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Capitals of the world
Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan: facts and figures
Ashgabat is the capital of Turkmenistan. It has about 1,000,000 residents, which makes it the 117th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 229 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Tehran, 667 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Turkmenistan |
| Continent | Asia |
| City population | 1,000,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 117th of 172 |
| Elevation | 229 m |
| Founded | 1881 |
| Time zone | Asia/Ashgabat |
| Coordinates | 37.96° N, 58.33° E |
| Country population | 7,618,847 residents |
| Country GDP | 49.8 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $6,540 |
| Life expectancy | 70.2 years |
| Internet users | 18.0 % |
| Big Mac price | not reported |
Climate through the year
Ashgabat averages 5.7 °C in winter and 31.4 °C in summer. January is the coldest month of the year and July the warmest, and the city receives 275 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 4.8 °C |
| February | 6.9 °C |
| March | 11.9 °C |
| April | 17.8 °C |
| May | 24.1 °C |
| June | 30.7 °C |
| July | 33.0 °C |
| August | 30.5 °C |
| September | 25.3 °C |
| October | 17.3 °C |
| November | 10.1 °C |
| December | 5.4 °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. Tehran is the closest capital to Ashgabat.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Tehran | Iran | 667 km |
| Baku | Azerbaijan | 778 km |
| Dushanbe | Tajikistan | 915 km |
| Tashkent | Uzbekistan | 1,005 km |
| Kabul | Afghanistan | 1,043 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Ashgabat to a place and a number you already know: it is 667 km from Tehran, and it is the 117th 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 Turkmenistan 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
Ashgabat is the capital of Turkmenistan, in Asia, with about 1,000,000 residents, averaging 5.7 °C in winter and 31.4 °C in summer.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Turkmenistan?
Ashgabat is the capital of Turkmenistan. It has about 1,000,000 residents and lies in Asia.
How many people live in Ashgabat?
About 1,000,000, which ranks Ashgabat 117th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Ashgabat?
Ashgabat averages 5.7 °C in winter and 31.4 °C in summer, with 275 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Ashgabat?
GDP per capita in the country is $6,540, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Tehran, capital of Iran: facts and figures
Tehran is the capital of Iran: 9,500,000 residents, 1,177 m above sea level, 5.2 °C in winter and 31.1 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Baku, capital of Azerbaijan: facts and figures
Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan: 2,300,000 residents, 26 m above sea level, 6.0 °C in winter and 26.1 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan: facts and figures
Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan: 900,000 residents, 816 m above sea level, 3.4 °C in winter and 27.1 °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.