List of articles every Wikipedia should have

There are a growing number of Wikipedia projects, some very active and others quite stagnant. This list is intended as a guideline for those projects so that they will contain a minimum amount of basic, useful information. This way, people will be encouraged to use these projects and help in their growth. The articles should contain at least basic information on the topics they describe, thus providing a starting point for growth besides being a useful reference for the readers. This list provides links to corresponding Wikidata objects, containing links to articles in various Wikipedias which can be used as a translatable resource.

This list of pages is available as a PagePile with ID 61569

Note: may not reflect changes after 2024-10-20

This list is limited to 1000 articles, but a much larger list is available at List of articles every Wikipedia should have/Expanded.

Section	Version 1.1	Current Number	Target Number	Vital articles
Biography	216	204	TBD	115
Philosophy	18	13	TBD	18
Religion	21	22	TBD	37
Social sciences	71	77	TBD	135
Language and literature	43	46	TBD	31
Arts and recreation	73	75	TBD	60
Measurements	19	12	TBD	2
Science	195	258	TBD	293
* Astronomy	22	22	TBD	26
* Biology	118	84	TBD	82
* Health and medicine	34	38	TBD	41
* Chemistry	27	26	TBD	32
* Earth science	21	21	TBD	23
* Physics	36	39	TBD	41
* Mathematics	22	26	TBD	45
Food and agriculture	19	34	TBD	2
Technology	69	67	TBD	98
History	40	46	TBD	83
Geography	148	146	TBD	106
Total	1000	1000	1000	1002

Count checked: 16:05, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

There are several different ways to use this list. The first is to translate it into the language of your Wikipedia and see whether you have articles on all of these topics. The topics here are linked to corresponding items in the Wikidata project. If your Wikipedia is missing an article, or if you are starting out with a new language, you may want to translate these basic articles from a different language that you are familiar with (for example, English). Language links to Wikipedias in which the topic is covered are provided at the bottom of each Wikidata item page.

In addition to simply listing the articles, this project hopes to eventually create easily translatable versions of these articles, possibly containing core information at simple:Wikipedia:List of articles all languages should have.

This list is also used to obtain the List of Wikipedias by sample of articles. Articles which are absent from one wikipedia are shown in List of Wikipedias by sample of articles/Absent Articles.

It's possible to list the top 1000 most translated (linked) pages in some languages, at Wikidata Terminator; or even compare any two wikis, with Not in the other language.

Since this list is full, it is important that you discuss any changes (adds or deletes) on the discussion for this list first. If you add an entry at this point, it will be necessary to justify deleting something else.

Six versions from the history of this page can be found at Version 1.0 (14 August 2006), Version 1.1 (15 November 2008), Version 1.2 (3 February 2010), Version 1.3 (24 June 2012), Version 1.4 (1 June 2014), and Version 1.5 (6 February 2022).

1. Abraham
2. Aquinas, Thomas
3. Augustine of Hippo
4. Buddha
5. Al-Ghazali
6. Jesus
7. Luther, Martin
8. Moses
9. Muhammad
10. Nagarjuna

1. Measurement
2. International System of Units

1. Kilogram
2. Litre
3. Metre

1. Calendar
   1. Gregorian calendar
2. Clock
3. Second
4. Day
5. Year
6. Time zone

1. Science
2. Nature

1. Metabolism
   1. Digestion
   2. Photosynthesis
   3. Breathing
2. Evolution
3. Reproduction
   1. Pregnancy
   2. Sex

1. Agriculture
   1. Irrigation
   2. Plough
   3. Domestication

1. History

1. Alps
2. Andes
3. Himalayas
   1. Mount Everest
4. Mount Kilimanjaro
5. Rocky Mountains
6. Sahara