# How important is your capital for your country?



## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

Vienna: 1.6 mio people
Austria: 8.6 mio people

Thats about 1 out of 5 Austrians living in Vienna. 
Vienna is beyond any doubt the very economic and political heart of Austria. Having that said, Austria is a federal country even if its not that large and all 9 states have distinctive cultural identities.


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## Galandar (Dec 2, 2004)

Baku: 3 mln people (35% of total population)
Azerbaijan 8 mln people

Baku: 60% GDP


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## unoh (Aug 13, 2005)

S.Korea : 48 milion
Seoul Metro : 23 milion (48%)


S.Korea is centralized....


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## anakngpasig (Jul 29, 2005)

Metro Manila: 
13% of total population 
but 31% of GDP


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

The DC metro makes less than 2% of the population of the US.

Outside the obvious (politics and government functions), Washington really isn't all that "special". It is not a big hub of finance, industry, or services. However, it does have a major economy, with a very affluent population, and has a very big high tech sector, as well as education.


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## Guest (Dec 30, 2008)

Statistics are fairly straightforward for Singapore...

Population:
Capital: 4.6m
Country: 4.6m

GDP: capital - 100% of the country.

Easy enough?


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## Fallout (Sep 11, 2002)

Poland is quite decentralised compared to most other countries. Warsaw makes only 4,5% of country's popultion (up to 8% with metro area) and about 13% of GDP (Warsaw is much above country's average). On the other hand, largest stadium in Poland is located in Chorzów and highest skyscraper may in few years be built in Wrocław.

Overall, Poland together with Germany, Italy and USA belongs to most decentralised countries.


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Fallout said:


> Overall, Poland together with Germany, Italy and USA belongs to most decentralised countries.


You could add India, Pakistan, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, and much of Africa to that list.


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## Fallout (Sep 11, 2002)

^^In Indonesia and particularly in Russia, capital is quite dominant.


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## lak (Dec 22, 2008)

Occit said:


> Caracas population:
> 
> about 3.0 million
> 
> ...


You are damn wrong Caracas its over 5 million people i think almost 6..


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## Anderson Geimz (Mar 29, 2008)

The US, Russia, Brazil, India and Indonesia are not "decentralized countries"...They are just huge (some even continent size) countries...

Decentralized countries are Germany, Switserland, The Netherlands, Italy and after those maybe Poland...


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## Anderson Geimz (Mar 29, 2008)

dp


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## Occit (Jul 24, 2005)

lak said:


> You are damn wrong Caracas its over 5 million people i think almost 6..


WTF i'm geographer and live in Caracas...the Caracas' Valley has exactly 3,5 millions, with the satellite cities rise only 4,5 millions.


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## lak (Dec 22, 2008)

3500000 Caracas city, greater Caracas including San Antonio de Los Altos, Guarenas, guatire, Charallave about a million, 4500000, but some people also include La Guaira it would be half a million more so 5 million..


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## Occit (Jul 24, 2005)

lak said:


> 3500000 Caracas city, greater Caracas including San Antonio de Los Altos, Guarenas, guatire, Charallave about a million, 4500000, but some people also include La Guaira it would be half a million more so 5 million..


*2 millions: Libertador + 1,5 millions: East Caracas + 300.000 Altos Mirandinos + 300.000 Vargas + 400.000 Guarenas/Guatire = 4,5 millions. *


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## alexis91 (Jun 14, 2008)

*The Caribbean*

San Juan is the capital city of Puerto Rico.

*Population:*
City: 434,000
Metro: 2.6 Millions
Puerto Rico: 4 Millions

About *65%* of total population of Puerto Rico lives in the San Juan metro area. 

The city’s economy relies mostly on companies dedicated to the manufacture of several products, including: Chemical substances (bleach and house cleaning products); medicines; rum and other beverages; fertilizers; electric tools; electronic devices; plastics, textiles, and food-based products.[28] Tourism is also a key industry. The district of Hato Rey contains a corporate sector known as “La Milla de Oro,” which serves as the headquarters of numerous local and international banks. San Juan is influential in the educational aspect of Puerto Rico, serving as location to many universities and colleges. The most prestigious university in the area, the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus is located in San Juan, along with the University of Puerto Rico's Medical Sciences Campus.


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## Aan (Nov 5, 2007)

Slovakia population - 5.4M
Bratislava population - about 0.7M (incl. commuters, officially about 0.5M - there is no real number because many people living in BA are officialy by papers living in different cities)

That's about 13% of country's population which create about 25% GDP of Slovakia.


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## hoosier (Apr 11, 2007)

What about China? How important is Beijing to the country? It is a big city but is it more important than Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc.?


