Countries
What is a capital?
A capital is the city where a country's government sits. It is often, but not always, the largest city. Canberra is the capital of Australia although Sydney is far larger, and the capital of Turkey is Ankara, not Istanbul.
Countries with more than one capital
Some countries divide the work of government between cities. In this data: Caribbean Netherlands (Kralendijk, Oranjestad, The Bottom); South Africa (Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape Town).
Places with no capital
A few entries have no capital because no one governs from there or lives there permanently, for example Antarctica.
When the capital is not the biggest city
In 46 of the 193 member states with a capital in this data, the largest city in our city list is a different place from the capital. Among the most populous of them: India (capital New Delhi, largest city Mumbai), China (capital Beijing, largest city Shanghai), United States (capital Washington D.C., largest city New York City), Pakistan (capital Islamabad, largest city Lahore), Nigeria (capital Abuja, largest city Lagos), Brazil (capital Brasília, largest city São Paulo), Philippines (capital Manila, largest city Quezon City), Vietnam (capital Hanoi, largest city Ho Chi Minh City), Türkiye (capital Ankara, largest city Istanbul), Tanzania (capital Dodoma, largest city Dar es Salaam). Several countries built a new capital on purpose, away from the crowded commercial city, and others chose a small city so that no large rival would be favoured.
Capitals that share the country's name
In 8 member states the capital has the same name as the country, or the same name with "City" added: Djibouti, Guatemala, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Panama, Singapore.
A few figures
The most common first letters among the capitals in the list are B (27), S (24), P (22). The table can be sorted by capital, by country or by region: tap a heading. To see only one part of the world, type its name, such as "Europe", in the box.
For quizzes and exams
Capitals are a standard general knowledge topic. A good way to learn them is one region at a time, saying the country and its capital together. The capital quiz on this site asks ten at a time and can be limited to one region.