What is Primate City?

A primate city is a major city that works as the financial, political, and population center of a country and is not rivaled in any of these aspects by any other city in that country. Normally, a primate city must be at least twice as populous as the second largest city in the country. The presence of a primate city in a country usually indicates an imbalance in development — usually a progressive core, and a lagging periphery, on which the primate city depends for labor and other resources.^[1] Not all countries have primate cities (Germany, India, and the People's Republic of China for example), but in those that do, the rest of the country depends on it for cultural, economic, political, and major transportation needs. Among the best known examples of primate cities are alpha world cities of London and Paris. Other major primate cities include Seoul, Mexico City, Vienna, Cairo, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Tehran, Baghdad, and Athens.

Some examples of nations without a primate city would include India, with the four main cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai; Brazil, whose capital and political centre, Brasilia, is dwarfed in size and culture by both São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro; Italy, whose political seat at Rome is balanced by its business, financial and fashion "capital" of Milan; Australia, whose largest city is Sydney, but with a number of other large cities, including the political centre, Canberra; and the United States, whose financial and cultural centres are widely dispersed throughout the country in cities such as New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles and whose political centre is located in Washington, D.C. Germany's political center is Berlin, though its financial center is Frankfurt and cultural center split between Berlin, Munich, Dresden and smaller cities. Additionally, Mumbai, São Paulo, Sydney, and Frankfurt have close competitors as their countries' largest cities (Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne, and Munich respectively).

Some countries, such as the United States, Australia and Canada, have regional and/or provincial/state primate cities, such as Atlanta, Georgia; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Perth in Western Australia.

List of primate cities

Africa

• Accra, Ghana
• Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Antananarivo, Madagascar
• Bamako, Mali
• Bangui, Central African Republic
• Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
• Cairo, Egypt
• Conakry, Guinea
• Cotonou, Benin
• Dakar, Senegal
• Gaborone, Botswana
• Harare, Zimbabwe
• Kigali, Rwanda
• Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Libreville, Gabon
• Lomé, Togo
• Luanda, Angola
• Lusaka, Zambia
• Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
• Maputo, Mozambique
• Monrovia, Liberia
• Nairobi, Kenya
• Niamey, Niger
• N'Djamena, Chad
• Nouakchott, Mauritania
• Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
• Tunis, Tunisia
• Windhoek, Namibia

Asia

• Amman, Jordan
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Baku, Azerbaijan
• Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
• Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Damascus, Syria
• Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Doha, Qatar
• Dushanbe, Tajikistan
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Kabul, Afghanistan
• Kathmandu, Nepal
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Kuwait City, Kuwait
• Manila, Philippines
• Muscat, Oman
• Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Pyongyang, North Korea
• Seoul, South Korea
• Singapore
• Taipei, Taiwan
• Tashkent, Uzbekistan
• Tbilisi, Georgia
• Thimpu, Bhutan
• Tehran, Iran
• Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• Yangon, Burma
• Yerevan, Armenia

Central America

• Guatemala City, Guatemala
• Havana, Cuba
• Managua, Nicaragua
• Panama City, Panama
• Port-au-Prince, Haiti
• San José, Costa Rica
• San Salvador, El Salvador
• Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Europe

• Athens, Greece
• Belgrade, Serbia
• Bratislava, Slovakia
• Brussels, Belgium
• Bucharest, Romania
• Budapest, Hungary
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Dublin, Ireland
• Helsinki, Finland
• Kiev, Ukraine
• Lisbon, Portugal
• Ljubljana, Slovenia
• London, United Kingdom
• Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Luxemburg, Luxemburg
• Minsk, Belarus
• Moscow, Russia
• Oslo, Norway
• Paris, France
• Podgorica, Montenegro
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Reykjavík, Iceland
• Riga, Latvia
• Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Skopje, Macedonia
• Sofia, Bulgaria
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Tallinn, Estonia
• Tirana, Albania
• Vienna, Austria
• Warsaw, Poland
• Zagreb, Croatia

North America

• Mexico City, Mexico

Oceania

• Port-Vila, Vanuatu
• Suva, Fiji
• Nukuʻalofa, Tonga
• Apia, Samoa

South America

• Asunción, Paraguay
• Bogotá, Colombia
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Caracas, Venezuela
• Lima, Peru
• Montevideo, Uruguay
• Santiago, Chile

