What is the capital of Myanmar?

Naypyidaw is one of the newest purpose-built capitals anywhere. The military government began constructing it on farmland in the centre of the country and abruptly announced in 2005 that ministries were relocating from Yangon, with civil servants given very little notice. Official explanations stressed the central position, better access to the rest of the country and relief from congestion in the old port city, while outside observers pointed to the defensive advantages of an inland site far from the coast and from a large urban population. The city is laid out on an extraordinarily generous scale, with multi-lane highways, separate zones for ministries, hotels and residences spread kilometres apart, and a replica of Yangon's great gilded pagoda. The effect is a capital that functions as an administrative compound rather than an organic city, and Yangon has remained the commercial heart of the country regardless.

The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the country's most important religious site, did not move with the government.