List of countries whose capital is not their largest city

This is an incomplete list of countries whose capital is not their largest city. Many of the population figures include the metropolitan area, while others do not.

Countries whose capital is not their largest city.

Country	Capital	Population	Largest city	Population	Ratio	Note
Australia	Canberra	322,000	Sydney	4,300,000	13.0
Belize	Belmopan	16,400	Belize City	49,040	7	Unofficial population of Belize City is even larger; it was capital until 1970.
Benin	Porto-Novo	223,500	Cotonou	761,100	3.4	Cotonou is the de facto capital with seat of government.
Bolivia	La Paz	1,000,000	Santa Cruz	1,500,000	1.5	Sucre is the constitutional capital, La Paz the seat of government. La Paz is the center of the largest metropolitan area in the country, but the city of Santa Cruz is larger than the city of La Paz.
	Sucre	247,300			6.07
Brazil	Brasília	2,557,158	São Paulo	11,150,249	4.545
Burma	Naypyidaw	90,000	Yangon	4,082,000	4.5	Yangon was the capital until 2006.
Cameroon	Yaoundé	1,430,000	Douala	2,000,000 +	1.399
Canada	Ottawa	812,129 (1,300,000)	Toronto	2,503,281 (5,113,149)	3.082 (3.933)
China	Beijing	14,930,000	Shanghai	18,670,000	1.25
Côte d'Ivoire	Yamoussoukro	200,659	Abidjan	4,000,000 +	20	Abidjan is still the de facto capital.
Ecuador	Quito	1,399,378	Guayaquil	2,985,379	2.419
India	New Delhi (Delhi)	321,900 (17,037,900)	Mumbai (Mumbai Conurbation)	13,200,000 (20,000,000)	40.1 (1.174)	City (metropolitan area)
Israel	Jerusalem	747,600	Tel Aviv	3,150,800	4.21
Kazakhstan	Astana	577,300	Almaty	1,226,000 +	2.12	Almaty was capital of Kazakhstan until 10 December 1997.
Liechtenstein	Vaduz	5,000	Schaan	5,513	1.10
Malawi	Lilongwe	440,500	Blantyre	646,235	1.47
Malta	Valletta	7,199	Birkirkara	21,000	3.5
Micronesia	Palikir	9,900	Weno	13,900	1.404
Monaco	Monaco-Ville	1,150	Monte Carlo	15,300	13.3	Officially, Monaco is a single municipality. Monaco-Ville and Monte-Carlo are quartiers, or wards, thereof.
Morocco	Rabat	1,200,000	Casablanca	2,950,000	2.46
New Zealand	Wellington	367,600	Auckland	1,223,200	3.3	Auckland was the capital between 1841 and 1865, and Russell in 1840–41.
Nigeria	Abuja	1,078,700	Lagos	7,900,000	7.8	Lagos was capital of Nigeria until 1991.
Pakistan	Islamabad	610,000	Karachi	9,000,000	15	Karachi was capital of Pakistan from 1947 to 1958.
Philippines	Manila	1,581,082	Quezon City	2,173,831	1.375	Quezon City, a former capital, and Manila de facto are part of Metro Manila (pop. 12,295 mln).
San Marino	San Marino	4,352	Serravalle	8,700	2
Scotland	Edinburgh	471,650 (2008)	Glasgow	580,690 (2006)	1.23
South Africa	Pretoria	2,345,908	Johannesburg	3,888,180	1.66	Cape Town (pop. 3.5 mln) and Bloemfontein (pop. 645,000) serve as legislative and judicial capitals, respectively.
Sudan	Khartoum	950,000	Omdurman	1,300,000	1.368	Both are de facto part of Great Khartoum (pop. 5.5 mln).
Sri Lanka	Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte	115,826	Colombo	642,163		Colombo was the capital of Sri Lanka until 1982.
Swaziland	Mbabane	67,200	Manzini	73,000	1.09	Manzini was the capital of the Kingdom until 1902.
Switzerland	Berne	128,041 (2007)	Zürich	376,815 (December 2007)	2.943
Trinidad and Tobago	Port of Spain	49,000	Chaguanas	67,400	1.37
Turkey	Ankara	5,153,000	Istanbul	11,372,613	2.21	Istanbul was capital of the Ottoman Empire until 1922.
United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi	1,000,000	Dubai	1,141,959	1.14
United States	Washington, D.C.	553,523 (8,125,656)	New York City	8,768,338 (21,903,623)	14.7 (2.7)	New York was the United States' first capital city under the Constitution. Given that the First Census indicates that New York was the largest city in 1790 by a margin of about 5,000, it is likely that for the year and ten months (March 1789-December 1790) that the capital of the United States was in New York, New York was also the largest city in the United States. [1]
Vietnam	Hanoi	4,100,000	Ho Chi Minh City	5,387,100	1.3	Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was the capital of South Vietnam prior the unification.

See also

• List of second cities
• List of capitals and largest cities by country
• List of largest cities and second largest cities by country

References

1. ^ http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/tab02.txt