List of countries whose capital is not their largest city
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The list of countries whose capital is not their largest city refers to the list of sovereign states whose capital is not their most populated city.[a]
List
| Country | Capital | Population | Largest city | Population | Ratio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia | Canberra | 426,704 | Sydney | 5,312,163 | 12.6 | A planned city, Canberra has been Australia's capital city since its foundation in 1913. However, the national parliament was based in Melbourne, Victoria until 1927. Canberra is situated within the Australian Capital Territory. |
 Belize | Belmopan | 20,621 | Belize City | 61,762 | 3.07 | Belize City was the capital until 1970. |
 Benin | Porto-Novo | 264,320 | Cotonou | 761,100 | 3.4 | Cotonou is the de facto capital with seat of government. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area. |
 Bolivia | Sucre | 259,388 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra[1] | 1,453,549 | 7.1 | La Paz is the de facto capital with the seat of government; it is in Bolivia's second most populous metropolitan area. |
 Brazil | Brasília | 3,500,000 | São Paulo | 12,252,023 | 4.25 | Brasília, a planned city, has been the capital since its inauguration in 1960. Rio de Janeiro was capital from 1763 until 1960. Brasília is the third most populous city in Brazil and the seventh largest metropolitan area. |
 Burundi | Gitega | 41,944 | Bujumbura | 1,092,859 | 26.06 | Bujumbura was the capital until 2019. |
 Cameroon | Yaoundé | 1,430,000 | Douala | 2,000,000 + | 1.4 | Yaoundé is the second largest city in Cameroon. Douala was the capital until 1902. In 1902, Buéa was the capital of British Cameroons prior to reunification. On October 1, 2017, Ambazonia became partially independent, Buéa is the capital of Ambazonia. |
 Canada | Ottawa | 1,017,449 | Toronto | 2,794,356 | 2.75 | Toronto was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1849 to 1852 and 1856 to 1858. For some years before, Kingston was the de facto capital, but when time came to form the United Province of Canada in 1841, an official capital needed to be designated. There was much controversy until Queen Victoria made her ruling (supported by a vote with a majority of 3) in favour of Ottawa.[2][clarification needed] Both cities were made part of Ontario province. |
 China | Beijing | 22,000,000 | Shanghai (urban metropolitan area) | 30,484,300 | 1.39 | With a population of more than 19 million, Beijing is the second largest city in China after Shanghai. However, the size of Chonqging Municipality is about that of the sovereign country of Austria. University of Washington professor Kam Wing Chan argued that Chongqing's status is more akin to that of a province rather than a city.[3] Chongqing was the capital from 1937 to 1945. |
| Chongqing (city boundaries) | 32,054,159 | 1.46 | ||||
 Ecuador | Quito | 1,763,275 | Guayaquil | 2,650,288 | 1.5 | Quito is the second largest city in Ecuador. |
 Equatorial Guinea | Ciudad de la Paz | 2,000 | Malabo | 297,000 | 148.5 | Malabo was the capital until January 2026. |
 Gambia | Banjul | 31,301 | Serrekunda | 337,000 | 10.77 | Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area. |
 India | New Delhi | 249,998 | Mumbai | 12,442,373 | 49.77 | In 1912, the capital was moved from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to New Delhi, a district of Delhi, which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire. |
 Israel | Jerusalem (limited recognition) | 363,095 (excluding East Jerusalem) | Tel Aviv | 460,613 | 1.2 | Jerusalem has only limited recognition as the capital of Israel. It would be Israel's largest city if East Jerusalem was included (increasing the population to 936,425). However, Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem is not internationally recognized. Excluding East Jerusalem, Tel Aviv is Israel's largest city. Tel Aviv was the main capital until 1948, and in 1948 became a second capital, and both cities are part of the same metropolitan area. |
 Ivory Coast | Yamoussoukro | 200,659 | Abidjan | 4,348,000 | 21.7 | Abidjan was the capital until 1983. |
 Kazakhstan | Astana | 743,014 | Almaty | 1,450,095 | 1.95 | Almaty was the capital from 1927 to 1997. Astana was named Nur-Sultan from 2019 until 2022. |
 Liechtenstein | Vaduz | 5,109 | Schaan | 6,039 | 1.14 | Vaduz is the second largest city in Liechtenstein. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area. |
 Federated States of Micronesia | Palikir | 5,000 | Weno | 13,000 | 1.4 | Palikir is the second largest city of Micronesia. |
 Malta | Valletta | 5,827 | St. Paul's Bay | 29,097 | 6.62 | Valletta is part of the Central Region, a conurbation with a population of 111,994. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area. |
