List of countries with multiple capitals

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.

More than one capital at present

Country	Capitals	Details
Benin	Porto-Novo	Official capital
	Cotonou	Seat of government; de facto administrative capital
Bolivia	Sucre	Constitutional capital
	La Paz	Seat of government; de facto executive and legislative capital
Burundi	Gitega	Official political capital
	Bujumbura	Economic capital [1] (and seat of government [ citation needed ])
Eswatini	Mbabane	Administrative capital
	Lobamba	Legislative capital (parliament) and place of royal residence
Ivory Coast	Yamoussoukro	Official capital
	Abidjan	De facto administrative capital [2]
Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	Constitutional and legislative capital (parliament), seat of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong
	Putrajaya	Administrative centre and judicial seat; variously referred to as the administrative capital [3]
Netherlands	Amsterdam	Official capital
	The Hague	Seat of government and de facto administrative capital
South Africa	Pretoria	Administrative and executive capital
	Bloemfontein	Judicial capital
	Cape Town	Legislative capital (parliament)
Sri Lanka	Colombo	Executive, judicial, and commercial [4] capital
	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	Legislative capital (parliament)
Afghanistan	Kabul	Administrative, cultural and financial capital
	Kandahar	De facto capital, founding city of the Taliban and the seat of the Taliban Parliament, and the Supreme Leader [5]

More than one capital in the past

Main article: List of former national capitals

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
British Raj	1858–1947	Kolkata (a.k.a. Calcutta) (1858–1911)	Administrative capital
		New Delhi (1911–1947)
		Shimla (a.k.a. Simla)	Summer capital
Austria-Hungary	1873–1918	Vienna	Cisleithania
		Budapest	Kingdom of Hungary
Republic of China	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
France	1940–1944	Vichy	De facto administrative capital
		Paris	De jure constitutional capital, also capital for the German military administration
Kingdom of Italy	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
Italian Social Republic	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
Laos	1947–1975	Vientiane	Administrative capital
		Luang Prabang	Royal capital
Libya	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
Malawi	1974–1994	Lilongwe	Administrative and judiciary capital
		Zomba	Legislative capital
Netherlands-Indonesia Union	1948–1956	Amsterdam	Kingdom of the Netherlands
		Batavia	United States of Indonesia
Norway	1940	Oslo	Official capital
		Hamar	Temporarily one-day capital that seated the parliament [6]
Pakistan	1962–1971	Rawalpindi (1962–14 August 1967)	Seat of the government
		Islamabad (14 August 1967–1971)
		Dhaka	Legislative capital
Philippines	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)
Serbia and Montenegro	2003–2006	Belgrade	Administrative and legislative capital
		Podgorica	Judicial capital

See also

• List of national capitals
• List of purpose-built national capitals

References

1. "Loi n°1/04 du 04 février 2019 portant Fixation de la Capitale Politique et de la Capitale Economique du Burundi – Présidence de la République du Burundi". 13 February 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
2. "Cote d'Ivoire", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 7 August 2024, retrieved 22 August 2024
3. "Putrajaya | Smart Putrajaya". smart.putrajaya.my. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
4. "Sri Lanka Tourism - The Official Website of Sri Lanka Tourism". srilanka.travel. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
5. Ikramullah Ikram; Abubakar Siddique (18 April 2023). "Southern Afghan City Becomes De Facto Capital As Taliban Chief Tightens Grip On Power". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty . Archived from the original on 11 May 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
6. Kongens nei - 9. april (Norwegian)