A new classification of 15 relief patterns at the global scale combines a relief roughness indicator and the maximum altitude at a resolution of 30′ × 30′. Classical geographic terms have been retained but assigned to fixed relief roughness (RR = maximum minus minimum elevation per cell divided by half the cell length in meters/kilometer, or ‰) and altitude boundaries. Plains (33.2 Mkm² of currently nonglaciated land surface) correspond to subhorizontal terrain (RR < 5‰). Lowlands (19.2 Mkm; 0–200 m) have a very low degree of roughness (5 <RR <20‰). Platforms and hills (30.5 Mkm²) correspond to the 200–500-m mean elevation class and have a greater degree of roughness (RR > 20‰). Plateaus (16.8 Mkm²), with mean elevations between 500 and 6000 m, have a medium degree of roughness (RR from 5 to 40‰). Mountains (33.3 Mkm²) are differentiated from hills by their higher mean elevation (>500 m) and from plateaus by their greater roughness (>20‰ then >40‰) in each elevation class. Accordingly, Tibet and the Altiplano are very high plateaus, not mountains. These quantitative definitions of relief patterns were divided into 15 classes, then clustered into 9 main types and mapped at the global scale at a resolution for which water runoff depth and population were previously determined. We also differentiated between exorheic areas (115.6 Mkm² globally) and endorheic areas (17.36 Mkm² globally) of potential runoff. Mountains thus account for 25% of the Earth's total land area, 32% of surface runoff, and 26% of the global population. The presence or vicinity of a rough and elevated landscape is less limiting to human settlement than water runoff.