Some countries can be considered to have multiple capitals. In some cases, one city is the capital for some purposes, and one or more others are capital for other purposes, without any being considered an official capital in preference to the others. There are also cases where there is a single legally defined capital, but one or more other cities operate as the seat of government of some or all parts of the national government; in these situations, sources may disagree on whether these other cities are considered additional capital cities.
Bonus legend:
| Country | Capital | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Pago Pago | Official capital and home to the territorial government. [1] | |
| Fagatogo | Seat of government, where the legislature, High Court and District Court are located. [2] [3] [4] [5] | |
| Utulei | Legislative capital and home to the executive office building of the country. [6] [7] | |
| St. John's | Official capital. | |
| Marble Hill | Home to most of the country's diplomatic missions. [8] [9] | |
| Belmopan | Official capital. | |
| Belize City | Home to most government offices and embassies of the country. | |
| Porto-Novo | Official capital. | |
| Cotonou | Seat of government; de facto administrative capital. | |
| Sucre | Constitutional capital. | |
| La Paz | Seat of government; de facto executive and legislative capital. | |
| Buka | Current capital. | |
| Arawa | Future capital. The town was largely destroyed during the Bougainville Civil War,[ citation needed ] resulting in the relocation of the capital to Buka, though there are plans to rebuild Arawa and make it the capital again. [10] | |
| Gitega | Official political capital. | |
| Bujumbura | Economic capital and seat of government. [11] | |
| Santiago | Official capital. | |
| Valparaíso | Home to the Chilean legislature. | |
| Yamoussoukro | Official capital. | |
| Abidjan | De facto administrative capital. [12] | |
| Prague | Official capital. | |
| Brno | Important centre of the Czech judiciary. | |
| Jihlava | Home to the Energy Regulatory Office . [13] | |
| Santo Domingo | Official capital. | |
| Santo Domingo Oeste | De facto co-capital of the Dominican Republic as seat of the Constitutional Court and the Central Electoral Commission. [14] | |
| Cairo | Current capital. | |
| The New Capital | Future capital. In March 2015, Egypt proposed building a New Administrative Capital, currently undergoing a naming process. [15] It is now under construction and lies east of the present capital Cairo. The city is projected to be home to more than 40 million people by 2050. [16] | |
| Tallinn | Official capital. | |
| Tartu | Often considered the "intellectual capital city" of the country. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] It is also home to the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Education and Research. | |
| Mbabane | Administrative capital. | |
| Lobamba | Legislative capital and royal residence. | |
| Paris | Official capital of the country and the seat of both houses of Parliament (the National Assembly and the Senate). [22] | |
| Versailles | Seat of joint congresses of both houses of Parliament (the National Assembly and the Senate), which are officially held at the Palace of Versailles. | |
| Tbilisi | Official capital. | |
| Mtskheta | Sometimes called the "ancient capital" of Georgia. [23] [24] | |
| Berlin | Official capital. | |
| Bonn | It has the special title of "federal city" (Bundesstadt) and is the primary seat of six ministries. [25] | |
| Karlsruhe | Seat of the Federal Constitutional Court. Also, this city, as a consequence of this, is sometimes called Germany's "judicial capital".[ citation needed ] | |
| Tegucigalpa | Joint constitutional capital with Comayagüela. [26] | |
| Comayagüela | ||
| Hong Kong | Official capital. | |
| Central | Today's seat of government offices of the country. Actually, this city is a central business district, and not an adjecent regular city. | |
| Jakarta | Current capital. | |
| Nusantara | Future capital. Nusantara has been under construction since July 2022 and is expected to replace Jakarta as the capital of Indonesia. [27] For decades, Indonesia has mulled the relocation of its capital from Jakarta, which is overcrowded and subsiding rapidly. On 26 August 2019, President Joko Widodo announced that the future Indonesian capital would be carved from Penajam North Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regencies in East Kalimantan province. [28] [29] The proposed capital was named Nusantara on 16 January 2022. [30] | |
| Tehran | Current capital. | |
| Makran | Future capital. The southern coastal region of Makran is expected to replace Tehran as its national capital of Iran due to both population overcrowding and vulnerability to earthquakes. [31] | |
| Jerusalem | Official capital, but with limited recognition. Recognition by other UN member states: Russia (West Jerusalem), [32] the Czech Republic (West Jerusalem), [33] Argentina, [34] Honduras, [35] Guatemala, [36] Nauru, [37] and the United States. [38] | |
| Tel Aviv | Home to most embassies of the country (the UN does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's proclaimed capital). | |
| Tokyo | Official capital. | |
| Kyoto | It is considered the cultural capital of Japan and is a major tourist destination. It is also home to the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the national government. Additionally, the internationally renowned video game company called Nintendo is also headquartered there. | |
| St Helier | Official capital. | |
| St Saviour | Home to the official royal residence of the country: Government House. | |
| Pristina | Official capital of the country and its seat of government. [41] [42] | |
| Prizren | Historic capital of the country (only recognized by a separate law). [42] | |
| Tripoli | Official capital of the country and home to the Presidential Council and the Government of National Unity. It is sometimes referred to as "the de jure capital of Libya" because none of the country's ministries are actually located in the capital.[ citation needed ] | |
