Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/5

{{Short description|List of 50,000 most vital articles on the English Wikipedia}}

The five nested vital article levels are meant to give direction to the prioritization of improvements of English Wikipedia articles (e.g. which articles to bring to WP:GA and WP:FA status), to provide a measurement of quality of overall English Wikipedia (e.g. what proportion of the most important articles are at GA and FA status), and to serve as a centralized watchlist of English Wikipedia's most important articles. Unlike the list of articles every Wikipedia should have, they are tailored to the English Wikipedia and are actively maintained by the dedicated WikiProject Vital Articles. This page contains links to the 50,000 articles of the Level 5 list.

Any addition to or removal from these lists should ONLY BE MADE after a discussion on the relevant Level 5 sub talk pages.

Level 1 (10 articles) < Level 2 (100 articles) < Level 3 (1,000 articles) < Level 4 (10,000 articles) < Level 5 (50,000 articles)

Level 5 sub-lists

Because of its size, Vital articles Level 5 has been split into several sub-lists. If you spot a duplicate listing, please remove one of them; if you aren't sure in which section a topic belongs, please initiate a discussion on the talk page. Please do not duplicate items on the same level of the list.

{{center|{{Clickable button 2|Improve a random Level 5 vital article|class=mw-ui-progressive|url=https://randomincategory.toolforge.org/?category=A-Class%20level-5%20vital%20articles&category2=B-Class%20level-5%20vital%20articles&category3=C-Class%20level-5%20vital%20articles&category4=FA-Class%20level-5%20vital%20articles&category5=FL-Class%20level-5%20vital%20articles&category6=GA-Class%20level-5%20vital%20articles&category7=List-Class%20level-5%20vital%20articles&category8=Start-Class%20level-5%20vital%20articles&category9=Stub-Class%20level-5%20vital%20articles&server=en.wikipedia.org&cmnamespace=&cmtype=&returntype=subject}}}}

Current total

As of May 2025, the level 5 Vital Articles list includes 49,880 individual articles. All changes to this list should be proposed on the talk page or the relevant subpage for the proposal. Cewbot provides a more updated count of articles in its edit summaries on subpages.

The counts below were last updated by: Lophotrochozoa (talk) 14:25, 10 June 2025 (UTC)

Sublist ! Current ! Target ! At quota? ! Change in effect?
class= "wikitable sortable"
style="background-color: cornsilk;"	People	15,043	15,100	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
Writers and journalists	2,012	2,000	{{yes}}	{{maybe\|Trim}}
Artists, musicians, and composers	2,165	2,200	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{n/a}}
Entertainers, directors, producers, and screenwriters	2,153	2,200	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{n/a}}
Philosophers, historians, and social scientists	1,354	1,400	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{yes\|Brainstorm}}
Religious figures	494	500	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
Politicians and leaders	2,412	2,400	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
Military personnel, revolutionaries, and activists	897	900	{{yes}}	{{yes\|Brainstorm}}
Scientists, inventors, and mathematicians	1,275	1,300	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{yes\|Brainstorm}}
Sports figures	1,129	1,100	{{maybe\|Slightly over}}	{{maybe\|Trim}}
style="border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| Miscellaneous	1,152	1,100	{{no\|Too many}}	{{maybe\|Trim}}
style="background-color: cornsilk; border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| History	3,295	3,300	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
style="background-color: cornsilk;" \| Geography	5,153	5,200	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{n/a}}
Physical geography	1,896	1,900	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
Countries and subdivisions	1,273	1,300	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{n/a}}
style="border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| Cities	1,984	2,000	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
style="background-color: cornsilk; border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| Arts	3,652	3,700	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{n/a}}
style="background-color: cornsilk; border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| Philosophy and religion	1,452	1,400	{{no\|Too many}}	{{dunno}}
style="background-color: cornsilk;" \| Everyday life	2,437	2,500	{{no\|Not enough}}	{{n/a}}
Everyday life	1,271	1,300	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{n/a}}
style="border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| Sports, games and recreation	1,164	1,200	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{n/a}}
style="background-color: cornsilk;" \| Society and social sciences	4,083	4,000	{{maybe\|Slightly over}}	{{n/a}}
Social studies	505	500	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
Politics and economics	1,964	1,900	{{no\|Too many}}	{{dunno}}
style="border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| Culture	1,614	1,600	{{yes}}	{{dunno}}
style="background-color: cornsilk;" \| Biology and health sciences	5,559	5,600	{{yes}}	{{yes\|Brainstorm}}
Biology, biochemistry, anatomy, and physiology	1,125	1,100	{{maybe\|Slightly over}}	{{yes\|Brainstorm}}
Animals	2,397	2,400	{{yes}}	{{free\|Reorganize}}
Plants, fungi, and other organisms	974	1,000	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{yes\|Brainstorm}}
style="border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| Health, medicine, and disease	1,063	1,100	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{yes\|Brainstorm}}
style="background-color: cornsilk;" \| Physical sciences	4,776	4,800	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
Basics and measurement	333	300	{{maybe\|Slightly over}}	{{maybe\|Trim}}
Astronomy	900	900	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
Chemistry	1,177	1,200	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{n/a}}
Earth science	1,189	1,200	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
style="border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| Physics	1,177	1,200	{{maybe\|Slightly under}}	{{n/a}}
style="background-color: cornsilk; border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| Technology	3,237	3,200	{{maybe\|Slightly over}}	{{maybe\|Trim}}
style="background-color: cornsilk; border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| Mathematics	1,193	1,200	{{yes}}	{{n/a}}
class=sortbottom style="height: 2em; border-top: #A2A9B1 solid 2px; border-bottom: #A2A9B1 solid 2px;" \| style="border-left: none; border-right: none;" \| \| style="border-left: none; border-right: none;" \| \| style="border-left: none; border-right: none;" \| \| style="border-left: none; border-right: none;" \|
class=sortbottom style="background-color:#EAECF0;"
class=sortbottom style="background-color:#EAECF0;" \| Total \| 49,880 \| 50,000 \| {{yes}} \| {{n/a}}

All languages should have

Vital articles