Spanish-speaking Countries

Spanish Vocabulary


A list of Spanish-speaking countries and their capital cities

Country País (en español) Capital
Europe Spain España Madrid
North America Mexico México Ciudad de México
Central America Costa Rica Costa Rica San José
El Salvador El Salvador San Salvador
Guatemala Guatemala Ciudad de Guatemala
Honduras Honduras Tegucigalpa
Nicaragua Nicaragua Managua
Panama Panamá Ciudad de Panamá
Carribean Cuba Cuba La Habana
Dominican Republic República Dominicana Santo Domingo
Puerto Rico * Puerto Rico San Juan
South America Argentina Argentina Buenos Aires
Bolivia Bolivia La Paz / Sucre**
Chile Chile Santiago
Colombia Colombia *** Bogotá
Ecuador Ecuador Quito
Paraguay Paraguay Asunción
Peru Perú Lima
Uruguay Uruguay Montevideo
Venezuela Venezuela Caracas
Africa Equatorial Guinea Guinea Ecuatorial Malabo

* Puerto Rico is officially an unincorporated territory of United States.

** Bolivia has two capital cities: Sucre (Constitutional & Judicial Capital) and La Paz (Administrative Capital and the seat of government). Sucre has been the capital of Bolivia since becoming independent from the Spaniards in 1825, and it has been confirmed as such in the New Political Constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, billed in 2009 after a national referendum.

*** PLEASE NOTE: Colombia is written with TWO Os and NOT as "Columbia".

Largest and smallest Spanish-speaking countries in the world

The largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, referring to population size, is Mexico with over 118 million people (2013). The smallest country is Equatorial Guinea with around 740,000 (2013).

Spanish as a Former Official Language

Spanish was an official language of the Philippines until 1987 when it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary langauge. However in 2009 the Philippine government started a plan to reintroduce the Spanish language into its school system.

21 Spanish-speaking countries and their capitals summary chart

21 Spanish-speaking countries and their capitals

Next Activities

Try our interactive Game about Spanish-speaking countries and their capital cities using the sentence "The capital of COUNTRY X is ..." with 4 alternatives to choose from.

See our List of Countries and Nationalities in Spanish.

Ver información en español acerca de los países de habla hispana y sus capitales.


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Spanish Reading Passages

Improve your Spanish with our reading passages. There are different topics for beginner to advanced level students. There is also a special section for Spanish teachers.

SEE OUR SPANISH READING TEXTS

Spanish Verb Lists

A list of common verbs in Spanish with their conjugation in different tenses and example sentences. There are also interactive games to practice each verb.

SEE OUR LIST OF SPANISH VERBS

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