Naypyidaw ( ), officially romanised as Nay Pyi Taw (NPT), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities in that it is an entirely planned city and not part of any state or region. The city, previously known only as Pyinmana District, officially replaced Yangon as the administrative capital of Myanmar on 6 November 2005; its official name was revealed to the public on Armed Forces Day, 27 March 2006.
As the seat of the government of Myanmar, Naypyidaw is the site of the Assembly of the Union, the Supreme Court, the Presidential Palace, the official residences of the Cabinet and the headquarters of government ministries and military. Naypyidaw is notable for its unusual combination of large size and very low population density. The city hosted the 24th and 25th ASEAN Summit, the 3rd BIMSTEC Summit, the Ninth East Asia Summit, the 2013 Southeast Asian Games and the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship.
Etymology Naypyidaw is Burmese for "abode of the king", and is generally translated as "royal capital","An Introduction to the Toponymy of Burma (October 2007) – Annex A" p. 8, The Permanent Committee on Geographic Names (PCGN), United Kingdom "seat of the king", or "abode of kings". Traditionally, it was used as a suffix to the names of royal capitals, such as Mandalay, which was called Yadanabon Naypyidaw ().
History Naypyidaw was founded on a greenfield site near Pyinmana, about north of the old capital, Yangon. Construction started in 2002 and was completed by 2012.Marshall Cavendish Corporation (2007). World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia. Marshall Cavendish. p. 650. Military construction projects were overseen by the Quartermaster General Tin Aung Myint Oo, while civilian construction projects were overseen by Thein Nyunt, an army colonel. Construction of the city was carried out by three main groups, including the military's engineering corps, contractors with familial ties to high-ranking military officials, and the military's conglomerate, Myanma Economic Holdings Limited. Construction was plagued with corruption and nepotism. It is estimated that the planned city development reached US$4 billion.
On 27 March 2006, more than 12,000 troops marched in the new capital in its first public event: a massive military parade to mark Armed Forces Day, the anniversary of Burma's 1945 revolution against the Japanese occupation. Filming was restricted to the concrete parade ground, which contains enormous sculptures of Kings Anawrahta, Bayinnaung, and Alaungpaya. The city was officially named "Naypyidaw" during these ceremonies, and the official, albeit mostly administrative, capital of the country was relocated from Yangon to Naypyidaw.
Rationale behind moving the capital There are several assumptions why the capital was moved. Naypyidaw is more centrally located than the old capital, Yangon. It is also a transportation hub located adjacent to the Shan, Kayah, and Kayin states. It was felt by governmental and military leaders that a stronger military and governmental presence nearby might provide stability to those chronically turbulent regions.McGeown, Kate (8 November 2005). Burma's confusing capital move . BBC News. The military's purpose appears to have been to build an impregnable citadel, able to withstand foreign invasion or popular uprisings. The official explanation for moving the capital was that Yangon had become too congested and crowded with little room for future expansion of government offices. Historian Michael Aung-Thwin posits that the relocation to central Myanmar represented a historic return to the Dry Zone, where previous Burmese royal capitals had traditionally been established over a millennium. The nearby town of Pyinmana is a long-standing settlement and had been a pre-colonial governership that dates to the Pagan kingdom era.
2025 earthquake The city suffered extensive damage in the 2025 Myanmar earthquake on 28 March, with 80% of government buildings in the city damaged. Naypyidaw had the second highest death toll as a result of the quake. As of April 2025, 75 temporary relief camps had been set up to shelter 2,900 impacted families, while another 23,800 families had been relocated. The residential areas of Zabuthiri Township and Bawgatheikdi wards, where several apartment buildings collapsed, were especially impacted by the earthquake. The earthquake prompted Myanmar's military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, to order a redrawing of the city's layout. Following the earthquake, all government ministry websites and state-run MRTV and Myawaddy online broadcasts went offline.
Among the significant structures that were damaged included the Presidential Palace, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the national legislature, and the mansion residences of high-ranking military officials, including Than Shwe, Maung Aye, Thein Sein, and Tin Aye. In mid-April, a Ministry of Construction assessment found that one-third of government staff buildings in nine of Naypyidaw's wards were rendered uninhabitable or destroyed. Many government offices, including the Central Bank, and the ministries of foreign affairs, hotels and tourism, immigration and population, and commerce, planned to relocate to Yangon, due to damage to offices and staff housing complexes.
Officials representing the United Wa State Army and the National Democratic Alliance Army funded the reconstruction of military council housing in Naypyidaw.နေပြည်တော်ကို ပြန်တည်ဆောက်ရန် ‘ဝ’တပ်၊ မိုင်းလားတပ်နှင့် ခရိုနီများစစ်ကောင်စီကို ငွေကြေးထောက်ပံ့ (Myanmar junta’s capital reconstruction funded by Wa army, Mongla armed group as well as cronies). Myanmar Now. May 30, 2025. Aung Naing.
Geography Naypyidaw is located between the Bago Yoma and Shan Yoma mountain ranges. The city covers an area of and has a population of 924,608, according to official figures.