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

...



the spliff fairy said:


> Beijing population 16 million, but Shanghai, Shenzhen-HK and Chongqing have bigger, faster growing metros. It's very centralised (i.e. the whole country runs on Beijing's time zone), and the worlds largest bureaucratic city, but lagging behind other cities in terms of economy, though it's definitely booming. It is competing with nearby Tianjin (pop. 11 million), the traditional economic trade port of the area. It is often considered staid and serious by other Chinese, in comparison with other cities.
> It has just over 1% of China's population.


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Anderson Geimz said:


> The US, Russia, Brazil, India and Indonesia are not "decentralized countries"...They are just huge (some even continent size) countries...
> 
> Decentralized countries are Germany, Switserland, The Netherlands, Italy and after those maybe Poland...


Most huge countries are decentralized by necessity. Even huge countries with small populations like Australia and Canada are decentralized and structured as federations. The only nation you listed above that isn't structured as a federation is Indonesia. 

Even in Indonesia, Jakarta accounts for less than 4% of the national population. There are over 6,000 inhabited islands and 300 distinct native ethnicities, 742 different languages and dialects, and 33 provinces (5 with special status) in Indonesia. Jakarta is much richer than the rest of the country, but Indonesia is hardly a nation dominated by its capital. Neither are the others you listed there. Russia is the most dominated by its capital of those nations, but I'd still consider Russia to have far less centralization than places like France or the UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia#Demographics


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## White Shadows (Nov 22, 2008)

Republic of Argentina----------------- 45 million people
Capital city: Buenos Aires------------ 4.5 million people

*(10% of total population)
*Excluding Greater Buenos Aires (province)


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

There are about 13 million people in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. That would be a fairer representation of your capital's position within Argentina.


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## White Shadows (Nov 22, 2008)

Atention: Buenos Aires city (Autonomous City of Buenos Aires) is located outside of the Buenos Aires Province and is therefore not part of the province. 

Strictly, Buenos Aires has 4.5 million inhabitants. But to add the Greater Buenos Aires (Province, not capital city), this changes.

Greater Buenos Aires (GBA) is the third largest conurbation in Latin America, with a population of about 13 million.


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## Rinchinlhumbe (Dec 20, 2008)

hoosier said:


> What about China? How important is Beijing to the country? It is a big city but is it more important than Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc.?


three cities mentioned can be roughly divided into Beijing as a political and administrative center, Shanghai as a trading city and Guangzhou as a heavy industrialized city. But it is quite hard to draw some divisions in between.

The most centralised country might be Mongolia with 40% of the toal population living in the capital.
The growth of Ulaanbaatar is shown here:

1918 30 000 
1955 118 000
1960 164 000
1970 282 000
1980 435 000
1990 562 000
2000 726 000
2008 1 044 000

The second biggest city only has about 70.000 inhabitants.

Guatemala City might also be a good guess for primary city.


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## Anderson Geimz (Mar 29, 2008)

isaidso said:


> Most huge countries are decentralized by necessity. Even huge countries with small populations like Australia and Canada are decentralized and structured as federations. The only nation you listed above that isn't structured as a federation is Indonesia.
> 
> Even in Indonesia, Jakarta accounts for less than 4% of the national population. There are over 6,000 inhabited islands and 300 distinct native ethnicities, 742 different languages and dialects, and 33 provinces (5 with special status) in Indonesia. Jakarta is much richer than the rest of the country, but Indonesia is hardly a nation dominated by its capital. Neither are the others you listed there. Russia is the most dominated by its capital of those nations, but I'd still consider Russia to have far less centralization than places like France or the UK.
> 
> ...


Actually both Russia and Indonesia are very much dominated by their capitals.


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## [email protected] (Jul 12, 2008)

In Mexico city (and its metropolitan area) live about 20 million people. In the hole country, there are more than 106 million people. So, 1 out of five mexicans, live in it's capital.
Mexico City accurates 20% of Mexico's GDT. Most of transnational companies have their central offices in Mexico DF, either in Santa Fe (the most important financial center in Latin America) or in the "Reforma Zone", near downtown, though in recent times there have been efforts to change this situation, letting other important cities, such as Monterrey and Guadalajara, recieve more investment.

Cheers


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## Chrissib (Feb 9, 2008)

Rinchinlhumbe said:


> three cities mentioned can be roughly divided into Beijing as a political and administrative center, Shanghai as a trading city and Guangzhou as a heavy industrialized city. But it is quite hard to draw some divisions in between.
> 
> The most centralised country might be Mongolia with 40% of the toal population living in the capital.
> The growth of Ulaanbaatar is shown here:
> ...


