List of national capitals

This is a list of national capitals, including capitals of territories and dependencies, non-sovereign states including associated states and entities whose sovereignty is disputed.

The capitals included on this list are those associated with states or territories listed by the international standard ISO 3166-1, or that are included in the list of states with limited recognition.

Sovereign states and observer states within the United Nations are shown in bold text.

List

City/Town Country/Territory Notes
Abidjan (former capital; still hosts some government offices)  Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) Abidjan is the largest city in Ivory Coast and is officially designated as the economic capital.
Yamoussoukro (de jure)
Abu Dhabi  United Arab Emirates
Abuja  Nigeria Lagos was the capital from 1914 to 1991.
Accra  Ghana
Adamstown  Pitcairn Islands British Overseas Territory.
Addis Ababa  Ethiopia
Aden (de facto, temporary)  Yemen Due to the Yemeni civil war (2014–present), Sanaa has been occupied by Houthi rebels since September 2014. Aden, the former capital of South Yemen, is Yemen's acting capital.
Sanaa (de jure)
Algiers  Algeria
Alofi  Niue Self-governing in free association with New Zealand. Government offices are spread across both Alofi North and Alofi South.
Amman  Jordan
Amsterdam (official)  Netherlands The Dutch government is located in The Hague, which also hosts the monarch, government ministries, judiciary and diplomatic missions. See also: Capital of the Netherlands.
The Hague (de facto)
Andorra la Vella  Andorra
Ankara  Turkey Ankara became the capital of the newly-formed Republic of Turkey in 1923, after the Turkish War of Independence. Istanbul was the capital of Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire.
Antananarivo  Madagascar
Apia  Samoa
Ashgabat  Turkmenistan
Asmara  Eritrea
Astana  Kazakhstan Astana was named Nur-Sultan from 2019 to 2022. Almaty was the capital from 1929 to 1997.
Asunción  Paraguay
Athens  Greece
Avarua  Cook Islands Self-governing in free association with New Zealand. The capital is sometimes incorrectly stated as Rarotonga, the island on which Avarua is located.
Baghdad  Iraq
Baku  Azerbaijan
Bamako  Mali
Bandar Seri Begawan  Brunei
Bangkok  Thailand
Bangui  Central African Republic
Banjul  Gambia, The
Basseterre  Saint Kitts and Nevis
Beijing  China See also: Historical capitals of China.
Beirut  Lebanon
Belgrade  Serbia
Belmopan  Belize Belize City was the capital of Belize's predecessor, British Honduras.
Berlin  Germany Bonn was the capital of West Germany and remained the seat of government for reunified Germany until 1999, and is still the primary seat of six ministries. See also: Capital of Germany.
Bern (de facto)  Switzerland
Bishkek  Kyrgyzstan
Bissau  Guinea-Bissau
Bloemfontein (judicial)  South Africa
Cape Town (legislative)
Pretoria (executive)
Bogotá  Colombia
Brades (de facto)  Montserrat British Overseas Territory. Plymouth was abandoned after the eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano in 1997. Government offices since then have been moved to Brades, which is in the northwestern part of Montserrat.
Plymouth (de jure)
Brasília  Brazil Rio de Janeiro was the capital until 1960. See also: Capitals of Brazil.
Bratislava  Slovakia
Brazzaville  Congo
Bridgetown  Barbados
Brussels  Belgium
Bucharest  Romania
Budapest  Hungary See also: List of historical capitals of Hungary.
Buenos Aires  Argentina
Cairo  Egypt A new capital is being built at the New Administrative Capital. It might be named Egypt. See also: List of historical capitals of Egypt.
Canberra  Australia Planned city built to overcome the rivalry between Melbourne (de facto capital at the time) and Sydney (economic capital and largest population center), which were both put forward as potential capitals for the nation in the Australasia Federation Conventions of the 1890s. Section 125 of the Constitution gives basic details about the location of the capital, size of the encompassing territory and so forth, while the Seat of Government Act 1908 specified its precise location.
Caracas  Venezuela
Castries  Saint Lucia
Charlotte Amalie  United States Virgin Islands Territory of the United States.
Chișinău  Moldova
Cockburn Town  Turks and Caicos Islands British Overseas Territory.
Colombo (executive, judicial)  Sri Lanka Until the 1982, the capital was Colombo, where many governmental institutions still remain, and which is still designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. See also: Capital of Sri Lanka.
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (official) Also known as Kotte, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is a suburb of Colombo.
Conakry  Guinea
Copenhagen  Denmark
Cotonou (de facto)  Benin
Porto-Novo (official)
Dakar  Senegal
Damascus  Syria
Dhaka  Bangladesh
Dili  East Timor
Djibouti  Djibouti
Dodoma  Tanzania Dar es Salaam, the former capital and largest city, continues to host some government ministries, the judiciary, and diplomatic missions.
Doha  Qatar
Douglas  Isle of Man British Crown Dependency.
Dublin  Ireland
Dushanbe  Tajikistan
Flying Fish Cove  Christmas Island External territory of Australia.
Freetown  Sierra Leone
Funafuti  Tuvalu
Gaborone  Botswana
George Town  Cayman Islands British Overseas Territory.
Georgetown  Ascension Island Part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Georgetown  Guyana
Gibraltar  Gibraltar British Overseas Territory, city-state.
Gitega (de jure)  Burundi Bujumbura was the capital from 1962 to 2018.
Bujumbura (de facto)
Guatemala City  Guatemala
Gustavia  Saint Barthélemy Overseas collectivity of France.
