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Capitals of the world
Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka: facts and figures
Colombo is the capital of Sri Lanka. It has about 750,000 residents, which makes it the 126th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 8 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Malé, 766 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Continent | Asia |
| City population | 750,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 126th of 172 |
| Elevation | 8 m |
| Founded | not reported |
| Time zone | Asia/Colombo |
| Coordinates | 6.93° N, 79.86° E |
| Country population | 21,756,000 residents |
| Country GDP | 108.8 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $5,002 |
| Life expectancy | 77.7 years |
| Internet users | 54.6 % |
| Big Mac price | LKR 1,820 (about $5.69) |
Climate through the year
Colombo averages 26.3 °C from December to February and 26.8 °C from June to August. November is the coldest month of the year and April the warmest, and the city receives 2,836 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 26.1 °C |
| February | 26.9 °C |
| March | 27.4 °C |
| April | 27.6 °C |
| May | 27.3 °C |
| June | 27.0 °C |
| July | 26.9 °C |
| August | 26.6 °C |
| September | 26.4 °C |
| October | 26.1 °C |
| November | 25.7 °C |
| December | 25.9 °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. Malé is the closest capital to Colombo.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Malé | Maldives | 766 km |
| Dhaka | Bangladesh | 2,189 km |
| Naypyidaw | Myanmar | 2,258 km |
| Bangkok | Thailand | 2,380 km |
| Kathmandu | Nepal | 2,382 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Colombo to a place and a number you already know: it is 766 km from Malé, and it is the 126th 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 Sri Lanka 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
Colombo is the capital of Sri Lanka, in Asia, with about 750,000 residents, averaging 26.3 °C from December to February and 26.8 °C from June to August.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Sri Lanka?
Colombo is the capital of Sri Lanka. It has about 750,000 residents and lies in Asia.
How many people live in Colombo?
About 750,000, which ranks Colombo 126th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Colombo?
Colombo averages 26.3 °C from December to February and 26.8 °C from June to August, with 2,836 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Colombo?
A Big Mac costs LKR 1,820 (about $5.69) there. GDP per capita in the country is $5,002, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Malé, capital of Maldives: facts and figures
Malé is the capital of Maldives: 250,000 residents, 0 m above sea level, 27.4 °C from December to February and 28.0 °C from June to August. Key figures and sources.
- Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh: facts and figures
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh: 21,000,000 residents, 9 m above sea level, 19.6 °C in winter and 28.4 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Naypyidaw, capital of Myanmar: facts and figures
Naypyidaw is the capital of Myanmar: 920,000 residents, 154 m above sea level, 23.4 °C from December to February and 25.8 °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.