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Capitals of the world
Ankara, capital of Turkey: facts and figures
Ankara is the capital of Turkey. It has about 5,700,000 residents, which makes it the 29th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 870 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Nicosia, 529 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Turkey |
| Continent | Asia |
| City population | 5,700,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 29th of 172 |
| Elevation | 870 m |
| Founded | not reported |
| Time zone | Europe/Istanbul |
| Coordinates | 39.93° N, 32.86° E |
| Country population | 85,878,556 residents |
| Country GDP | 1.6 trillion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $18,599 |
| Life expectancy | 77.4 years |
| Internet users | 89.8 % |
| Big Mac price | TRY 325 (about $6.91) |
Climate through the year
Ankara averages 2.6 °C in winter and 23.3 °C in summer. January is the coldest month of the year and August the warmest, and the city receives 436 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 0.8 °C |
| February | 3.7 °C |
| March | 6.6 °C |
| April | 11.9 °C |
| May | 16.3 °C |
| June | 20.5 °C |
| July | 24.2 °C |
| August | 25.1 °C |
| September | 20.7 °C |
| October | 14.3 °C |
| November | 8.0 °C |
| December | 3.2 °C |
What makes it stand out
- Prices: 2nd priciest capital for a Big Mac in Asia ($6.91).
Nearest capitals
Distances are great-circle distances between city centres, which is what the Capitals game measures when it tells you how far a guess was from the answer. Nicosia is the closest capital to Ankara.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Nicosia | Cyprus | 529 km |
| Beirut | Lebanon | 711 km |
| Bucharest | Romania | 748 km |
| Damascus | Syria | 776 km |
| Athens | Greece | 818 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Ankara to a place and a number you already know: it is 529 km from Nicosia, and it is the 29th largest capital in the atlas. Then practise retrieving it. DailyGeo Capitals gives you one mystery capital a day with distance, direction, language and population clues, the memorising method explains the review schedule, and the capitals index lists all 172.
To see how Turkey compares with every other country on figures like these, the most expensive Big Mac index ranks them on geopolitix, a country-ranking game by the same maker as DailyGeo.
Sources
- City population and coordinates: DailyGeo's own game data, the same figures the Capitals game plays with. Population follows the urban area rather than the commune, which is why no density is quoted.
- Temperature and rainfall: ten-year means (2015 to 2024) computed from ERA5 reanalysis, retrieved through Open-Meteo. Hersbach, H., et al. (2020). The ERA5 global reanalysis. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.
- Elevation: terrain height at the city's coordinates in the Copernicus DEM, read through Open-Meteo rather than taken from a curated claim.
- Time zone: resolved from the same coordinates.
- Country figures: the World Bank, latest reported year for each series: Country GDP, GDP per capita, Country population, Life expectancy, Internet users.
- Big Mac price: The Economist's Big Mac index, from its published dataset. The index covers about 55 economies, so most capitals here have no figure.
- This capital elsewhere: Wikipedia, UNdata, Wikidata.
- Method and limits: How this data was collected explains how each figure was collected and what it does not cover.
The short answer
Ankara is the capital of Turkey, in Asia, with about 5,700,000 residents, averaging 2.6 °C in winter and 23.3 °C in summer.
Turn the reading into recall. A new capital and country are waiting today.
Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Turkey?
Ankara is the capital of Turkey. It has about 5,700,000 residents and lies in Asia.
How many people live in Ankara?
About 5,700,000, which ranks Ankara 29th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Ankara?
Ankara averages 2.6 °C in winter and 23.3 °C in summer, with 436 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Ankara?
A Big Mac costs TRY 325 (about $6.91) there. GDP per capita in the country is $18,599, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Nicosia, capital of Cyprus: facts and figures
Nicosia is the capital of Cyprus: 330,000 residents, 129 m above sea level, 11.6 °C in winter and 28.9 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Beirut, capital of Lebanon: facts and figures
Beirut is the capital of Lebanon: 2,400,000 residents, 60 m above sea level, 13.7 °C in winter and 26.9 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Bucharest, capital of Romania: facts and figures
Bucharest is the capital of Romania: 1,800,000 residents, 83 m above sea level, 1.9 °C in winter and 23.9 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Capitals of the world: the full list by continent
Every capital in DailyGeo's atlas, grouped by continent, with population, elevation and winter and summer temperatures, each linking to its own data page.