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Capitals of the world
Asmara, capital of Eritrea: facts and figures
Asmara is the capital of Eritrea. It has about 960,000 residents, which makes it the 118th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 2,323 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Sanaa, 564 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Eritrea |
| Continent | Africa |
| City population | 960,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 118th of 172 |
| Elevation | 2,323 m |
| Founded | 1897 |
| Time zone | Africa/Asmara |
| Coordinates | 15.34° N, 38.93° E |
| Country population | 3,607,003 residents |
| Country GDP | 2.1 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $689 |
| Life expectancy | 68.9 years |
| Internet users | 14.3 % |
| Big Mac price | not reported |
Climate through the year
Asmara averages 14.7 °C from December to February and 18.0 °C from June to August. December is the coldest month of the year and June the warmest, and the city receives 583 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 14.3 °C |
| February | 15.9 °C |
| March | 17.4 °C |
| April | 18.1 °C |
| May | 18.7 °C |
| June | 19.6 °C |
| July | 17.4 °C |
| August | 16.9 °C |
| September | 18.0 °C |
| October | 16.3 °C |
| November | 14.9 °C |
| December | 13.9 °C |
What makes it stand out
- Elevation: 2nd highest capital in Africa (2,323 m).
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. Sanaa is the closest capital to Asmara.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Sanaa | Yemen | 564 km |
| Djibouti | Djibouti | 618 km |
| Khartoum | Sudan | 683 km |
| Addis Ababa | Ethiopia | 702 km |
| Riyadh | Saudi Arabia | 1,319 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Asmara to a place and a number you already know: it is 564 km from Sanaa, and it is the 118th 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 Eritrea 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
Asmara is the capital of Eritrea, in Africa, with about 960,000 residents, averaging 14.7 °C from December to February and 18.0 °C from June to August.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Eritrea?
Asmara is the capital of Eritrea. It has about 960,000 residents and lies in Africa.
How many people live in Asmara?
About 960,000, which ranks Asmara 118th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Asmara?
Asmara averages 14.7 °C from December to February and 18.0 °C from June to August, with 583 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Asmara?
GDP per capita in the country is $689, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Sanaa, capital of Yemen: facts and figures
Sanaa is the capital of Yemen: 3,000,000 residents, 2,262 m above sea level, 15.4 °C from December to February and 21.8 °C from June to August. Key figures and sources.
- Djibouti, capital of Djibouti: facts and figures
Djibouti is the capital of Djibouti: 600,000 residents, 4 m above sea level, 25.3 °C from December to February and 35.0 °C from June to August. Key figures and sources.
- Khartoum, capital of Sudan: facts and figures
Khartoum is the capital of Sudan: 5,800,000 residents, 385 m above sea level, 24.4 °C from December to February and 33.1 °C from June to August. 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.