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Capitals of the world
Beirut, capital of Lebanon: facts and figures
Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. It has about 2,400,000 residents, which makes it the 65th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 60 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Damascus, 84 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Lebanon |
| Continent | Asia |
| City population | 2,400,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 65th of 172 |
| Elevation | 60 m |
| Founded | not reported |
| Time zone | Asia/Beirut |
| Coordinates | 33.89° N, 35.50° E |
| Country population | 5,849,421 residents |
| Country GDP | 26 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $4,473 |
| Life expectancy | 77.9 years |
| Internet users | 80.6 % |
| Big Mac price | LBP 480,000 (about $5.36) |
Climate through the year
Beirut averages 13.7 °C in winter and 26.9 °C in summer. January is the coldest month of the year and August the warmest, and the city receives 729 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 12.8 °C |
| February | 13.3 °C |
| March | 15.1 °C |
| April | 18.3 °C |
| May | 22.2 °C |
| June | 25.1 °C |
| July | 27.7 °C |
| August | 27.9 °C |
| September | 26.6 °C |
| October | 23.6 °C |
| November | 19.0 °C |
| December | 14.9 °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. Damascus is the closest capital to Beirut.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Damascus | Syria | 84 km |
| Amman | Jordan | 219 km |
| Jerusalem | Israel | 237 km |
| Nicosia | Cyprus | 242 km |
| Cairo | Egypt | 587 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Beirut to a place and a number you already know: it is 84 km from Damascus, and it is the 65th 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 Lebanon 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
Beirut is the capital of Lebanon, in Asia, with about 2,400,000 residents, averaging 13.7 °C in winter and 26.9 °C in summer.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Lebanon?
Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. It has about 2,400,000 residents and lies in Asia.
How many people live in Beirut?
About 2,400,000, which ranks Beirut 65th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Beirut?
Beirut averages 13.7 °C in winter and 26.9 °C in summer, with 729 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Beirut?
A Big Mac costs LBP 480,000 (about $5.36) there. GDP per capita in the country is $4,473, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Damascus, capital of Syria: facts and figures
Damascus is the capital of Syria: 2,500,000 residents, 703 m above sea level, 8.8 °C in winter and 28.4 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Amman, capital of Jordan: facts and figures
Amman is the capital of Jordan: 4,000,000 residents, 811 m above sea level, 9.2 °C in winter and 25.9 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Jerusalem, capital of Israel: facts and figures
Jerusalem is the capital of Israel: 950,000 residents, 778 m above sea level, 10.0 °C in winter and 24.9 °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.