and meet the discipline specific threshold for papers published.
| 2016 | 2015 | Institution | Country | Academic | Employer | Citations | H | Score |
| 1 | 1 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 97.6 | 99.7 | 88.8 | 97.9 | 96.5 |
| 2 | 3 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 98.0 | 100.0 | 85.3 | 88.8 | 94.9 |
| 3 | 5 | Durham University | United Kingdom | 92.6 | 80.8 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 93.6 |
| 4 | 2 | London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) | United Kingdom | 100.0 | 90.0 | 82.7 | 77.4 | 93.0 |
| 5 | 6 | University of British Columbia | Canada | 97.7 | 68.1 | 90.5 | 92.4 | 92.9 |
| 6 | 4 | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | United States | 96.5 | 75.7 | 91.7 | 90.7 | 92.8 |
| 7= | 8 | UCL (University College London) | United Kingdom | 93.8 | 83.8 | 86.7 | 90.7 | 91.3 |
| 7= | 7 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | United States | 93.8 | 80.5 | 91.7 | 87.8 | 91.3 |
| 9 | 9 | National University of Singapore (NUS) | Singapore | 92.4 | 84.5 | 83.8 | 80.0 | 88.5 |
| 10 | 11 | University of Toronto | Canada | 88.7 | 77.7 | 85.7 | 86.8 | 86.9 |
| 11 | 10 | The University of Manchester | United Kingdom | 82.8 | 81.0 | 91.7 | 96.4 | 86.0 |
| 12 | 15= | University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 85.4 | 80.3 | 87.7 | 87.8 | 85.6 |
| 13 | 19 | University of Hong Kong (HKU) | Hong Kong | 88.7 | 77.2 | 82.5 | 80.0 | 85.3 |
| 14 | 13 | University of Amsterdam | Netherlands | 85.9 | 71.1 | 88.5 | 87.8 | 85.1 |
| 15 | 21= | University of Leeds | United Kingdom | 83.1 | 80.1 | 89.1 | 89.7 | 84.7 |
| 16 | 20 | Lund University | Sweden | 87.4 | 68.8 | 84.6 | 81.2 | 84.2 |
| 17 | 15= | Australian National University (ANU) | Australia | 85.4 | 79.5 | 81.2 | 81.2 | 83.6 |
| 18= | 24 | King's College London (KCL) | United Kingdom | 84.1 | 75.1 | 86.3 | 83.6 | 83.5 |
| 18= | 14 | University of Bristol | United Kingdom | 88.0 | 78.4 | 81.4 | 71.3 | 83.5 |
| 18= | 28= | University of Exeter | United Kingdom | 84.1 | 68.3 | 90.8 | 83.6 | 83.5 |
| 18= | 18 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | United States | 84.3 | 59.8 | 89.2 | 90.7 | 83.5 |
| 22 | 28= | The University of Sydney | Australia | 83.3 | 88.8 | 84.9 | 78.7 | 83.4 |
| 23= | 17 | University of Washington | United States | 81.5 | 65.9 | 91.7 | 90.7 | 82.9 |
| 23= | 12 | Utrecht University | Netherlands | 82.5 | 75.1 | 88.1 | 84.7 | 82.9 |
| 25= | 32 | Pennsylvania State University | United States | 84.7 | 50.9 | 89.2 | 89.7 | 82.7 |
| 25= | 23 | Stockholm University | Sweden | 81.1 | 76.2 | 91.3 | 84.7 | 82.7 |
| 27 | 21= | The University of Melbourne | Australia | 83.1 | 83.5 | 83.6 | 77.4 | 82.4 |
| 28 | 26 | University of Glasgow | United Kingdom | 79.8 | 75.1 | 90.2 | 88.8 | 82.2 |
| 29 | 25 | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | Germany | 87.1 | 77.8 | 77.2 | 69.6 | 82.1 |
| 30 | 28= | Ohio State University | United States | 83.7 | 56.1 | 86.8 | 87.8 | 82.0 |
| 31 | 27 | University of Minnesota | United States | 84.4 | 46.4 | 90.1 | 85.8 | 81.7 |
| 32 | 35= | The University of Queensland (UQ) | Australia | 79.8 | 83.5 | 83.3 | 81.2 | 80.9 |
| 33 | 34 | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven | Belgium | 79.2 | 76.5 | 85.1 | 81.2 | 80.1 |
| 34 | 33 | The University of Tokyo | Japan | 87.4 | 77.8 | 70.2 | 59.3 | 79.6 |
| 35 | 46= | Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne | France | 88.4 | 73.3 | 64.8 | 61.6 | 79.3 |
| 36 | 28= | Monash University | Australia | 76.2 | 79.2 | 85.5 | 83.6 | 79.0 |
| 37 | 42= | McGill University | Canada | 77.1 | 75.7 | 86.4 | 80.0 | 78.8 |
| 38 | 44 | The University of Auckland | New Zealand | 77.9 | 70.5 | 84.5 | 81.2 | 78.6 |
| 39 | 39= | The University of Nottingham | United Kingdom | 73.7 | 73.2 | 90.2 | 89.7 | 78.5 |
| 40 | 35= | The University of Sheffield | United Kingdom | 77.4 | 66.0 | 86.8 | 82.4 | 78.4 |
| 41 | 51-100 | University of Southampton | United Kingdom | 73.7 | 72.4 | 88.6 | 84.7 | 77.5 |
| 42 | 42= | Newcastle University | United Kingdom | 73.4 | 69.5 | 89.8 | 85.8 | 77.3 |
| 43 | 51-100 | Arizona State University | United States | 75.1 | 50.4 | 91.5 | 88.8 | 77.1 |
| 44 | 38 | Cardiff University | United Kingdom | 70.9 | 73.3 | 91.8 | 87.8 | 76.8 |
| 45 | 48= | University of Waterloo | Canada | 75.3 | 72.0 | 83.6 | 78.7 | 76.7 |
| 46= | 37 | Lancaster University | United Kingdom | 73.8 | 66.7 | 88.6 | 80.0 | 76.2 |
| 46= | 51-100 | The University of New South Wales (UNSW) | Australia | 75.0 | 82.5 | 78.2 | 74.5 | 76.2 |
| 46= | 39= | University of Cape Town | South Africa | 76.3 | 75.2 | 80.0 | 72.9 | 76.2 |
| 49= | 46= | The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) | Hong Kong | 76.3 | 80.4 | 76.9 | 69.6 | 75.8 |
| 49= | 48= | University of Birmingham | United Kingdom | 73.1 | 74.6 | 84.6 | 78.7 | 75.8 |
| 49= | 51-100 | University of East Anglia (UEA) | United Kingdom | 74.6 | 40.7 | 95.1 | 84.7 | 75.8 |