Countries without a primate city

• Australia (see Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra)
• Bolivia (see La Paz, Santa Cruz, Sucre)
• Brazil (see São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília)
• Canada (see Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary)
• People's Republic of China (see Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou)
• Ecuador (see Quito, Guayaquil)
• Germany (see Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt and Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area)
• India (see Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai)
• Israel (see Tel Aviv and Jerusalem)
• Italy (see Rome, Milan and Naples)
• Kazakhstan (see Almaty, Astana and Karaganda)
• Liechtenstein (see Vaduz and Schaan)
• Lithuania (see Vilnius and Kaunas)
• Netherlands (see Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague)
• New Zealand (see Auckland and Wellington)
• Pakistan (see Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad)
• South Africa (see Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg)
• Spain (see Madrid, Barcelona)
• Switzerland (see Zurich, Geneva and Berne)
• Turkey (see Istanbul and Ankara)
• United States (see New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, and Seattle)
• Vietnam (see Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City)

Primate cites in subnational entities

• Australia
• Adelaide, South Australia
• Brisbane, Queensland
• Melbourne, Victoria
• Perth, Western Australia
• Sydney, New South Wales
• Canada
• Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Montréal, Québec (not political capital)
• St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
• Toronto, Ontario
• Vancouver, British Columbia (not political capital)
• Winnipeg, Manitoba
• China
• Guangzhou, Guangdong
• Germany
• Berlin, Brandenburg (not in the state of Brandenburg)
• Frankfurt, Hesse (not political capital)
• Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg
• Hannover, Lower Saxony
• Munich, Bavaria
• Rhine-Ruhr conglomerate, North Rhine-Westphalia
• Saarbrücken, Saarland
• United States
• Albuquerque, New Mexico (not political capital)
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Anchorage, Alaska (not political capital)
• Baltimore, Maryland (not political capital)
• Boise, Idaho
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Chicago, Illinois (not political capital)
• Denver, Colorado
• Detroit, Michigan (not political capital)
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Jackson, Mississippi
• Las Vegas, Nevada (not political capital)
• Little Rock, Arkansas
• Louisville, Kentucky (not political capital)
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin (not political capital)
• New York City, New York (not political capital)
• Omaha, Nebraska (not political capital)
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Portland, Oregon (not political capital)
• Providence, Rhode Island
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Seattle, Washington (not political capital)
• India
• Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Delhi, NCR
• Calcutta, West Bengal
• Chennai, Tamil Nadu
• Bangalore, Karnataka
• Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Subnational entities without a primate city

• Australia
• Tasmania (see Hobart and Launceston)
• Northern Territory (see Darwin, Alice Springs and Katherine)
• Brazil
• Espírito Santo (see Vila Velha, Serra, Cariacica and Vitória)
• Santa Catarina (see Joinville, Blumenau and Florianópolis)
• Canada
• Alberta (see Edmonton and Calgary)
• Saskatchewan (see Saskatoon and Regina)
• New Brunswick (see Saint John, Fredericton, and Moncton)
• Prince Edward Island (see Charlottetown and Summerside)
• Germany
• Nordrhein-Westfalen (state), Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Bonn
• Sachsen (state), Dresden, Leipzig
• China
• Liaoning (see Dalian and Shenyang)
• Shandong (see Jinan and Qingdao)
• India
• Assam (see Dispur and Guwahati)
• Gujarat (see Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Gandhinagar)
• Kerala (see Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram)
• Madhya Pradesh (see Bhopal , Indore and Gwalior)
• Orissa (see Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar)
• Punjab (see Chandigarh, Jalandhar and Amritsar)
• Uttar Pradesh (see Lucknow ,Allahabad and Kanpur)
• United Kingdom
• Scotland (see Glasgow and Edinburgh)
• United States
• Alabama (see Montgomery, Birmingham and Mobile)
• Connecticut (see Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven)
• California (see Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and San Diego)
• Florida (see Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tallahassee and Tampa Bay)
• Iowa (see Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Davenport)
• Louisiana (see Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Shreveport)
• Missouri (see Jefferson City, Kansas City and St. Louis)
• Minnesota (see Minneapolis and Saint Paul)
• New Jersey (see Newark, Jersey City and Trenton)
• North Carolina (see Raleigh and Charlotte)
• Ohio (see Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland)
• Oklahoma (see Oklahoma City and Tulsa)
• Pennsylvania (see Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg)
• South Carolina (see Columbia, Greenville and Charleston)
• Tennessee (see Memphis and Nashville)
• Texas (see Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas)
• Vermont (see Burlington, Rutland, and Montpelier)
• Virginia (see Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Richmond)
• West Virginia (see Charleston and Huntington)
• Wyoming (see Cheyenne, Casper, and Laramie)

See also

• World city

Notes