| Tobruk | Home to the House of Representatives (the internationally recognized government of Libya) [43] [44] and the Government of National Stability. | |
| Kuala Lumpur | Constitutional and legislative capital; royal seat. | |
| Putrajaya | De facto administrative and judicial capital. | |
| Podgorica | Administrative capital of the country. | |
| Cetinje | The Old Royal Capital of the country. | |
| Plymouth | De jure capital of the country. Abandoned in 1997, following a volcanic eruption. | |
| Brades | De facto capital of the country. That's because government buildings are now located in there. | |
| Little Bay | Future capital. Little Bay is a town under construction in Montserrat, intended to replace the previous capital, Plymouth, which was destroyed by the eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano in 1997. | |
| Naypyidaw | Official capital. | |
| Yangon | Home to most government offices and embassies of the country. | |
| Amsterdam | Capital per constitution. | |
| The Hague | Seat of government. | |
| North Nicosia | De facto capital of the country. | |
| Nicosia | De jure capital of the country. [50] | |
| Jerusalem | Proclaimed capital of the country, but with limited recognition. The Palestinian Declaration of Independence proclaims the "establishment of the State of Palestine on our Palestinian territory with its capital Jerusalem (Al-Quds Ash-Sharif)". Israel exercises de facto control over Jerusalem, but neither state's claims to Jerusalem are widely recognized by the international community. | |
| Ramallah | De facto capital of the country. It is also the administrative capital where government institutions and foreign representative offices are located. | |
| Lima | Official capital. | |
| Cusco | Historical capital of the country. [60] | |
| Manila | De jure capital of the country. | |
| Metro Manila | De facto capital of the country. While Manila is designated as the country's capital, the seat of government is the National Capital Region, commonly known as "Metro Manila", of which the city of Manila is a part. [61] [62] | |
| Moscow | Official capital. | |
| Saint Petersburg | Home to notable federal government bodies such as the Constitutional Court of Russia and the Heraldic Council of the President of the Russian Federation. It is also Russia's major cultural centre [63] , which means it received over 15 million tourists in 2018. [64] [65] | |
| Singapore | Official capital, even though Singapore has no official distinct capital city as it is a city-state. | |
| Central Area | Today, this city occupies this role in practice, functioning as a de facto capital without any formal designation. [66] It also includes Downtown Core, the location of the main judiciary and legislative offices of the country. | |
| Pretoria | Administrative and executive capital. | |
| Cape Town | Legislative capital. | |
| Bloemfontein | Judicial capital. | |
| Johannesburg | Home to the country's highest court, the Constitutional Court of South Africa. | |
| King Edward Point | Official capital. | |
| Grytviken | This city is often mistakenly referred to as the capital of the entire country [note 12] , but it is actually King Edward Point [67] , located in the same bay. This city is also home to the South Georgia Museum and the resting places of polar explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Frank Wild in Grytviken's graveyard. | |
| Seoul | Official capital and the primary seat of the National Assembly. | |
| Sejong City | De facto administrative capital of the country and partially its future capital (since 2014). And also, since the Sejong Government Complex was finished in 2014, some authorities already moved from Seoul to there, making it their official primary seat. | |
| Juba | Current capital. | |
| Ramciel | Future capital. In February 2011, the Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan adopted a resolution to study moving the capital of the new Republic of South Sudan that was to be created in July of that year to a new, planned city. In September 2011, the government of South Sudan approved a project to build a new capital at Ramciel in Lakes state; it is projected that the project will take at least five years. | |
| Palazzo Malta | Joint headquarters with Villa del Priorato di Malta. Both of them are located in Rome (the capital of Italy). | |
| Villa del Priorato di Malta | ||
| Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte | Legislative capital. | |
| Colombo | Executive, judicial, and commercial capital. | |
| Khartoum | Official capital. It's also the country's de jure capital due to intense fighting in there during the ongoing civil war. [68] | |
| Port Sudan | De facto capital of the country due to the ongoing brutal events mentioned already. | |
| Bern | Official and the de facto capital of the country and its federal city. | |
| Lausanne [note 14] | Home to the Swiss Supreme Court. | |
| Dodoma | Official capital. | |
| Dar es Salaam | Although Dar es Salaam ceded its official status as the country's capital to Dodoma in 1993, it still remains the seat of government. [69] | |
| Laayoune | De jure capital of the country due to it being de facto under Morocco's control. | |
| Rabouni, Tindouf [note 16] | De facto capital of the country, and also, one of its capitals-in-exile (along with Tifariti). | |
| Tifariti | Provisional capital of the country, and also, one of its capitals-in-exile (along with Rabouni). | |
| Sanaa | Official and constitutional capital. It is still considered the country's de jure capital due to it being under Houthi control since 2014. | |
| Aden | Seat of the Presidential Leadership Council (the internationally recognized government of Yemen) and the country's de facto capital. It is currently claimed by this executive body as the country's provisional capital. [70] |
*May be considered a transcontinental state. [note 17]
These countries have had two cities that served as administrative capitals at the same time, for various reasons such as war, weather or partition. In some cases, the second capital is considered a temporary capital.
