Highest Capital Cities by Elevation
Key Findings
About This Dataset
Highest Capital Cities by ElevationLa Paz, Bolivia, is the world's highest capital at 3,640 metres, high enough that arriving visitors often feel the effects of altitude and where even boiling water cooks food differently. Ecuador's Quito (2,850 m) and Bolivia's constitutional capital Sucre (2,790 m) follow, giving the Andes a firm grip on the top three. A striking pattern emerges: the highest capitals cluster in two regions, the Andes of South America and the highlands of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, where Addis Ababa (2,355 m), Asmara (2,325 m) and Sanaa (2,250 m) sit close together. Mexico City (2,240 m) and Kabul (1,790 m) round out the list. All ten lie above 1,700 metres, a reminder that many major seats of government were founded on high, defensible and temperate plateaus rather than at sea level.
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- List of capital cities by altitude
- Coverage
- 10 entities · 10 observations
- Measure
- Elevation (metres above sea level)
- Last updated
- 7 July 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
- Values are shown as reported by the source. Nothing is rescaled, rebased or converted — the only changes are thousand separators and decimals shown to two places.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value.
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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