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.
| Country | Capitals | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Porto-Novo | Official capital | |
| Cotonou | De facto administrative capital | |
| Sucre | Constitutional capital | |
| La Paz | De facto executive and legislative capital | |
| Gitega | Official political capital | |
| Bujumbura | Seat of government and economic capital[1] | |
| Mbabane | Administrative capital | |
| Lobamba | Legislative capital (parliament) and place of royal residence | |
| Yamoussoukro | Official capital | |
| Abidjan | De facto administrative capital | |
| 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[2] | |
| Amsterdam | Official capital | |
| The Hague | Seat of government and de facto administrative capital | |
| Pretoria | Administrative and executive capital | |
| Bloemfontein | Judicial capital | |
| Cape Town | Legislative capital (parliament) | |
| Colombo | Executive, judicial, and commercial[3] capital | |
| Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte | Legislative capital (parliament) | |
| 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[4] |
See 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||
| 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 | De facto administrative capital | ||
| 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) | |||
| De jure capital until 1944 when it was liberated by the Allies | |||
| 1943–1944 | De facto capital until 1944 when it became the primary capital | ||
| De jure capital until 1944 when it was liberated by the Allies | |||
| 1947–1975 | Administrative capital | ||
| 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 | ||
| Netherlands-Indonesia Union | 1948–1956 | Amsterdam | Kingdom of the Netherlands |
| Jakarta | United States of Indonesia | ||
| 1940 | Official capital | ||
| Temporarily one-day capital that seated the parliament[5] | |||
| 1948–1976 | Official capital | ||
| De facto seat of government | |||
| 1901–1976 | Summer capital (still known as summer capital, outside of political use) | ||
| 2003–2006 | Administrative and legislative capital | ||
| Judicial capital |