List of countries whose capital is not their largest city

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.

List Country Capital Population Largest city Population Ratio Notes 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. Belmopan 20,621 Belize City 61,762 3.07 Belize City was the capital until 1970. 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. Sucre 259,388 Santa Cruzde la Sierra 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. 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. Gitega 41,944 Bujumbura 1,092,859 26.06 Bujumbura was the capital until 2019. 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. Ottawa 1,017,449 Toronto 2,794,356 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. Both cities were made part of Ontario province. 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. Chongqing was the capital from 1937 to 1945. Chongqing (city boundaries) 32,054,159 1.46 Quito 1,763,275 Guayaquil 2,650,288 1.5 Quito is the second largest city in Ecuador. Ciudad de la Paz 2,000 Malabo 297,000 148.5 Malabo was the capital until January 2026. Banjul 31,301 Serrekunda 337,000 Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area. 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. Jerusalem (limited recognition) 363,095(excludingEast 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. Yamoussoukro 200,659 Abidjan 4,348,000 21.7 Abidjan was the capital until 1983. 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. 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. Palikir 5,000 Weno 13,000 1.4 Palikir is the second largest city of Micronesia. 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. Rabat 627,000 Casablanca 4,150,000 6.62 Rabat is the seventh largest city in Morocco. 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. Yaren 803 Meneng 1,797 2.28 Nauru does not have a de jure capital, but Yaren is capital de facto. Wellington Auckland Auckland was the capital from 1841 to 1865. Abuja 778,567 Lagos 7,937,932 10.2 Lagos was the capital until 1991. Islamabad 1,014,825 Karachi 14,910,352 14.69 Karachi was the capital from 1947 to 1958. 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. Jerusalem (limited recognition) 573,330 (East Jerusalem) Gaza City 590,481 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 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 4,211 Serravalle 10,601 2.52 Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area. 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. 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) 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. Dodoma 324,347 Dar es Salaam 2,497,940 7.70 Dar es Salaam was the capital until 1996. 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. Ankara 5,150,072 Istanbul 14,377,018 3.4 Istanbul (as Constantinople) was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1453 to 1922. Abu Dhabi 896,751 Dubai 2,262,000 2.52 Abu Dhabi is the second largest city in the United Arab Emirates. 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 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.

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