List of Countries Whose Capital Is Not Their Largest City

This is a list of sovereign states whose capital is not their largest city.


Country Capital Population Largest city Population Ratio Note
Australia Canberra 345,000 Sydney 4,627,345 13.0 Although Canberra has always been Australia's Capital City, the national parliament met in Melbourne, Victoria until 1927. Melbourne is Australia's 2nd most populous city (4,137,432)
Belize Belmopan 16,400 Belize City 70,000 4.27 Belize City was the capital until 1970.
Benin Porto-Novo 223,500 Cotonou 761,100 3.4 Cotonou is the de facto capital with seat of government.
Bolivia Sucre 225,000 Santa Cruz de la Sierra 1,594,926 7.1 La Paz is the de facto capital with seat of government, and also is at the center of the country's largest metropolitan area.
Brazil Brasília 2,557,158 São Paulo 11,150,249 4.55 Brasília is a planned city, inaugurated in 1960, and serving as the Brazilian capital since then. Rio de Janeiro, the former capital, was the capital of Brazil from 1763 until 1960 (and largest city in Brazil from 1654 to 1954). São Paulo has never been the capital, but became the most populous city in Brazil in 1954, a position it has held since then. As of the 2010 Brazilian census, Brasília is the fifth most populous city in Brazil, and the seventh largest metropolitan area.
Cameroon Yaoundé 1,430,000 Douala 2,000,000 + 1.4 Yaoundé is the second largest city of Cameroon.
Canada Ottawa 812,129 Toronto 2,503,281 3.08 Toronto was the capital of the united Province of Canada from 1849 to 1852 and 1856–1858.
People's Republic of China Beijing 22,000,000 Shanghai 23,210,000 1.055 Beijing is the second largest city of China. Shanghai is the largest city in China and the world, (though not the largest metropolitan area in the world).
Republic of China Taipei 2,650,968 New Taipei 3,916,451 1.48 Both cities are in Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area with Taipei surrounded entirely by New Taipei.
Côte d'Ivoire Yamoussoukro 200,659 Abidjan 4,348,000 21.7 Abidjan was the capital until 1983.
Ecuador Quito 1,397,698 Guayaquil 2,600,000 1.86 Quito is the second largest city of Ecuador.
India New Delhi 295,000 Mumbai 13,830,884 46.88 New Delhi is part of the Delhi metropolitan area which has 16,753,235 inhabitants.
Kazakhstan Astana 743,014 Almaty 1,450,095 1.95 Almaty was the capital from 1927 to 1997.
Liechtenstein Vaduz 5,109 Schaan 5,806 1.14
Malawi Lilongwe 440,500 Blantyre 646,235 1.47
Malta Valletta 6,000 Birkirkara 21,000 3.5
Federated States of Micronesia Palikir 5,000 Weno 13,000 1.4
Monaco Monaco (Monaco-Ville) 1,034 Monte Carlo 15,507 15.0 other cities-historical communes of country (La Condamine - 12,187; Fontvieille - 3,292) larger than capital also; at counts as cities-new quarters capital smaller than all other nine also (largest of them Larvotto - 5,443); all communes and quarters merged into one city de facto
Montenegro Cetinje 15,000 Podgorica 136,000 9.1 Podgorica is the de facto capital with seat of government.
Morocco Rabat 627,000 Casablanca 4,150,000 6.62 Rabat is the second largest city of Morocco.
Myanmar Naypyidaw 925,000 Yangon 4,346,000 4.7 Yangon was the capital until 2006.
New Zealand Wellington 386,000 Auckland 1,500,000 3.45 Auckland was the capital 1841–1865, and Russell in 1840–41.
Nigeria Abuja 778,567 Lagos 7,937,932 10.2 Lagos was the capital until 1991.
Pakistan Islamabad 1,740,000 Karachi 18,000,000 10.28 Karachi was the capital of 1947–1958.
Palau Ngerulmud 271 Koror 11,200 41.32 Koror was the capital until 2006.
Philippines Manila 1,652,171 Quezon City 2,761,720 1.67 Quezon City was the capital from 1948 until 1976. Both cities are in the Manila metropolitan area with Quezon City bordering Manila on the northeast.
San Marino San Marino 4,251 Serravalle 10,532 2.48
South Africa Pretoria 2,345,908 Johannesburg 3,888,180 1.66 Cape Town (pop. 3.5 mln) and Bloemfontein (pop. 370,000) serve as legislative and judicial capitals, respectively.
Sudan Khartoum 2,207,794 Omdurman 2,395,159 1.08 Wikipedia articles on Khartoum and Omdurman contradict this.
Sri Lanka Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte 115,826 Colombo 642,163 5.54 Colombo was the capital until 1982.
Switzerland Bern 122,925 Zürich 365,098 2.97
Syria Damascus 1,711,000 Aleppo 2,301,570 1.35
Tanzania Dodoma 324,347 Dar es Salaam 2,497,940 7.70 Dar es Salaam was the capital until 1974.
Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain 49,000 Chaguanas 67,400 1.37
Turkey Ankara 3,763,591 Istanbul 12,782,960 3.4 Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire until 1922.
United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi 896,751 Dubai 2,262,000 2.52
United States Washington, D.C. 601,723 New York City 8,391,881 13.94 New York was the capital 1785–1790 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.
Vietnam Hanoi 6,500,000 Ho Chi Minh City 7,123,340 1.1 Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was the capital of South Vietnam prior to reunification.

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    —Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)

    “There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern.... No, Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.”
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    “I am more and more convinced that, with reference to any public question, it is more important to know what the country thinks of it than what the city thinks. The city does not think much.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)