Hagåtña  Guam Territory of the United States.
Hamilton  Bermuda British Overseas Territory.
Hanoi  Vietnam See also: List of historical capitals of Vietnam.
Harare  Zimbabwe
Hargeisa  Somaliland Unrecognized and self-declared state, de jure part of Somalia.
Havana  Cuba
Helsinki  Finland
Honiara  Solomon Islands Honiara is a settlement on the island of Guadalcanal.
Islamabad  Pakistan Karachi was selected as the first capital of Pakistan and served as such from 1948 until the capital was shifted to Rawalpindi in 1958. Rawalpindi served as an interim capital for almost a decade until the construction of Islamabad was complete; the capital became Islamabad in 1967.
Jakarta  Indonesia A new purpose-built city named Nusantara in Kalimantan is planned to replace Jakarta as the national capital from the mid-2020s.[1][2]
Jamestown  Saint Helena Part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Jerusalem  Israel The Jerusalem Law states that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel" and the city serves as the seat of the Israeli government and its institutions. United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 declared the Jerusalem Law "null and void" and called on member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from Jerusalem. Most countries currently maintain their embassies in and around Tel Aviv. The United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital and moved its embassy there in May 2018.[3] Many countries officially adhere to the proposal that Jerusalem have international status, as called for in the 1947 Partition Plan.[4]
 Palestine
Ramallah (de facto)
Juba  South Sudan
Kabul  Afghanistan
Kampala  Uganda
Kathmandu  Nepal
Khartoum  Sudan
Kigali  Rwanda
King Edward Point  South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands British Overseas Territory.
Kingston  Jamaica
Kingston  Norfolk Island External territory of Australia.
Kingstown  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Kinshasa  Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kuala Lumpur (de jure, legislative and royal)  Malaysia
Putrajaya (administrative and judicial)
Kuwait City  Kuwait
Kyiv  Ukraine
La Paz (administrative)  Bolivia La Paz is the highest administrative capital (3,650 m) in the world, higher than Quito.[5]
Sucre (constitutional)
Laayoune (declared)  Western Sahara The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), recognized by 84 UN member states and South Ossetia, claims the mostly Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. Moroccan-controlled territory includes Laayoune, and Morocco claims all Sahrawi-controlled territory. Tifariti is the current temporary capital of the SADR (formerly Bir Lehlou). Some government and military structures reside in exile in Tindouf, Algeria.[6] See Also: Politics of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Tifariti (de facto)
Libreville  Gabon
Lilongwe  Malawi
Lima  Peru Cusco is declared the "historical capital" (Spanish: capital histórica), a merely symbolic statement, by Article 49 of the Peruvian Constitution. Arequipa is dubbed the "legal capital" of Peru for being the seat of the Constitutional Court.
Lisbon  Portugal
Ljubljana  Slovenia
Lobamba (royal and legislative)  Eswatini
Mbabane (administrative)
Lomé  Togo
London  United Kingdom Prior to the Acts of Union in 1707, London was the capital of England only; Edinburgh was the capital of the Kingdom of Scotland. The United Kingdom also includes the subdivisions of  England (capital London),  Scotland (capital Edinburgh),  Wales (capital Cardiff),  Northern Ireland (capital Belfast).
London (administration)  British Indian Ocean Territory British Overseas Territory. Officially, the British Indian Ocean Territory is administered from London,[7] though some consider the capital to be Diego Garcia.[8]
Diego Garcia (de facto)
Luanda  Angola
Lusaka  Zambia
Luxembourg  Luxembourg
Madrid  Spain
Majuro  Marshall Islands Self-governing in free association with the United States. The seat of government is at Delap-Uliga-Djarrit, a settlement on the atoll of Majuro.
Malabo  Equatorial Guinea Ciudad de la Paz is currently under construction and will become the new capital when complete.[9]
Malé  Maldives
Managua  Nicaragua
Manama  Bahrain
Manila  Philippines
Maputo  Mozambique
Mariehamn  Åland Islands Autonomous region of Finland.
Marigot  Saint Martin Overseas collectivity of France.
Maseru  Lesotho
Mata Utu  Wallis and Futuna Overseas collectivity of France.
Mexico City  Mexico
Minsk  Belarus
Mogadishu  Somalia
Monaco  Monaco City-state. Monaco does not have an official capital designated in its constitution; however, the Commune of Monaco, the country's only commune, is coterminous with the nation, making it the de facto capital.[10][11]
Monrovia  Liberia
Montevideo  Uruguay
Moroni  Comoros
Moscow  Russia
Muscat  Oman
Nairobi  Kenya
Nassau  Bahamas, The
Naypyidaw  Myanmar Yangon was the capital until 2006.[12] See also: List of capitals of Myanmar.
N'Djamena  Chad
New Delhi  India Kolkata was the capital of India until 1911 during the British Raj.
Ngerulmud  Palau Self-governing in free association with the United States. Koror City was the capital of Palau until 2006.
Niamey  Niger
Nicosia  Cyprus
Nicosia is a divided capital, split between Cyprus, which claims the whole city, and the internationally unrecognized breakaway state of Northern Cyprus.
 Northern Cyprus
Nouakchott  Mauritania
Nouméa New Caledonia Overseas territory of France.
Nukuʻalofa  Tonga
Nuuk  Greenland Self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Oranjestad  Aruba Self-governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Oslo  Norway See also: List of historical capitals of Norway.
