DailyGeo › Atlas › Capitals of the world
Capitals of the world
Harare, capital of Zimbabwe: facts and figures
Harare is the capital of Zimbabwe. It has about 1,600,000 residents, which makes it the 88th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 1,484 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Lusaka, 398 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Zimbabwe |
| Continent | Africa |
| City population | 1,600,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 88th of 172 |
| Elevation | 1,484 m |
| Founded | 1890 |
| Time zone | Africa/Harare |
| Coordinates | 17.83° S, 31.05° E |
| Country population | 16,950,795 residents |
| Country GDP | 51.2 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $3,021 |
| Life expectancy | 63.1 years |
| Internet users | 41.6 % |
| Big Mac price | not reported |
Climate through the year
Harare averages 15.3 °C from June to August and 20.4 °C from December to February. July is the coldest month of the year and October the warmest, and the city receives 727 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 19.8 °C |
| February | 20.1 °C |
| March | 19.7 °C |
| April | 18.4 °C |
| May | 16.5 °C |
| June | 14.5 °C |
| July | 14.3 °C |
| August | 17.1 °C |
| September | 20.1 °C |
| October | 22.0 °C |
| November | 21.7 °C |
| December | 21.2 °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. Lusaka is the closest capital to Harare.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lusaka | Zambia | 398 km |
| Lilongwe | Malawi | 521 km |
| Maputo | Mozambique | 919 km |
| Gaborone | Botswana | 926 km |
| Pretoria | South Africa | 929 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Harare to a place and a number you already know: it is 398 km from Lusaka, and it is the 88th 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 Zimbabwe 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
Harare is the capital of Zimbabwe, in Africa, with about 1,600,000 residents, averaging 15.3 °C from June to August and 20.4 °C from December to February.
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 Zimbabwe?
Harare is the capital of Zimbabwe. It has about 1,600,000 residents and lies in Africa.
How many people live in Harare?
About 1,600,000, which ranks Harare 88th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Harare?
Harare averages 15.3 °C from June to August and 20.4 °C from December to February, with 727 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Harare?
GDP per capita in the country is $3,021, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Lusaka, capital of Zambia: facts and figures
Lusaka is the capital of Zambia: 3,300,000 residents, 1,260 m above sea level, 17.4 °C from June to August and 21.7 °C from December to February. Key figures and sources.
- Lilongwe, capital of Malawi: facts and figures
Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi: 1,100,000 residents, 1,070 m above sea level, 17.8 °C from June to August and 22.2 °C from December to February.
- Maputo, capital of Mozambique: facts and figures
Maputo is the capital of Mozambique: 1,100,000 residents, 9 m above sea level, 19.9 °C in winter and 25.9 °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.