Capitals of the World
Countries drawn at random from all 195. The wrong answers are always capitals from the same part of the world, so you cannot get there by elimination. Every round is a different set.
Questions people get stuck on
How many capital cities are there in the world?
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195, if you count one per country: the 193 UN member states plus the two permanent observer states, Vatican City and Palestine. The number goes up if you count dependencies and territories, which have capitals of their own but are not sovereign countries.
Which countries have more than one capital?
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South Africa is the clearest case, with three: Pretoria for the executive, Cape Town for parliament and Bloemfontein for the courts. Bolivia splits between Sucre, the constitutional capital, and La Paz, where the government actually sits. Eswatini divides Mbabane and Lobamba, and Sri Lanka splits parliament in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte from the executive in Colombo.
Does every country have an official capital?
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No. Switzerland names no capital in its constitution. Bern is the seat of government and is called the federal city instead. Nauru has no official capital either, and Yaren is listed because that is where parliament and the ministries are.
Which capitals moved most recently?
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Burundi shifted its political capital from Bujumbura to Gitega in 2019. Myanmar moved from Yangon to the purpose-built Naypyidaw in 2005. Indonesia legislated a move from Jakarta to Nusantara in Borneo in 2022, and that transition is still under way, so Jakarta is still the working capital.
Why is the capital of the Netherlands not The Hague?
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Amsterdam is the constitutional capital, and the Dutch constitution says so explicitly. Everything you would expect a capital to hold is in The Hague, though: parliament, the ministries, the Supreme Court and the monarch's working palace.
Which capital city has the fewest people?
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Ngerulmud in Palau, with a population in the hundreds. It was purpose-built as a seat of government and has almost no residents beyond that, which makes it a reliable way to catch people out in a quiz.
The countries where one capital is the wrong number
A quiz needs one answer per country, and for 22 of the 195 that is a simplification. Some split the job between two cities, some moved and left the old one bigger, and three have never named a capital in law at all. These are the ones worth knowing before you argue with the game about them.
Countries that name more than one
Parliament sits in one city, the ministries in another, sometimes the courts in a third. Each of these countries has an official answer, and each has a second city that does more of the work.
- South Africa
- South Africa has three capitals: Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative) and Bloemfontein (judicial).
- Bolivia
- Sucre is the constitutional capital. La Paz holds the executive and the legislature.
- Netherlands
- Amsterdam is the constitutional capital. Parliament, the ministries and the monarch's working seat are all in The Hague.
- Sri Lanka
- Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte holds parliament and is the official capital. Colombo is the executive and commercial centre.
- Eswatini
- Mbabane is the administrative capital. Lobamba is the legislative and royal capital.
- Malaysia
- Kuala Lumpur is the national capital. Putrajaya has been the administrative and judicial seat since the late 1990s.
- Benin
- Porto-Novo is the official capital. Cotonou is the seat of government and the larger city.
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Yamoussoukro has been the official capital since 1983, but Abidjan is the seat of government and by far the larger city.
- Chile
- Santiago is the capital, though the National Congress sits in Valparaíso.
Capitals that moved, or are still moving
Building a capital inland, away from the coast and the largest city, is common enough that four of these are the same story at different stages. One of them is still under construction and one is only half moved in.
- Burundi
- Burundi moved its political capital from Bujumbura to Gitega in 2019. Bujumbura remains the economic centre.
- Myanmar
- The capital moved from Yangon to the purpose-built Naypyidaw in 2005.
- Tanzania
- Dodoma has been the official capital since 1974. Dar es Salaam is still the largest city and main port.
- Indonesia
- Jakarta is still the capital in practice. Indonesia legislated a move to Nusantara in Borneo in 2022, and the transition is ongoing.
- Equatorial Guinea
- Malabo is the capital. A purpose-built replacement, Ciudad de la Paz, has been under construction inland for years.
- Kazakhstan
- The city was renamed Nur-Sultan in 2019 and changed back to Astana in 2022.
Where the answer is contested
Four cases where the city a government names is not the city other governments recognise, or where the country is divided over it. The quiz follows each country's own designation and says so in the answer.
- Israel
- Israel designates Jerusalem as its capital and seats its government there. That status is not recognised by most countries, and most embassies are in Tel Aviv.
- Palestine
- Ramallah is the administrative seat of the Palestinian Authority. Palestine claims East Jerusalem as its capital.
- Cyprus
- Nicosia is the capital of both the Republic of Cyprus and the self-declared north, and has been divided since 1974.
- Yemen
- Sanaa is the constitutional capital. The internationally recognised government has used Aden as a temporary seat since 2015.
Countries with no official capital at all
Three have never written one into law. They get an answer here because a government has to meet somewhere, and that is the place.
- Switzerland
- Switzerland has no formal capital in its constitution. Bern is the seat of government and is called the federal city.
- Nauru
- Nauru has no official capital. Yaren is where parliament and the government offices are, so it is listed as one.
- Kiribati
- The government sits in South Tarawa, the urbanised southern chain of Tarawa atoll.