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Capitals of the world
Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar: facts and figures
Antananarivo is the capital of Madagascar. It has about 3,600,000 residents, which makes it the 40th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 1,254 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Moroni, 919 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Madagascar |
| Continent | Africa |
| City population | 3,600,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 40th of 172 |
| Elevation | 1,254 m |
| Founded | 1625 |
| Time zone | Indian/Antananarivo |
| Coordinates | 18.88° S, 47.51° E |
| Country population | 32,740,678 residents |
| Country GDP | 19.6 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $599 |
| Life expectancy | 63.8 years |
| Internet users | 18.7 % |
| Big Mac price | not reported |
Climate through the year
Antananarivo averages 15.0 °C from June to August and 20.5 °C from December to February. July is the coldest month of the year and December the warmest, and the city receives 1,248 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 20.4 °C |
| February | 20.4 °C |
| March | 20.2 °C |
| April | 19.3 °C |
| May | 17.2 °C |
| June | 15.2 °C |
| July | 14.4 °C |
| August | 15.4 °C |
| September | 16.9 °C |
| October | 19.3 °C |
| November | 20.6 °C |
| December | 20.7 °C |
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. Moroni is the closest capital to Antananarivo.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Moroni | Comoros | 919 km |
| Port Louis | Mauritius | 1,056 km |
| Lilongwe | Malawi | 1,561 km |
| Maputo | Mozambique | 1,724 km |
| Harare | Zimbabwe | 1,740 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Antananarivo to a place and a number you already know: it is 919 km from Moroni, and it is the 40th 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 Madagascar compares with every other country on figures like these, the richest countries by GDP per capita 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.
- Founding date: Wikidata, earliest recorded founding claim.
- 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
Antananarivo is the capital of Madagascar, in Africa, with about 3,600,000 residents, averaging 15.0 °C from June to August and 20.5 °C from December to February.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Madagascar?
Antananarivo is the capital of Madagascar. It has about 3,600,000 residents and lies in Africa.
How many people live in Antananarivo?
About 3,600,000, which ranks Antananarivo 40th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Antananarivo?
Antananarivo averages 15.0 °C from June to August and 20.5 °C from December to February, with 1,248 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Antananarivo?
GDP per capita in the country is $599, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Moroni, capital of Comoros: facts and figures
Moroni is the capital of Comoros: 110,000 residents, 66 m above sea level, 23.9 °C from June to August and 26.7 °C from December to February. Key figures and sources.
- Port Louis, capital of Mauritius: facts and figures
Port Louis is the capital of Mauritius: 150,000 residents, 0 m above sea level, 22.4 °C from June to August and 26.8 °C from December to February.
- Lilongwe, capital of Malawi: facts and figures
Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi: 1,100,000 residents, 1,070 m above sea level, 17.8 °C from June to August and 22.2 °C from December to February.
- 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.