Ottawa  Canada
Ouagadougou  Burkina Faso
Pago Pago  American Samoa Territory of the United States.
Palikir  Micronesia Self-governing in free association with the United States. Kolonia is the former capital; and Australia, China, Japan and the United States retain embassies there.
Panama City  Panama
Papeete  French Polynesia Overseas collectivity of France.
Paramaribo  Suriname
Paris  France See also: List of Capitals of France.
Philipsburg  Sint Maarten Self-governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Phnom Penh  Cambodia
Podgorica  Montenegro Cetinje has been designated the "Old Royal Capital" and is the present seat of the President.
Port Louis  Mauritius
Port Moresby  Papua New Guinea
Port of Spain  Trinidad and Tobago
Port Vila  Vanuatu
Port-au-Prince  Haiti
Prague  Czech Republic The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic is located in Brno.[13]
Praia  Cape Verde
Pristina  Kosovo De facto independent state that is recognized by 114 UN member states, Taiwan, the Cook Islands and Niue.. Claimed in whole by Serbia as part of its Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. Kosovo has de facto control over most of the territory, with limited control in North Kosovo.
Pyongyang  North Korea
Quito  Ecuador Highest official capital (2,850 m).[5]
Rabat  Morocco
Reykjavík  Iceland
Riga  Latvia
Riyadh  Saudi Arabia
Road Town  British Virgin Islands British Overseas Territory.
Rome  Italy
Roseau  Dominica
Rothera  British Antarctic Territory British Overseas Territory.
Saipan  Northern Mariana Islands Territory of the United States. The seat of government is at Capitol Hill, a settlement on the island of Saipan.
San José  Costa Rica
San Juan  Puerto Rico Territory of the United States.
San Marino  San Marino
San Salvador  El Salvador
Santiago  Chile The National Congress of Chile is located in Valparaíso.
Santo Domingo  Dominican Republic
São Tomé  São Tomé and Príncipe
Sarajevo  Bosnia and Herzegovina
Seoul  South Korea On 2 July 2012, some functions of government moved to Sejong City, which became the de facto administrative capital of South Korea.
Singapore  Singapore City-state.
Skopje  North Macedonia
Sofia  Bulgaria
South Tarawa  Kiribati South Tarawa is a settlement on the atoll of Tarawa.
St. George's  Grenada
St. Helier  Jersey British Crown Dependency.
St. John's  Antigua and Barbuda
St. Peter Port  Guernsey British Crown Dependency.
St. Pierre  Saint Pierre and Miquelon Overseas collectivity of France.
Stanley  Falkland Islands British Overseas Territory.
Stepanakert  Artsakh The self-declared country remains diplomatically unrecognized by UN member states, though Transnistria, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia all recognize it. Claimed in whole by Azerbaijan.
Stockholm  Sweden
Sukhumi  Abkhazia De facto independent state recognized by Russia, Nauru, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Syria. Claimed in whole by Georgia as the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia.
Suva  Fiji
Taipei  Taiwan Officially the Republic of China, it has been competing for recognition with the People's Republic of China as the sole Chinese government since 1949. Taiwan controls the island of Taiwan and its associated islands, Quemoy, Matsu, the Pratas, and part of the Spratly Islands.[Note 1] Its territory is claimed in whole by the People's Republic of China.[Note 2] The Republic of China participates in the World Health Organization and a number of non-UN international organizations such as the World Trade Organization, the International Olympic Committee and others under a variety of pseudonyms, most commonly Chinese Taipei.
Tallinn  Estonia
Tashkent  Uzbekistan
Tbilisi  Georgia From 2012 to 2018, Kutaisi served as Georgia's legislative capital. Additionally, Mtskheta is sometimes called an "ancient capital" of Georgia.[14][15]
Tegucigalpa  Honduras Comayagüela is declared in the Honduran Constitution as co-official capital with Tegucigalpa.[16] They have since merged into a single urban area.
Comayagüela
Tehran  Iran
Thimphu  Bhutan
Tirana  Albania
Tiraspol  Transnistria De facto independent state, not recognized by any UN-member, but by Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Artsakh. Claimed in whole by Moldova as the autonomous territorial unit of Administrative-Territorial Units of the Left Bank of the Dniester
Tokyo  Japan See also: Capital of Japan.
Tórshavn  Faroe Islands Self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Tripoli  Libya
Tskhinvali  South Ossetia De facto independent state recognized by Russia, Nauru, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Syria. Claimed in whole by Georgia as the Provisional Administration of South Ossetia.
Tunis  Tunisia
Ulaanbaatar  Mongolia
Vaduz  Liechtenstein
Valletta  Malta
The Valley  Anguilla British Overseas Territory.
Vatican City  Vatican City City-state.
Victoria  Seychelles
Vienna  Austria
Vientiane  Laos
Vilnius  Lithuania
Warsaw  Poland Former capitals listed in: Template:Historical capitals of Poland.
Washington, D.C.  United States The capital of the United States has moved multiple times. See also: National capitals of the United States.
Wellington  New Zealand Since 1865. Wellington is New Zealand's third capital. See also: Capital of New Zealand.
West Island  Cocos (Keeling) Islands External territory of Australia.
Willemstad  Curaçao Self-governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Windhoek  Namibia
Yaoundé  Cameroon
Yaren (de facto)  Nauru Nauru has no official capital; however, the government offices are in Yaren.
Yerevan  Armenia
Zagreb  Croatia

