Capitals / Challenge

Not the biggest city

Countries whose capital is not their biggest city. The choices include the bigger one.

A round asks about ten of these 18, in a new order, each with four choices, some of them deliberately tricky.

The 18 capitals

Country	Capital	Population
Australia	Canberra	27.6 million (2025)
Brazil	Brasília	213 million (2025)
Canada	Ottawa	41.7 million (2025)
Ecuador	Quito	18.3 million (2025)
India	New Delhi	1464 million (2025)
Kazakhstan	Astana	20.8 million (2025)
Morocco	Rabat	38.4 million (2025)
Myanmar	Naypyidaw Naypyidaw has been the capital since 2005-2006; Yangon (Rangoon) is the former capital and largest city. Natural Earth still marks Yangon.	54.9 million (2025)
New Zealand	Wellington	5.3 million (2025)
Nigeria	Abuja	238 million (2025)
Pakistan	Islamabad	255 million (2025)
South Africa	Pretoria (executive capital) Cape Town (legislative capital (parliament)) Bloemfontein (judicial capital) Three branch capitals: executive Pretoria, legislative Cape Town, judicial Bloemfontein (Supreme Court of Appeal).	64.7 million (2025)
Switzerland	Bern (de facto capital, seat of government) Switzerland has no de jure capital; Bern is the "federal city" and seat of the federal authorities.	9.1 million (2025)
Tanzania	Dodoma Dodoma is the official capital (designated 1973, parliament since 1996, executive relocation completed in the 2020s); Dar es Salaam is the former capital and largest city. Natural Earth still marks Dar es Salaam.	70.5 million (2025)
Türkiye	Ankara	85.9 million (2025)
United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi	11.5 million (2025)
United States	Washington, D.C.	342 million (2025)
Vietnam	Hanoi	102 million (2025)

Population and area: The World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0). Capitals: Wikidata (CC0), checked against Natural Earth.