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Capitals of the world
Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia: facts and figures
Riyadh is the capital of Saudi Arabia. It has about 7,600,000 residents, which makes it the 22nd most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 623 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Manama, 427 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Continent | Asia |
| City population | 7,600,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 22nd of 172 |
| Elevation | 623 m |
| Founded | 1746 |
| Time zone | Asia/Riyadh |
| Coordinates | 24.71° N, 46.68° E |
| Country population | 36,973,555 residents |
| Country GDP | 1.3 trillion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $34,537 |
| Life expectancy | 79.0 years |
| Internet users | 100.0 % |
| Big Mac price | SAR 19.00 (about $5.06) |
Climate through the year
Riyadh averages 16.1 °C in winter and 36.6 °C in summer. January is the coldest month of the year and July the warmest, and the city receives 77 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 14.9 °C |
| February | 17.2 °C |
| March | 22.1 °C |
| April | 26.6 °C |
| May | 32.5 °C |
| June | 35.8 °C |
| July | 37.2 °C |
| August | 36.7 °C |
| September | 33.7 °C |
| October | 28.3 °C |
| November | 21.6 °C |
| December | 16.2 °C |
What makes it stand out
- Summer: 3rd hottest capital in the world (36.6 °C).
- Rainfall: 3rd driest capital in Asia (77 mm).
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. Manama is the closest capital to Riyadh.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Manama | Bahrain | 427 km |
| Doha | Qatar | 493 km |
| Kuwait City | Kuwait | 535 km |
| Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates | 779 km |
| Baghdad | Iraq | 984 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Riyadh to a place and a number you already know: it is 427 km from Manama, and it is the 22nd 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 Saudi Arabia 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
Riyadh is the capital of Saudi Arabia, in Asia, with about 7,600,000 residents, averaging 16.1 °C in winter and 36.6 °C in summer.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Saudi Arabia?
Riyadh is the capital of Saudi Arabia. It has about 7,600,000 residents and lies in Asia.
How many people live in Riyadh?
About 7,600,000, which ranks Riyadh 22nd of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Riyadh?
Riyadh averages 16.1 °C in winter and 36.6 °C in summer, with 77 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Riyadh?
A Big Mac costs SAR 19.00 (about $5.06) there. GDP per capita in the country is $34,537, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Manama, capital of Bahrain: facts and figures
Manama is the capital of Bahrain: 660,000 residents, 6 m above sea level, 18.6 °C in winter and 34.7 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Doha, capital of Qatar: facts and figures
Doha is the capital of Qatar: 2,400,000 residents, 2 m above sea level, 19.3 °C in winter and 35.6 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Kuwait City, capital of Kuwait: facts and figures
Kuwait City is the capital of Kuwait: 3,100,000 residents, 7 m above sea level, 15.6 °C in winter and 37.9 °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.