| Country | Year(s) | Capitals | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1858–1947 | Kolkata (a.k.a. Calcutta) (1858–1911) | Administrative capital | |
| New Delhi (1911–1947) | |||
| Shimla (a.k.a. Simla) | Summer capital | ||
| 1873–1918 | Vienna | Cisleithania | |
| Budapest | Kingdom of Hungary | ||
| 1937–1945 | Nanjing (a.k.a. Nanking) | Capital of the Japanese-controlled puppet state | |
| Chongqing | Provisional capital of the Kuomintang-ruled Republic of China | ||
| 1945–1991 | Nanjing | Administrative, legislative, and judicial capital (claimed between the 1949 Retreat and the 1992 Consensus) | |
| Taipei | Provisional capital of the Kuomintang-ruled Republic of China on Taiwan | ||
| 1940–1944 | Vichy | De facto administrative capital | |
| Paris | De jure constitutional capital, also capital for the German military administration | ||
| 1943–1944 | Brindisi (1943–Feb 1944) | De facto provisional capital | |
| Salerno (Feb–Jun 1944) | |||
| Rome | De jure capital until 1944 when it was liberated by the Allies | ||
| 1943–1944 | Salò | De facto capital until 1944 when it became the primary capital | |
| Rome | De jure capital until 1944 when it was liberated by the Allies | ||
| 1947–1975 | Vientiane | Administrative capital | |
| Luang Prabang | Royal capital | ||
| 1951–1963 | Tripoli | One of two official capitals of the Kingdom of Libya, then Bayda became the capital of Libya from 1963 to 1969 | |
| Benghazi | |||
| 1974–1994 | Lilongwe | Administrative and judiciary capital | |
| Zomba | Legislative capital | ||
| 1948–1956 | Amsterdam | Kingdom of the Netherlands | |
| Batavia | United States of Indonesia | ||
| 1940 | Oslo | Official capital | |
| Hamar | Temporarily one-day capital that seated the parliament [73] | ||
| 1962–1971 | Rawalpindi (1962–14 August 1967) | Seat of the government | |
| Islamabad (14 August 1967–1971) | |||
| Dhaka | Legislative capital | ||
| 1948–1976 | Quezon City | Official capital | |
| Manila | De facto seat of government | ||
| 1901–1976 | Baguio | Summer capital (still known as summer capital, outside of political use) | |
| 2003–2006 | Belgrade | Administrative and legislative capital | |
| Podgorica | Judicial capital |
The Czech Republic currently, before the peace between Israel and Palestine is signed, recognizes Jerusalem to be in fact the capital of Israel in the borders of the demarcation line from 1967." The Ministry also said that it would only consider relocating its embassy based on "results of negotiations.
The Turkish Cypriots are heavily dependent on transfers from the Turkish Government. Ankara directly finances about one-third of the Turkish Cypriot "administration's" budget.
For example, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, located in the northern portion of the island of Cyprus, came about through ... from only one state — Turkey, upon which it is entirely dependent for economic, political and military support.
Economic embargoes have been imposed on the TRNC, making northern Cyprus almost completely dependent on Turkey.
Classified as illegal under international law, the occupation of the northern part leads automatically to an illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus' accession.
The city, once a distinct entity, so came to dominate the island that the Republic of Singapore essentially became a city-state.
Yemen's Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, along with other senior government officials, had also arrived in Aden, which serves as Yemen's temporary capital, before the swearing-in ceremony.