Chaungmagyi Dam is located a few kilometres to the north of Naypyidaw, while Ngalaik Dam is a few kilometres to the south. The Yezin Dam is farther away in the north-east.
Climate Naypyidaw has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), with a wet season from May to October. The dry season from November to April begins with very warm afternoons and comfortable mornings, but in the build-up to the wet season temperatures become sweltering. In the wet season temperatures are merely hot but much higher humidity makes for conditions equally unpleasant, although rainfall is not nearly so extreme as in coastal Myanmar cities like Mawlamyine or Sittwe.
Cityscape Naypyidaw is organised into a number of zones.
Residential zones
The residential areas are carefully organised, and apartments are allotted according to rank and marital status. The city has 1,200 four-story apartment blocks. The roofs of apartment buildings are colour-coded by the jobs of their residents: Ministry of Health employees live in buildings with blue roofs and Ministry of Agriculture employees live in those with green roofs. High-ranking government officials live in mansions, of which there are about 50. However, in 2019, quite a few of the ministerial mansions were reported to be unused and left in a neglected state in overgrown compounds.Handa and Ye Mon, 'Official residences in Nya Pyi Daw left to ruin' , Frontier Myanmar, 20 December 2019.
Ministry zone
The city's Ministry zone contains the headquarters of Myanmar's government ministries. All the ministry buildings are identical in appearance.The Australian. "A monument to junta's fear ". 16 October 2007 A parliamentary complex consisting of 31 buildings and a 100-room presidential palace are also located there. Presidential Palace, Parliament and the city hall building were built with Stalinist architecture, but with a Burmese-style roof.
Military zone High-ranking military officers and other key officials live away from regular government employees in a complex said to consist of tunnels and bunkers; this area is restricted to the public. The city also hosts a military base, which is inaccessible to citizens or other personnel without written permission.
Diplomatic zone The government has set aside of land each for foreign embassies and headquarters of United Nations missions. The Chinese embassy formally opened its interim liaison office in 2017. The liaison office is the first foreign office to be permitted to open in Naypyidaw. Bangladesh and Malaysia have also signed agreements to open embassies in Naypyidaw. The government confirms that proposals have been put forward by 11 other countries to move their embassies to Naypyidaw, namely Russia, China, the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey and Kuwait. In February 2018, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi chaired a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Naypyidaw where she urged foreign governments to move their embassies to the capital.
Hotel zone The Hotel zone has a handful of villa-style hotels on the hilly outskirts of the city. There are twelve hotels located in or near Naypyidaw. Eight of these are located within the Naypyidaw Hotel Zone, and two are located in Laeway (Lewe) on the Yangon-Mandalay Road. Forty villas were constructed near the Myanmar Convention Centre in preparation for the 25th ASEAN summit conducted in Naypyidaw in November 2014. Construction of the villas began in 2010 by the government. However, funds were limited, so the project was later put out to tender for completion by private sector investors. A total of 348 hotels and 442 inns were constructed to house the athletes and spectators of the 2013 Southeast Asian Games, which was hosted in Naypyidaw.
Market areas
Naypyidaw Myoma Market is the commercial centre of Naypyidaw. Other shopping areas include Thapye Chaung Market, Junction Centre Naypyidaw and Naypyidaw Wholesale. Junction Centre is the city's first privately operated shopping centre. There are also local markets and a restaurant area.
Recreation
Ngalaik Lake Gardens is a small water park situated along the Ngalaik Dam, near Kyweshin Village on Ngalaik Lake (about from Naypyidaw). Opened in 2008, facilities at the Ngalaik Lake Gardens include water slides, natural resorts, lodging and a beach. The gardens are open to the public during Thingyan holidays.
Also opened in 2008, the National Herbal Park has exhibits of plants having medicinal applications from all of the major regions of Myanmar. There are thousands of plants at the park, representing hundreds of different species. Behind the city hall, there is a park with a playground and water fountain complex, which hosts a musical light show every night.
The Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens opened in 2008 with 420 species and now with 1500 animals. The main attraction of the zoo is the climate-controlled penguin house. The animals were shipped to it from the old one in Yangon. The Naypyidaw Safari Park officially opened on 12 February 2011.
Naypyidaw also has two golf courses, Naypyidaw City Golf Course and Yaypyar Golf Course, and a gem museum.
Landmark Similar in size and shape to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Uppatasanti Pagoda was completed in 2009. This new pagoda is named the Uppatasanti or "Peace Pagoda". The stake-driving ceremony for the pagoda was held on 12 November 2006.Uppatasanti Pagoda, replica of Shwedagon Pagoda in Nay Pyi Daw The invitation card for the ceremony opened with a phrase "Rajahtani Naypyidaw (the royal capital where the king resides)". The pagoda is just shorter than the Shwedagon Pagoda. Uppatasanti translates roughly to "Protection against Calamity". It is the name of a sūtra prepared by a monk in the early 16th century. It is to be recited in time of crisis, especially in the face of foreign invasion.Weekly Eleven News Journal, Vol. 1, No. 44 (16 August 2006), p. 9.
Administration