Capitals that are Not the Largest City by Country 2025

Capital Population 2025

10M

12M

14M

16M

18M

20M

22M

Taiwan

2.7M

Country	Capital City↓	Capital Population 2025	Largest City	Largest City Population 2025	Capita / Largest City Population Ratio 2025	Additional Capital Details
Cameroon	Yaoundé	1.4M	Douala	2M	1.4
Ivory Coast	Yamoussoukro	200.7K	Abidjan	4.3M	21.7	Abidjan was the capital until 1983
New Zealand	Wellington	208.8K	Auckland	1.5M	7.33	Auckland was the capital from 1841 to 1865.
United States	Washington, D.C.	705.7K	New York City	8.4M	12.7	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 is the 20th-largest city in the United States, but the Washington metropolitan area is the sixth-largest (estimated 6,216,589 in 2017).
Malta	Valletta	5.8K	St. Paul's Bay	29.1K	6.62	Valletta is part of the Central Region, a conurbation with a population of 111,994.
Liechtenstein	Vaduz	5.1K	Schaan	6K	1.14	Vaduz is the second largest city in Liechtenstein. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area.
Taiwan	Taipei	2.7M	New Taipei	4M	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.
Bolivia	Sucre	259.4K	Santa Cruz de la Sierra[1]	1.5M	7.1	La Paz is the de facto capital with the seat of government; it is in Bolivia's second most populous metropolitan area.
Sri Lanka	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	113K	Colombo	648K
San Marino	San Marino	4.2K	Serravalle	10.6K	2.52
Morocco	Rabat	627K	Casablanca	4.2M	6.62	Rabat is the seventh largest city in Morocco.
Ecuador	Quito	1.8M	Guayaquil	2.7M	1.5
South Africa	Pretoria	2.3M	Johannesburg	5.6M	1.66	Cape Town (pop. 4.8 million) and Bloemfontein (metro pop. 747,431) serve as legislative and judicial capitals respectively.
Benin	Porto-Novo	264.3K	Cotonou	761.1K	3.4	Cotonou is the de facto capital with seat of government. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area.
Trinidad and Tobago	Port of Spain	49K	Chaguanas	67.4K	1.37	Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area.
Micronesia	Palikir	5K	Weno	13K	1.4
Canada	Ottawa	1M	Toronto	2.8M	3.08	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 it came time 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) that it should be Ottawa
India	New Delhi	250K	Mumbai	12.4M	49.8	In 1912, the capital was moved from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to New Delhi. The neighbouring city of Delhi had previously served as the capital of the Mughal Empire.
Myanmar	Naypyidaw	925K	Yangon	4.3M	4.7	Yangon was the capital until 2006. Naypyidaw is a planned city and not does not have contiguous urban areas or a proper metro area.
Equatorial Guinea	Malabo	297K	Bata	513K
Israel	Jerusalem	363.1K	Tel Aviv	460.6K	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. Without East Jerusalem, Tel Aviv is Israel's largest city.
Pakistan	Islamabad	1M	Karachi	14.9M	14.7	Karachi was the capital from 1947 to 1958.
Vietnam	Hanoi	8.1M	Ho Chi Minh City	9M	1.1	Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was the capital of South Vietnam prior to reunification.
Burundi	Gitega	41.9K	Bujumbura	1.1M	26.1	Bujumbura was the capital until 2019
Tanzania	Dodoma	324.3K	Dar es Salaam	2.5M	7.7	Dar es Salaam was the capital until 1974.
Australia	Canberra	426.7K	Sydney	5.3M	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.
Belgium	Brussels	188.7K	Antwerp	536.1K	2.84	Considering Brussels metropolitan area has more inhabitants, Antwerp is the largest in city inhabitants.
Brazil	Brasília	3.5M	São Paulo	12.3M	4.25	Brasília is a planned city and has been the capital city since its inauguration in 1960. Rio de Janeiro was the capital from 1763 until 1960. Brasília is the third most populous city in Brazil and the seventh largest metropolitan area.
Switzerland	Bern	138K	Zürich	397.7K	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
Belize	Belmopan	20.6K	Belize City	61.8K	3.07	Belize City was the capital until 1970
China	Beijing	22M	Shanghai	30.5M	1.39
Gambia	Banjul	31.3K	Serrekunda	337K	2.18
Kazakhstan	Astana	743K	Almaty	1.5M	1.95	Almaty was the capital from 1927 to 1997. Astana was named Nur-Sultan from 2019 until 2022.
Turkey	Ankara	5.2M	Istanbul	14.4M	3.4	Istanbul (as Constantinople) was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1453 to 1922.
Nigeria	Abuja	778.6K	Lagos	7.9M	10.2	Lagos was the capital until 1991
United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi	896.8K	Dubai	2.3M	2.52

Populations listed are sourced from United Nations population projections.

Just because a city is the capital of a country doesn’t mean it has the largest population.

The United States is a good example. The capital of the US is Washington (pop. 601,723), DC, but the city with the largest population is New York City (pop.8,391,881).

Many think that Sydney (pop. 4,500,000) is the capital of Australia when, in fact, it’s Canberra (pop. 345,000). Canberra is the largest inland city but the eighth-largest city overall.

Belize is the least populated country in Central America, so it makes sense that the capital, Belmopan, only has a population of 16,400 people, while the largest city, Belize City, has 70,000.

Brasililia (pop. 2,557,158) is the capital city of Brazil, while São Paulo (pop.11,150,249) is the largest city. São Paulo is actually the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere.

The most populated city in Canada is Toronto, at 2,503,281, while the capital, Ottawa, only has 812,129. Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the fourth largest in North America.

The People’s Republic of China’s capital is Beijing (pop. 22,000,000), while the largest city is Shanghai (pop. 23,210,000). Beijing has been the capital of China for nearly 800 years.

More people in New Zealand (pop. 1,333,300) live in Auckland rather than the capital Wellington (pop. 386,000). Auckland is the fifth-largest city in Oceania.

The largest city in Pakistan is Karachi, with a population of 18,000,000. The capital, Islamabad, has a population of 1,740,000. Karachi is the 12th largest city in the world.

Commonly, Johannesburg is mistaken for the capital of South Africa. Pretoria is the executive and de facto capital. South Africa has two other capital cities - Cape Town (legislative branch) and Bloemfontein (judicial branch).

Abu Dhabi (pop. 896,751) is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, while Dubai (pop. 2,262,000) is far more populated and is growing rapidly.