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List of countries whose capital is not their largest city
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an incomplete list of countries whose capital is not their largest city. Many of the population figures include the metropolitan area, while others do not.
Source: List of capitals and largest cities by country.
| Country | Capital | Capital population |
Largest city | Largest city population |
Ratio | Note |
| Australia | Canberra | 322,000 | Sydney | 4,198,543 | 13.0 | |
| Belize | Belmopan | 7,000 | Belize City | 49,040 | 7 | unofficial population of Belize City is even larger; was capital till 1970 |
| Benin | Porto-Novo | 223,500 | Cotonou | 761,100 | 3.4 | Cotonou is the de facto capital with seat of government |
| Bolivia | La Paz | 1 million | Santa Cruz | 1.5 million | 1.5 | Sucre is the constitutional capital, La Paz the seat of government. La Paz is the center of the largest metropolitan area in the country, but the city of Santa Cruz is larger than the city of La Paz. |
| Sucre | 247,300 | 6 | ||||
| Brazil | Brasília | 2.2 million | São Paulo | 11 million | 4.545 | |
| Cameroon | Yaoundé | 1,430,000 | Douala | 2 million + | 1.399 | |
| Canada | Ottawa | 1,146,790 | Toronto | 5,203,686 | 4.538 | |
| China | Beijing | 14,930,000 | Shanghai | 18,670,000 | 1.25 | |
| Côte d'Ivoire | Yamoussoukro | 200,659 | Abidjan | 4 million + | 20 | Abidjan is still the de facto capital |
| Ecuador | Quito | 1,399,378 | Guayaquil | 1,985,379 | 1.419 | |
| India | New Delhi (Delhi) | 321,900 (17,037,900) | Mumbai City (Mumbai) | 3,340,000 (17,449,532) | 10.5 (1.02) | city (metropolitan area) |
| Kazakhstan | Astana | 520,000 | Almaty | 1,300,000 + | 2.5 | Almaty was capital of Kazakhstan until 1998 |
| Liechtenstein | Vaduz | 5,000 | Schaan | 5,513 | 1.10 | |
| Malawi | Lilongwe | 440,500 | Blantyre | 646,235 | 1.47 | |
| Malta | Valletta | 7,199 | Birkirkara | 25,000 | 3.5 | |
| Micronesia | Palikir | 9,900 | Weno | 13,900 | 1.404 | |
| Monaco | Monaco-Ville | 1,150 | Monte-Carlo | 15,300 | 13.3 | de facto it's one city-state |
| Morocco | Rabat | 1.2 million | Casablanca | 2.95 million | 2.46 | |
| Myanmar | Naypyidaw | unk. | Yangon | 4,082,000 | 41 | Yangon was the capital until 2006 |
| New Zealand | Wellington | 367,600 | Auckland | 1,223,200 | 3.3 | Auckland was the capital between 1840 and 1865 |
| Nigeria | Abuja | 1,078,700 | Lagos | 10 to 15 million | 10-15 | Lagos was capital of Nigeria until 1991 |
| Pakistan | Islamabad | 610,000 | Karachi | 9 million | 15 | Karachi was capital of Pakistan from 1947 to 1958. |
| Palau | Melekeok | 391 | Koror | 10,743 | 27.5 | Koror was capital before 2006-10-07. |
| Philippines | Manila | 1,581,082 | Quezon City | 2,173,831 | 1.375 | Quezon City, a former capital, and Manila de facto both is part of Metro Manila (pop. 12,295 mln) |
| San Marino | San Marino | 4,352 | Serravalle | 8,700 | 2 | |
| Scotland | Edinburgh | 457,830 | Glasgow | 578,790 | 2 | |
| South Africa | Pretoria | 2,893,251 | Johannesburg | 3,225,812 | 1.11 | Cape Town (pop. 2.9 mil) and Bloemfontein (pop. 645,000) serve as legislative and judicial capitals, respectively |
| Sri Lanka | Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte | 115,800 | Colombo | 642,200 | 5.55 | de facto Kotte is suburb of Great Colombo (pop. 2,25 mln) |
| Sudan | Khartoum | 950,000 | Omdurman | 1.3 million | 1.368 | de facto both is part of Great Khartoum (pop. 5,5 mln) |
| Swaziland | Mbabane | 67,200 | Manzini | 73,000 | 1.09 | Manzini was the capital of Kingdom until 1902 |
| Switzerland | Bern | 127,000 | Zürich | 366,145 | 2.9 | |
| Tanzania | Dodoma | 324,000 | Dar es Salaam | 2.5 million | 7.7 | Dar es Salaam is still the de facto capital |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Port of Spain | 49,000 | Chaguanas | 67,400 | 1.37 | |
| Turkey | Ankara | 5,153,000 | Istanbul | 8,803,468 | 1.7 | Istanbul was capital of the Ottoman Empire until 1922 |
| United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | 1,000,000 | Dubai | 1,141,959 | 1.14 | |
| United States | Washington, D.C. | 553,523 (8,125,656) | New York City | 8,168,338 (21,903,623) | 14.7 | New York was the United States' first capital city under the Constitution, although it was not at that time the country's largest city. |
| Vietnam | Hanoi | 4,100,000 | Ho Chi Minh City | 5,387,100 | 1.3 | Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was the capital of South Vietnam prior to its annexation. |