When this line of latitude was named in the last centuries BC, the Sun was in the constellation Capricornus at the December solstice. Less than 3% of the world's population lives south of it this is equivalent to about 30% of the population of the Southern Hemisphere. Its latitude is currently 23☂6′10.5″ (or 23.43626°) south of the Equator, but it is very gradually moving northward, currently at the rate of 0.47 arcseconds, or 15 metres, per year. The Tropic of Capricorn is one of the five major circles of latitude marked on maps of Earth. Its northern equivalent is the Tropic of Cancer. It also reaches 90 degrees below the horizon at solar midnight on the June Solstice.
It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. Relationship of Earth's axial tilt (ε) to the tropical and polar circles
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