Countries With More Than One Capital, and Capitals That Moved

Most countries have one capital, and it is where the president or prime minister, the parliament and the top courts all sit. A dozen or so countries split those jobs between cities, and a few have moved their government without changing the legal capital. This guide covers both groups, with dates, and explains which city Beelad shows when there is more than one answer.

What makes a city "the capital"

There is no international rule. Each country decides for itself, and the answer can come from three different places:

• A constitution or law that names the city. Bolivia's Constitution says "Sucre is the Capital of Bolivia" (Article 6). Malaysia and Côte d'Ivoire also have a legally designated capital.
• Where the institutions actually sit. In South Africa no single city holds all three branches, so people speak of an executive, a legislative and a judicial capital.
• Long custom. The UK has no codified constitution, and London is the capital by convention. The French Constitution does not name a capital either; Paris simply is one.

When those three answers point to the same city, nobody argues. When they point to different cities, reference books, maps and websites have to pick one, and they do not always pick the same one.

Countries with more than one seat

The table lists the main split cases. "Beelad lists" is the single city shown on each country page.

South Africa's split goes back to a compromise agreed when the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910: Pretoria would be the administrative capital, Cape Town the legislative one and Bloemfontein the judicial one. The often-quoted "judicial capital", Bloemfontein, is home to the Supreme Court of Appeal, but the highest court, the Constitutional Court, sits on Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. So the tidy "three capitals" description is really four cities.

Chile is a milder case. Santiago is the capital in every sense except one: a 1987 law moved the National Congress to the port city of Valparaíso, and it has met there since 11 March 1990, when parliamentary activity resumed after the military government.

Which capital Beelad shows

Each Beelad country page has one capital field, in five languages. Where a constitution or law names a capital, that is the city shown: Sucre for Bolivia, Amsterdam for the Netherlands, Yamoussoukro for Côte d'Ivoire, Porto-Novo for Benin, Kuala Lumpur for Malaysia. Where no city is named, the page shows the seat of the executive, which is why South Africa appears as Pretoria. The page does not list second seats, so the table above is the place to check them. You can also search by capital name on the search page.

Capitals that moved

Most relocations since 1960 were planned cities built to move government away from a crowded coastal or commercial hub, often toward the geographic middle of the country.

1. Brasília replaced Rio de Janeiro on 21 April 1960.
2. Islamabad replaced Karachi. Nearby Rawalpindi served as the interim capital from 1959 while Islamabad was built, and the new city was formally established in 1967.
3. Abuja replaced Lagos on 12 December 1991.
4. Dodoma was chosen in the 1970s, became Tanzania's official capital in 1996, and the presidency and ministries completed their move in 2019. Most embassies are still in Dar es Salaam.
5. Astana (then called Akmola) replaced Almaty as Kazakhstan's capital on 10 December 1997, and was renamed Astana in 1998.
6. Putrajaya took Malaysia's federal ministries from 1999 and became a federal territory on 1 February 2001. Kuala Lumpur kept the title of capital.
7. Naypyidaw replaced Yangon as Myanmar's administrative capital on 6 November 2005. Its name was announced on 27 March 2006.

Two moves still in progress

Indonesia: Nusantara

A 2022 law (Law No. 3/2022 on the State Capital) chose Nusantara, in East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, as the future capital, more than 1,200 km from Jakarta. The same law keeps the "position, function and role" of the capital in Jakarta until the president signs a decree transferring it. On 12 May 2026 the Constitutional Court rejected a challenge to that law and confirmed that Jakarta remains the capital until the decree is issued. In September 2025, Presidential Regulation 79/2025 set 2028 as the target for Nusantara to become the "political capital".

As of October 2026 no decree has been signed. Reporting from that month put Nusantara's inner city at about 10,000 residents, against a design target of 1.2 million by 2029. Beelad's Indonesia page lists Jakarta.

Egypt: The New Capital

Egypt has built a new city about 50 km east of central Cairo. Ministries began moving in 2023, and President el-Sisi was sworn in for his third term there on 2 April 2024. In November 2025 the developer, the Administrative Capital for Urban Development, announced that the city's official name in government communications would be "The New Capital" instead of "New Administrative Capital". A draft local administration law reported in February 2026 would make it a special-status province, possibly renamed Memphis, but inside Cairo. Under the 2014 Constitution, Cairo remains Egypt's capital, and Beelad's Egypt page lists Cairo.

Capitals are one of several facts that change with politics. Our guide to the newest countries covers changes at the level of whole states, and official languages by country starts with Bolivia again, for a different record.

Quick checklist

• For a quiz or a form that asks for "the capital", use the city named in the constitution or law (Sucre, Amsterdam, Yamoussoukro, Porto-Novo).
• For meetings, embassies or official visits, check where the government actually sits (La Paz, The Hague, Abidjan, Cotonou, Putrajaya).
• South Africa has no single legal capital. Pretoria is the usual answer, and Parliament is in Cape Town.
• As of October 2026, Jakarta is still Indonesia's capital and Cairo is still Egypt's, even though both governments are building or using new cities.
• When a source lists a capital, check its date: designations and names change.