Italy's 1-1 draw in a friendly with Turkey last week would have taken the World Cup winners level with Brazil, had the South Americans not beaten Switzerland 2-1 in another friendly on the same day.
Argentina moved up to third from fourth, trading places with France, thanks to the devaluation of defeats registered before mid-November a year ago.
Nigeria rose to ninth, up two places, while Spain fell to 12th after they lost 1-0 to Romania in a friendly in Cadiz last week for their third defeat in the last four games under coach Luis Aragones.
Russia climbed 10 places to 23rd, their highest position since early 2003, while Uzbekistan (45) and Cuba (46) both entered the top 50 with their highest positions since the FIFA rankings were introduced.
FIFA said the number of teams featuring in the rankings was now at a record high, with East Timor now among 206 sides included. Only the Comoros Islands, who joined FIFA in 2005, have yet to be listed.
Top 20 rankings (previous month in brackets, points total):
1. (1) Brazil 1,588
2. (2) Italy 1,560
3. (4) Argentina 1,551
4. (3) France 1,523
5. (5) England 1,359
6. (6) Germany 1,348
7. (7) Netherlands 1,305
8. (9) Portugal 1,258
9. (11) Nigeria 1,242
10. (8) Czech Republic 1,190
11. (12) Cameroon 1,160
12. (10) Spain 1,154
13. (13) Ukraine 1,054
14. (16) Sweden 958
15. (19=) Croatia 948
16. (14) Greece 945
17. (15) Switzerland 937
18. (18) Ivory Coast 919
19. (23) Romania 912
20. (19=) Mexico 887
