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Capitals of the world
Islamabad, capital of Pakistan: facts and figures
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan. It has about 1,200,000 residents, which makes it the 106th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 531 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Kabul, 369 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Pakistan |
| Continent | Asia |
| City population | 1,200,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 106th of 172 |
| Elevation | 531 m |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Time zone | Asia/Karachi |
| Coordinates | 33.69° N, 73.05° E |
| Country population | 255,219,554 residents |
| Country GDP | 407.3 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $1,596 |
| Life expectancy | 67.8 years |
| Internet users | 57.3 % |
| Big Mac price | PKR 1,080 (about $3.89) |
Climate through the year
Islamabad averages 11.7 °C in winter and 28.9 °C in summer. January is the coldest month of the year and June the warmest, and the city receives 1,014 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 10.0 °C |
| February | 13.2 °C |
| March | 17.3 °C |
| April | 22.4 °C |
| May | 27.3 °C |
| June | 30.3 °C |
| July | 28.6 °C |
| August | 27.7 °C |
| September | 26.7 °C |
| October | 22.6 °C |
| November | 16.3 °C |
| December | 11.8 °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. Kabul is the closest capital to Islamabad.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Kabul | Afghanistan | 369 km |
| Dushanbe | Tajikistan | 663 km |
| New Delhi | India | 690 km |
| Tashkent | Uzbekistan | 910 km |
| Bishkek | Kyrgyzstan | 1,030 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Islamabad to a place and a number you already know: it is 369 km from Kabul, and it is the 106th 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 Pakistan 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.
- 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
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan, in Asia, with about 1,200,000 residents, averaging 11.7 °C in winter and 28.9 °C in summer.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Pakistan?
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan. It has about 1,200,000 residents and lies in Asia.
How many people live in Islamabad?
About 1,200,000, which ranks Islamabad 106th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Islamabad?
Islamabad averages 11.7 °C in winter and 28.9 °C in summer, with 1,014 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Islamabad?
A Big Mac costs PKR 1,080 (about $3.89) there. GDP per capita in the country is $1,596, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Kabul, capital of Afghanistan: facts and figures
Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan: 4,600,000 residents, 1,800 m above sea level, 0.4 °C in winter and 24.3 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan: facts and figures
Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan: 900,000 residents, 816 m above sea level, 3.4 °C in winter and 27.1 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- New Delhi, capital of India: facts and figures
New Delhi is the capital of India: 32,900,000 residents, 217 m above sea level, 14.9 °C in winter and 30.5 °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.