Notes

  1. ^ Sovereignty over the Spratly Islands is disputed by the PRC, the ROC, Vietnam, the Philippines (part), Malaysia (part), and Brunei (part). Except Brunei, each of these countries occupies part of the islands (see List of territorial disputes).
  2. ^ In 1949, the Republic of China government led by the Kuomintang (KMT) lost the Chinese Civil War to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and set up a provisional capital in Taipei. The CCP established the People's Republic. As such, the political status of the ROC and the legal status of Taiwan (alongside the territories under ROC jurisdiction) are in dispute. In 1971, the United Nations gave the China seat to the PRC instead of the ROC: most states recognize the PRC to be the sole legitimate representative of all China, and the UN classifies Taiwan as "Taiwan, Province of China". The ROC has de facto relations with most sovereign states. A significant political movement within Taiwan advocates Taiwan independence.

References

  1. ^ "Indonesia announces site of capital city to replace sinking Jakarta". The Guardian. 26 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Indonesia names new capital that will replace Jakarta". BBC News. 2022-01-18. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  3. ^ See the CIA Factbook and Map of Israel
  4. ^ Sharkansky, Ira (1996). Governing Jerusalem: Again on the world's agenda. Wayne State University Press. p. 23. ISBN 0-8143-2592-0.
  5. ^ a b Jacobs, Frank (19 June 2012). "Amazonia or Bust!". New York Times. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  6. ^ "CIA - The World Factbook -- Western Sahara". June 12, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-06-12.
  7. ^ "Governance | British Indian Ocean Territory". www.biot.gov.io. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  8. ^ "British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)" (PDF). Island Studies. University of Prince Edward Island.
  9. ^ Fortin, Jacey (19 December 2012). "Poverty-Stricken Equatorial Guinea Builds Expensive Capital City In The Middle Of Nowhere". International Business Times.
  10. ^ "Constitution of the Principality". Gouvernement Princier Principauté de Monaco. Principauté de Monaco. 17 December 1962. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Monaco". Britannica. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  12. ^ "Nay Pyi Taw | national capital, Myanmar | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  13. ^ "Countries With More Than One Capital City". WorldAtlas. 2022-10-30. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  14. ^ "Mtskheta | Ancient Capital, UNESCO Site | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  15. ^ "Georgia marks day of ancient capital Mtskheta, Svetitskhoveli UNESCO monument". Agenda.ge. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  16. ^ "Constitution of Honduras" (PDF) (in Spanish). 2010-07-05. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-07-05. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
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