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Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo   In the table below a summary with all the capitals of Africa, you find also a useful map with their position on the continent and the population updated to the latest data or available estimates, both of the city itself and of its urban agglomeration.

   The capital of Egypt, Cairo, is the most populous city in Africa, while Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) occupies the third place, after Lagos, which was the capital of Nigeria until 1991, when it was moved to Abuja.

   Two countries have more than one capital, Eswatini (ex-Swaziland) with Mbabane and Lobamba and South Africa which has even three, Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein.

   As many as 17 capitals are located over 1,000 meters high; some exceed this threshold by a little, while others even reach more than 2,000 meters, as in the case of Addis Ababa and Asmara; often the capital is also the most populated city in the state.


Flag Country  Capital Population Urban aggl. Elevation
Algeria flag Algeria Algiers 2,365,000 3,462,000 55 m
Angola flag Angola Luanda 2,572,000 10,914,000 6 m
Benin flag Benin Porto-Novo 264,000 657,000 38 m
Botswana flag Botswana Gaborone 246,000 445,000 1,014 m
Burkina Faso flag Burkina Faso Ouagadougou 2,415,000 3,181,000 305 m
Burundi flag Burundi Gitega 192,000 192,000 1,505 m
Cameroon flag Cameroon Yaoundé 3,659,000 4,642,000 764 m
Cape Verde flag Cape Verde Praia 155,000 155,000 10 m
Central African Republic flag Central African Republic Bangui 812,000 1,264,000 369 m
Chad flag Chad N'Djamena 1,769,000 1,769,000 298 m
Comoros flag Comoros Moroni 75,000 75,000 29 m
Democratic Republic of the Congo flag Democratic Republic
of the Congo
Kinshasa 13,493,000 13,493,000 280 m
Republic of the Congo flag Republic of the Congo Brazzaville 2,146,000 2,860,000 290 m
Djibouti flag Djibouti Djibouti 674,000 674,000 14 m
Egypt flag Egypt Cairo 10,312,000 22,679,000 23 m
Equatorial Guinea flag Equatorial Guinea Malabo 257,000 257,000 2 m
Eritrea flag Eritrea Asmara 896,000 896,000 2,325 m
Eswatini flag Eswatini Mbabane
(administrative)
60,700 60,700 1,245 m
    Lobamba
(legislative)
11,000 11,000 694 m
Ethiopia flag Ethiopia Addis Ababa 4,030,000 7,185,000 2,355 m
Gabon flag Gabon Libreville 859,000 859,000 2 m
The Gambia flag The Gambia Banjul 31,100 1,556,000 3 m
Ghana flag Ghana Accra 1,782,000 5,785,000 61 m
Guinea flag Guinea Conakry 2,211,000 2,781,000 2 m
Guinea-Bissau flag Guinea-Bissau Bissau 492,000 617,000 8 m
Ivory Coast flag Ivory Coast Yamoussoukro 213,000 213,000 214 m
Kenya flag Kenya Nairobi 4,828,000 6,929,000 1,795 m
Lesotho flag Lesotho Maseru 331,000 331,000 1,600 m
Liberia flag Liberia Monrovia 1,768,000 1,768,000 8 m
Libya flag Libya Tripoli 1,242,000 1,242,000 81 m
Madagascar flag Madagascar Antananarivo 1,274,000 2,673,000 1,275 m
Malawi flag Malawi Lilongwe 1,200,000 1,200,000 1,050 m
Mali flag Mali Bamako 4,228,000 4,228,000 330 m
Mauritania flag Mauritania Nouakchott 1,325,000 1,444,000 7 m
Mauritius flag Mauritius Port Louis 146,000 146,000 19 m
Morocco flag Morocco Rabat 509,000 1,982,000 11 m
Mozambique flag Mozambique Maputo 1,136,000 2,735,000 47 m
Namibia flag Namibia Windhoek 486,000 529,000 1,655 m
Niger flag Niger Niamey 1,492,000 1,492,000 207 m
Nigeria flag Nigeria Abuja 1,236,000 2,420,000 355 m
Rwanda flag Rwanda Kigali 1,517,000 1,620,000 1,565 m
São Tomé and Principe flag São Tomé and Principe São Tomé 78,000 78,000 137 m
Senegal flag Senegal Dakar 1,182,000 3,510,000 22 m
Seychelles flag Seychelles Victoria 29,700 29,700 4 m
Sierra Leone flag Sierra Leone Freetown 1,319,000 1,836,000 26 m
Somalia flag Somalia Mogadishu 1,650,000 4,219,000 9 m
South Africa flag South Africa Pretoria ^
(administrative)
1,619,000 15,551,000 1,340 m
    Cape Town
(legislative)
3,433,000 4,595,000 50 m
    Bloemfontein
(judicial)
504,000 504,000 1,395 m
South Sudan flag South Sudan Juba 582,000 582,000 550 m
Sudan flag Sudan Khartoum 1,411,000 7,155,000 382 m
Tanzania flag Tanzania Dodoma 765,000 765,000 1,125 m
Togo flag Togo Lomé 1,350,000 2,572,000 63 m
Tunisia flag Tunisia Tunis 599,000 2,686,000 4 m
Uganda flag Uganda Kampala 1,794,000 4,679,000 1,200 m
Zambia flag Zambia Lusaka 2,204,000 3,202,000 1,280 m
Zimbabwe flag Zimbabwe Harare 1,492,000 2,353,000 1,490 m

^ it forms a single conurbation with the largest Johannesburg.



* data on urban agglomerations updated to 2023 (estimates), those on population according to official data or more recent estimates of the national statistical services, when different from urban agglomerations.