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Countries Whose Capital is Not Their Largest City

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This map shows countries whose capital is not their largest city.

Last updated: 13 years ago

Country	Capital	Population	Largest city	Population	Note
Australia	Canberra	345,000	Sydney	4,500,000
Belize	Belmopan	16,400	Belize City	70,000	Note: Belize City was the capital until 1970.
Benin	Porto-Novo	223,500	Cotonou	761,100	Note: Cotonou is the de facto capital with seat of government.
Bolivia	Sucre	225,000	Santa Cruz de la Sierra	1,594,926	Note: La Paz is the de facto capital with seat of government.
Brazil	Brasília	2,557,158	São Paulo	11,150,249
Cameroon	Yaoundé	1,430,000	Douala	2,000,000	Note: Yaoundé is the second largest city of Cameroon.
Canada	Ottawa	812,129	Toronto	2,503,281	Note: 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	Note: Beijing is the second largest city of China.
Côte d'Ivoire	Yamoussoukro	200,659	Abidjan	4,348,000	Note: Abidjan was the capital until 1983.
Ecuador	Quito	1,397,698	Guayaquil	2,600,000	Note: Quito is the second largest city of Ecuador.
India	New Delhi	19,000,000	Mumbai	21,000,000
Kazakhstan	Astana	691,529	Almaty	1,420,747	Note: Almaty was the capital until 1997.
Liechtenstein	Vaduz	5,109	Schaan	5,806
Malta	Valletta	6,000	Birkirkara	21,000
Federated States of Micronesia	Palikir	5,000	Weno	7,000
Monaco	Monaco (Monaco-Ville)	1,034	Monte Carlo	15,507	Note: 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	Note: Podgorica is the de facto capital with seat of government.
Morocco	Rabat	627,000	Casablanca	4,150,000	Note: Rabat is the second largest city of Morocco.
Myanmar	Naypyidaw	925,000	Yangon	4,346,000	Note: Yangon was the capital until 2006.
New Zealand	Wellington	386,000	Auckland	1,333,300	Note: Auckland was the capital 1841–1865, and Russell in 1840–41.
Nigeria	Abuja	778,567	Lagos	7,937,932	Note: Lagos was the capital until 1991.
Pakistan	Islamabad	1,740,000	Karachi	18,000,000	Note: Karachi was the capital of 1947–1958.
Palau	Ngerulmud	271	Koror	11,200	Note: Koror was the capital until 2006.
Philippines	Manila	1,660,714	Quezon City	2,679,450	Note: Quezon City was the capital 1948–1976.
San Marino	San Marino	4,493	Dogana	7,000
South Africa	Pretoria	2,345,908	Johannesburg	3,888,180	Note: 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
Sri Lanka	Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte	115,826	Colombo	642,163	Note: Colombo was the capital until 1982.
Switzerland	Bern	122,925	Zürich	365,098
Syria	Damascus	1,711,000	Aleppo	2,301,570
Republic of China (Taiwan)	Taipei	2,615,613	New Taipei	3,896,316
Tanzania	Dodoma	324,347	Dar es Salaam	2,497,940	Note: Dar es Salaam was the capital until 1974.
Trinidad and Tobago	Port of Spain	49,000	Chaguanas	67,400
Turkey	Ankara	3,763,591	Istanbul	12,782,960	Note: Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire until 1922.
United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi	896,751	Dubai	2,262,000
United States	Washington, D.C.	601,723	New York City	8,391,881	Note: New York was the capital 1785–1790
Vietnam	Hanoi	6,500,000	Ho Chi Minh City	7,123,340	Note: Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was the capital of South Vietnam prior to reunification.