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Capitals of the world
Beijing, capital of China: facts and figures
Beijing is the capital of China. It has about 21,500,000 residents, which makes it the 4th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 52 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Pyongyang, 808 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | China |
| Continent | Asia |
| City population | 21,500,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 4th of 172 |
| Elevation | 52 m |
| Founded | not reported |
| Time zone | Asia/Shanghai |
| Coordinates | 39.90° N, 116.41° E |
| Country population | 1,406,585,000 residents |
| Country GDP | 19.5 trillion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $13,862 |
| Life expectancy | 78.0 years |
| Internet users | 91.6 % |
| Big Mac price | CN¥26.50 (about $3.91) |
Climate through the year
Beijing averages -1.7 °C in winter and 26.2 °C in summer. January is the coldest month of the year and July the warmest, and the city receives 628 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | -3.0 °C |
| February | 0.0 °C |
| March | 7.8 °C |
| April | 15.3 °C |
| May | 21.4 °C |
| June | 26.3 °C |
| July | 27.0 °C |
| August | 25.4 °C |
| September | 21.1 °C |
| October | 12.8 °C |
| November | 4.3 °C |
| December | -2.1 °C |
What makes it stand out
- Size: 3rd most populous capital in Asia (21,500,000 residents).
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. Pyongyang is the closest capital to Beijing.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Pyongyang | North Korea | 808 km |
| Seoul | South Korea | 952 km |
| Ulaanbaatar | Mongolia | 1,168 km |
| Taipei | Taiwan | 1,722 km |
| Tokyo | Japan | 2,092 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Beijing to a place and a number you already know: it is 808 km from Pyongyang, and it is the 4th 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 China 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
Beijing is the capital of China, in Asia, with about 21,500,000 residents, averaging -1.7 °C in winter and 26.2 °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 China?
Beijing is the capital of China. It has about 21,500,000 residents and lies in Asia.
How many people live in Beijing?
About 21,500,000, which ranks Beijing 4th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Beijing?
Beijing averages -1.7 °C in winter and 26.2 °C in summer, with 628 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Beijing?
A Big Mac costs CN¥26.50 (about $3.91) there. GDP per capita in the country is $13,862, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Pyongyang, capital of North Korea: facts and figures
Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea: 3,000,000 residents, 74 m above sea level, -3.3 °C in winter and 23.6 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Seoul, capital of South Korea: facts and figures
Seoul is the capital of South Korea: 9,700,000 residents, 37 m above sea level, -1.6 °C in winter and 24.2 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia: facts and figures
Ulaanbaatar is the capital of Mongolia: 1,600,000 residents, 1,290 m above sea level, -16.4 °C in winter and 17.2 °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.