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Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia: facts and figures
Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia. It has about 8,200,000 residents, which makes it the 20th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 62 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Singapore, 309 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Malaysia |
| Continent | Asia |
| City population | 8,200,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 20th of 172 |
| Elevation | 62 m |
| Founded | 1857 |
| Time zone | Asia/Kuala_Lumpur |
| Coordinates | 3.14° N, 101.69° E |
| Country population | 35,977,838 residents |
| Country GDP | 472.2 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $13,125 |
| Life expectancy | 76.8 years |
| Internet users | 98.0 % |
| Big Mac price | MYR 14.55 (about $3.57) |
Climate through the year
Kuala Lumpur averages 26.5 °C from December to February and 27.0 °C from June to August. November is the coldest month of the year and May the warmest, and the city receives 2,939 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 26.3 °C |
| February | 27.0 °C |
| March | 27.2 °C |
| April | 27.1 °C |
| May | 27.3 °C |
| June | 27.1 °C |
| July | 27.1 °C |
| August | 26.8 °C |
| September | 26.7 °C |
| October | 26.7 °C |
| November | 26.1 °C |
| December | 26.2 °C |
What makes it stand out
- Latitude: 3rd southernmost capital in Asia (3.14°).
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. Singapore is the closest capital to Kuala Lumpur.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | Singapore | 309 km |
| Phnom Penh | Cambodia | 1,002 km |
| Jakarta | Indonesia | 1,187 km |
| Bangkok | Thailand | 1,188 km |
| Bandar Seri Begawan | Brunei | 1,482 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Kuala Lumpur to a place and a number you already know: it is 309 km from Singapore, and it is the 20th 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 Malaysia 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
Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia, in Asia, with about 8,200,000 residents, averaging 26.5 °C from December to February and 27.0 °C from June to August.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Malaysia?
Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia. It has about 8,200,000 residents and lies in Asia.
How many people live in Kuala Lumpur?
About 8,200,000, which ranks Kuala Lumpur 20th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Kuala Lumpur?
Kuala Lumpur averages 26.5 °C from December to February and 27.0 °C from June to August, with 2,939 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Kuala Lumpur?
A Big Mac costs MYR 14.55 (about $3.57) there. GDP per capita in the country is $13,125, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Singapore, capital of Singapore: facts and figures
Singapore is the capital of Singapore: 5,900,000 residents, 39 m above sea level, 26.0 °C from December to February and 27.0 °C from June to August.
- Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia: facts and figures
Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia: 2,100,000 residents, 16 m above sea level, 27.2 °C from December to February and 28.1 °C from June to August.
- Jakarta, capital of Indonesia: facts and figures
Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia: 11,200,000 residents, 14 m above sea level, 27.1 °C from June to August and 26.4 °C from December to February.
- 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.