What about South Korea with 48% living in the capital metro area?^^


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## Rinchinlhumbe (Dec 20, 2008)

Chrissib said:


> What about South Korea with 48% living in the capital metro area?^^


wow, der erste React!:banana:
the metro area is of vast expanse also including cities like Incheon, etc
moreover, Korea's second largest city, Pusan has at least 3 million inhabitants, approximately one quarter of Seouls population, whereas Ulaanbaatar dwarfs every city in size and importance (UB: over 1 mio., Erdenet: 70k inhabitants)


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## karim aboussir (Dec 4, 2006)

morocco is 30 million people 
city of rabat is the capital 670,000 people but the metro area is 2.4 million people


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Anderson Geimz said:


> Actually both Russia and Indonesia are very much dominated by their capitals.


Perhaps, you and I have different definitions of what 'dominant' means. I tend not to use the term dominant unless you get a level of domination like occurs in England with London, or South Korea with Seoul.

Jakarta and Moscow account for a small percentage of their country's population. Economically and politically they are more dominant, but still don't dominate in their respective countries to the extent that London and Seoul do in theirs.


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## Homer J. Simpson (Dec 2, 2003)

^I would tend to agree with that statement.

Percentage of national population is not what I would consider the defining quality of a dominant capitol city.

When a capitol is also a primate city they tend to be dominant. Look at all of the worlds primate cities that are capitols; London, Paris, Athens, BA, Mexico City, Seoul, Tokyo, etc.


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## Anderson Geimz (Mar 29, 2008)

...and Jakarta and Moscow...:|


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## sebvill (Apr 13, 2005)

Peru is also quite centralized. Lima had 28% of the population and about 45% of the GDP in 2007.
Lima Metro (includes Callao) 7.9 millions
Peru 28.1 millions


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## Berris (Oct 8, 2005)

White Shadows said:


> Republic of Argentina----------------- 45 million people
> Capital city: Buenos Aires------------ 4.5 million people
> 
> *(10% of total population)
> *Excluding Greater Buenos Aires (province)


Argentina has around 39-40 million people, not 45 million. City of Buenos Aires I think is around 3 million, but the real city, the aglomeration, is around 13 million.


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## Betelgeuze (May 11, 2008)

My capital; Brussels is the cause of many conflicts in my country between the Flemish and the French peoples. Thats what you get for creating an 'artificial' country with two different peoples in it. Our country is already split in two internally, now its just a matter of who gets Brussels.
Brussels is also the capital of Europe, how ironic...

I wouldn't be suprised if Belgium doesn't exist anymore in 50 years.


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## Kenwen (May 1, 2005)

China
Beijing is a financial City with population of 17million around 1.3% of China pop which is both Political and financial center of China, it surprise people that the GDP of service sector is account for 70% of the city compare to 55% for Shanghai. The GDP of Beijing is around 1100billion rmb so is around 162billion usd which is around 4% of Chinese GDP.
It is the second highest city for GDP following shanghai,than is Guangzhou and Shenzhen.


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

Amsterdam City: 750.000 (metro: 2 milion)
The Netherlands: 16.500.000

The Netherlands has a decentralisation policy. Amsterdam is the capital since 1808, but official recognized since 1983. It has no political power. The parlement, goverment-headquarters and recidense are in The Haque. Amsterdam is a culturalpower in the Netherland with museums and opera's and has a financialdistrict in development.

Amsterdam has mainport Schiphol with more then 60.000 employees. Rotterdam has an other mainport the Rotterdam harbor with 60.000 employees and 250.000 indirect.

Amsterdam must compete with all the regions in the Netherlands.


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## joga (Oct 26, 2007)

Roma is absolutely important in Italy.

Italy population: 58 mln

Roma population: 2.7 mln
Metropolitan area: 3.7 mln

But there is also Milano, that lies in the richest part of Italy.

Milano population: 1.3 mln
Metropolitan area: 3 mln
Big Milano: 7 mln (I'm not sure about this data)


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## RawLee (Jul 9, 2007)

Well, Budapest represents about 15% of the population of the country.(1,5 million),while provides about 37% of the GDP. During the day,about 25% of the population is in the the city,increasing it to about 2,5 million.

The city is the political,financial,industrial,cultural,transportational,etc centre of the country,its even in the middle of it.

Most motorways,roads,railways converge in the city,there are more bridges in it on the Danube than outside the city combined.


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## HD (Sep 17, 2003)

10ROT said:


> The DC metro makes less than 2% of the population of the US.
> 
> Outside the obvious (politics and government functions), Washington really isn't all that "special". It is not a big hub of finance, industry, or services.


same in germany with berlin ..


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