 Morocco | Rabat | 627,000 | Casablanca | 4,150,000 | 6.62 | Rabat is the seventh largest city in Morocco. |
 Myanmar | Naypyidaw | 925,000 | Yangon | 4,346,000 | 4.7 | Yangon was the capital until 2006. Naypyidaw is a planned city without contiguous urban areas or a proper metro area. Yangon is still the biggest city, population wise whereas Naypyidaw is the biggest city in terms of size. |
 Nauru | Yaren | 803 | Meneng | 1,797 | 2.28 | Nauru does not have a de jure capital, but Yaren is capital de facto. |
 New Zealand | Wellington | 209,800 | Auckland | 1,547,200 | 7.37 | Auckland was the capital from 1841 to 1865. |
 Nigeria | Abuja | 778,567 | Lagos | 7,937,932 | 10.2 | Lagos was the capital until 1991. |
 Pakistan[4][5][6] | Islamabad | 1,014,825 | Karachi | 14,910,352 | 14.69 | Karachi was the capital from 1947 to 1958. |
 Palau | Ngerulmud | 0 | Koror | 11,200 | - | Koror was the capital until 2006. Ngerulmud has technically not been finished with the only major building being a massive complex for the country's national legislature, the Palau National Congress (made up of the House of Delegates and the Senate) as well as the executive branch of the Republic of Palau and the Supreme Court of Palau. |
 Palestine | Jerusalem (limited recognition) | 573,330 (East Jerusalem) | Gaza City | 590,481 | 5.67 | Jerusalem is claimed as the capital of the State of Palestine although East Jerusalem is still under Israeli occupation since 1967. Gaza City is the country's largest city prior to evacuations in 2023. |
| Ramallah (administrative centre) | 104,173 | |||||
 Philippines | Manila | 1,780,148 | Quezon City | 2,936,116 | 1.67 | Quezon City, a northeastern suburb of Manila, was planned as the post-colonial capital of the Philippines and officially declared the capital after independence from 1948. In 1976, both cities were made part of the Metropolitan Manila region. It had overtaken Manila as the largest city proper of the Philippines by the 1990 census. |
 San Marino | San Marino | 4,211 | Serravalle | 10,601 | 2.52 | Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area. |
 South Africa | Pretoria | 2,345,908 | Johannesburg | 5,635,000 | 1.66 | Cape Town (pop. 4.8 million) and Bloemfontein (metro pop. 747,431) serve as legislative and judicial capitals respectively. Both cities were made part of the Gauteng province. |
 Switzerland | Bern | 138,041 | Zürich | 397,698 | 2.88 | Switzerland does not have a de jure capital, but Bern was designated "federal city" with the seat of the two parliament chambers in 1848, when for the first time the independent Swiss states established standing federal authorities. Important federal authorities are also located in Lausanne (most notably: the Federal Supreme Court), Zürich, Lucerne, Bellinzona and St. Gallen. Zürich was the capital from 1415 to 1530. |
 Republic of China (Taiwan)[7] |
Taipei | 2,668,572 | New Taipei | 4,004,367 | 1.5 | Despite having no formal designation to the national capital of the ROC by law, Taipei has been the seat of the ROC central government since 1949. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area; before 2010, New Taipei City was known as Taipei County. |
 Tanzania | Dodoma | 324,347 | Dar es Salaam | 2,497,940 | 7.70 | Dar es Salaam was the capital until 1996. |
 Trinidad and Tobago | Port of Spain | 49,867 | Chaguanas | 83,489 | 1.67 | Port of Spain is the third most populated city in Trinidad and Tobago. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area. |
 Turkey | Ankara | 5,150,072 | Istanbul | 14,377,018 | 3.4 | Istanbul (as Constantinople) was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1453 to 1922. |
 United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | 896,751 | Dubai | 2,262,000 | 2.52 | Abu Dhabi is the second largest city in the United Arab Emirates. |
 United States | Washington, D.C. | 705,749 | New York City (city proper) | 8,398,748 | 12.72 | New York was the capital from 1785 to 1790 and the largest city in 1790 (narrowly edging out the next capital, Philadelphia, which served as capital from 1790 to 1800). Philadelphia was the nation's second-largest city when it was the capital. Washington, D.C. is the 22nd-largest city in the United States, but the Washington metropolitan area is the seventh-largest and Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area is the third-largest. However, Los Angeles County with a population of 10 million is the largest, most populated county in the country. |
| Los Angeles (county boundaries) | 9,694,934 | 24.60 | ||||
 Vietnam | Hanoi | 8,807,523 | Ho Chi Minh City | 14,002,598 | 1.6 | Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was the capital of South Vietnam prior to reunification. |
See also
- List of national capitals by population - A list of capitals by population.
Notes
- The population data is based on city proper instead of metropolitan area