Naypyidaw

Naypyidaw is the capital of Myanmar. It is in the middle of the country.

It is a very new city. Builders started it in 2004.

Naypyidaw is the capital of Myanmar, Universalis says. It lies in the basin that stretches across the center of the country, about 320 kilometers north of Yangon. Its name, Nay Pyi Taw in Burmese, means 'abode of kings'.

At the 2024 census, 358,679 people lived in Naypyidaw together with the older towns of Pyinmana and Lewe. Ten years earlier, at the 2014 census, the same area had 333,506 people.

Myanmar Department of Population (via City Population): Naypyitaw including Pyinmana and Lewe 73,211 (census 1983, before the new city), 333,506 (census 29 March 2014), 358,679 (census 30 September 2024), third among Myanmar's cities in 2024 after Yangon and Mandalay. City Population warns that the reliability of the 2024 national figures is limited, because a large share of the country's population was estimated rather than counted.

Universalis: Naypyidaw (Burmese Nay Pyi Taw, 'abode of kings') lies in the basin of central Myanmar, in the south of the Mandalay division, and was built in the early 2000s as the country's new administrative center.

Look at the tall, pointed arches! This is the gate to a garden with fountains.

The walls are blue and gold. Street lamps line the road.

This photo shows the entrance to the Water Fountain Garden, a park in Naypyidaw, on 5 December 2011. Three tall, pointed gray arches stand over the gate, the middle one much taller than the others. Below them, the gate walls are painted blue and gold, with the garden's name in English on the left and Burmese writing on the right.

A wide paved square lies in front, and a road lined with street lamps leads through the gate. Wikidata dates the garden from 2008.

Commons: 'Naypyidaw -- Water Fountain Garden', 5 December 2011, own work by the uploader Hybernator, CC BY-SA 3.0; description 'The Water Fountain Garden, Naypyidaw'.

In the picture: three pointed arches clad in gray panels, the central one far taller; gate walls with gold diamond patterns on blue, the name 'Naypyidaw Water Fountain Garden' in English on the left panel and Burmese text on the right; red-and-white curbs, a broad paved forecourt and a lamp-lined road through the central arch. Wikidata (inception, P571): the garden 2008; Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens 27 March 2008, about 19 km NE; Naypyidaw Safari Park 12 February 2011, about 19 km NE.

Naypyidaw has a garden with fountains. It also has a zoo and a safari park!

Families can visit the animals there.

Naypyidaw has a park with fountains, the Water Fountain Garden, as well as a zoo, the Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens, and a wildlife park, the Naypyidaw Safari Park. Wikidata places the zoo and the safari park side by side, about 19 kilometers northeast of the garden.

In its first years, Universalis says, the new capital had few shops, restaurants and other services, which is why many families of government workers stayed in Yangon.

Wikidata: Naypyidaw Water Fountain Garden (Q6983180), a park in Naypyidaw, inception 2008; Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens (Q862533), a zoo, inception 27 March 2008; Naypyidaw Safari Park (Q861893), a wildlife park, inception 12 February 2011. The zoo and the safari park lie about 0.9 km apart.

Universalis: at first the city held only administrative buildings, luxury hotels, apartment buildings and an airport; civil servants' families often stayed in Yangon because the new capital lacked shops, restaurants and other services.