Countries with cities bigger than their Capital

Canberra

Sydney

A planned city, Canberra has been the country's capital city since its foundation in 1913, however the national parliament was based in Melbourne, Victoria until 1927.

Belmopan

Belize City

Belize City was the capital until 1970.

Porto Novo

Cotonou

Cotonou is the de facto capital with seat of government. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area.

Sucre

Santa Cruz de la Sierra

La Paz is the de facto capital with seat of government, is the third largest city of the country and is the center of the second metropolitan area.

Brasília

São Paulo

Brasília is a planned city and has been the capital city since its inauguration in 1960. Rio de Janeiro was the capital from 1763 until 1960. Brasília is the third most populous city in the country, and the seventh largest metropolitan area.

Gitega

Bujumbura

Bujumbura was the capital until 2019.

Yaoundé

Douala

Yaoundé is the second largest city of this country.

Ottawa

Toronto

Toronto was the capital of the United Province of ______ from 1849 to 1852 and 1856–1858. For some years prior, Kingston was the de facto capital, but when it came time to form the United Province of ______ in 1841 this needed to be official. There was a lot of disagreement, but Queen Victoria made her ruling (supported by a vote with a majority of 3) that it should be Ottawa.

Beijing

Shanghai

Beijing is the third largest city proper of this country, after Chongqing and Shanghai, although the population of Chongqing includes a significant number of rural residents and the urban area has around 18 million people. Shanghai has more urban population at 24 million.

Malabo

Bata

The capital Malabo is the second largest city of the country. It is to be replaced by the planned city of Oyala, currently under construction.

Banjul

Serrekunda

 

New Delhi

Mumbai

In 1912, the capital was moved from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to New Delhi. The neighbouring city of Delhi already existed, and it had previously served as the capital of the Mughal Empire.

Jerusalem

Tel Aviv

Jerusalem would be this country's largest city if East Jerusalem were to be included (increasing the population to 936,425), however the annexation of East Jerusalem into the country is not internationally recognized. If East Jerusalem were to be excluded from this country, Tel Aviv would be the largest city.

Yamoussoukro

Abidjan

Abidjan was the capital until 1983.

Astana

Almaty

Almaty was the capital from 1927 to 1997. Astana was named Nur-Sultan from 2019 until 2022. In September 2022, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced that the city would revert to the former name Astana. On 17 September, he signed a law that amended the constitution to restore the name Astana.

Vaduz

Schaan

Vaduz is the second largest city of this country. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area.

Palikir

Weno

Palikir is the second largest city of this country.

Valletta

St. Paul's Bay

Valletta is part of the Central Region, a conurbation with a population of 111,994.

Rabat

Casablanca

Rabat is the seventh largest city of this country.

Naypyidaw

Yangon

Yangon was the capital until 2006. Naypyidaw is de facto mainly rural county rather than contiguous urban area

Wellington

Auckland

Auckland was the capital 1841–1865, and Russell in 1840–41.

Abuja

Lagos

Lagos was the capital until 1991.

Islamabad

Karachi

Karachi was the capital from 1947 to 1958. Islamabad is part of much larger Rawalpindi-Islamabad metropolitan area

Ngerulmud

Koror

Koror was the capital until 2006.

Manila

Quezon City

Quezon City was the capital from 1948 until 1976. Manila is the second largest city of the country. Both cities are in the Metropolitan Manila region with Quezon City bordering Manila on the northeast.

San Marino

Serravalle

 

Cape Town/Pretoria/Bloemfontein

Johannesburg

Cape Town (pop. 3.5 million) and Bloemfontein (pop. 370,000) serve as legislative and judicial capitals, respectively.

Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte

Colombo

Colombo was the official administrative capital until 1982, when it became the commercial capital.

Bern

Zürich

___________ does not have a de jure capital, but Bern has been designated as "federal city" with the seat of the two parliament chambers in 1848, when for the first time the independent Swiss states established standing federal authorities. Today, important federal authorities are also located in Lausanne (most notably: the Federal Supreme Court), Zürich, Lucerne, Bellinzona and St. Gallen. Until 1798, the council of the _____ states met in various places - most frequently in Lucerne, Zürich, Baden and Frauenfeld. Between 1798 and 1803 there were three subsequent cities of government: Aarau, Luzern and Bern. Between 1815 and 1848 the meeting place of the council changed every two years between Zürich, Bern and Lucerne.

Dodoma

Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam was the capital until 1974.

Port of Spain

Chaguanas

Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area.

Ankara

Istanbul

Istanbul (as Constantinople) was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1453 to 1922.

Abu Dhabi

Dubai

Abu Dhabi is the second largest city of this country.

Washington, D.C.

New York

New York was the capital 1785–1790 and the largest city in 1790 (narrowly edging out the next capital, Philadelphia, which served as capital from 1790 to 1800). Philadelphia was the nation's second-largest city when it was the capital. Washington is the 20th-largest city in this country, but the Washington metropolitan area is the sixth-largest (estimated 6,216,589 in 2017).

Hanoi

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was the capital of South _______ prior to reunification.