Microstate

A microstate or ministate is a country that is very small in size, or has very little amounts of people living in it. Usually, both cases are true. However, there are no set definitions of the terms "state" and "very small".

The world's smallest countries by area and population

Some examples that are usually called microstates include Andorra, Bahamas, Comoros, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Guyana, Iceland, Kiribati, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, San Marino, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Western Sahara. The smallest state in the world is Vatican City, in the city of Rome.

In addition, Greenland has been included here for its possible wishes or chances of independence. Bougainville is also there for the same reason.

The microstates in Europe

Criteria

This is a criteria table to make sure that other countries are connected to its smallness.

Generally speaking, only a few countries of the world are so small, remote or lack a few resources that someone else uses these for even part of this year. These countries are tiny Islands, tiny landlocked countries, city states and sparsely populated countries.

In function of area		In function of population
Less than 6000 km22	34 countries	Less than 1,000,0002	54 countries
Less than 1000 km22	26 countries	Less than 500,0002	35 countries
Less than 500 km22	19 countries	Less than 100,0002	22 countries

Origin

The origin of the word "microstate" is Europe, specially in Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City. Countries like Cyprus, Djibouti, Guyana, Iceland and Suriname are also microstates because their populations are so small. However, the qualifier for this is having an area of less than 6000 km² or a population of less than 1 000 000 people.

List of microstates

This is a table of all microstates according to the current CIA Factbook. In addition, states with limited recognition are included.

Country	Area (km2 or sq mi)	Population	Capital	Continent	Subregion
Vatican City	0.5 km2 (0.19 sq mi)	1,000	Vatican City	Europe	Southern Europe
Monaco	2 km2 (0.77 sq mi)	31,597	Monaco City	Europe	Western Europe
Nauru	21 km2 (8.1 sq mi)	9,852	Yaren	Oceania	Micronesia
Tuvalu	26 km2 (10 sq mi)	11,639	Funafuti	Oceania	Polynesia
San Marino	61 km2 (24 sq mi)	34,892	San Marino	Europe	Southern Europe
Liechtenstein	160 km2 (62 sq mi)	39,993	Vaduz	Europe	Western Europe
Marshall Islands	181 km2 (70 sq mi)	80,966	Majuro	Oceania	Micronesia
Cook Islands	236 km2 (91 sq mi)	7,939	Avarua	Oceania	Polynesia
Niue	260 km2 (100 sq mi)	2,000	Alofi	Oceania	Polynesia
Saint Kitts and Nevis	261 km2 (101 sq mi)	54,817	Basseterre	Americas	Caribbean
Maldives	298 km2 (115 sq mi)	389,568	Malé	Asia	Southern Asia
Malta	316 km2 (122 sq mi)	467,138	Valleta	Europe	Southern Europe
Grenada	344 km2 (133 sq mi)	114,299	St George's	Americas	Caribbean
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	389 km2 (150 sq mi)	100,804	Kingstown	Americas	Caribbean
Barbados	430 km2 (170 sq mi)	303,831	Bridgetown	Americas	Caribbean
Antigua and Barbuda	442 km2 (171 sq mi)	101,489	St John's	Americas	Caribbean
Seychelles	455 km2 (176 sq mi)	97,617	Victoria	Africa	Eastern Africa
Palau	459 km2 (177 sq mi)	21,779	Ngerulmud	Oceania	Micronesia
Andorra	468 km2 (181 sq mi)	85,468	Andorra la Vella	Europe	Southern Europe
Saint Lucia	618 km2 (239 sq mi)	167,591	Castries	Americas	Caribbean
Federated States of Micronesia	702 km2 (271 sq mi)	100,319	Palikir	Oceania	Micronesia
Singapore	716 km2 (276 sq mi)	5,975,383	Singapore	Asia	Southeast Asia
Tonga	747 km2 (288 sq mi)	105,221	Nuku'alofa	Oceania	Polynesia
Dominica	751 km2 (290 sq mi)	74,656	Roseau	Americas	Caribbean
Bahrain	761 km2 (294 sq mi)	1,553,886	Manama	Asia	Western Asia
Kiribati	811 km2 (313 sq mi)	115,372	South Tarawa	Oceania	Micronesia
São Tomé and Príncipe	1,001 km2 (386 sq mi)	220,372	São Tomé	Africa	Central Africa
Comoros	1,861 km2 (719 sq mi)	888,378	Moroni	Africa	Eastern Africa
Mauritius	2,040 km2 (790 sq mi)	1,309,448	Port Louis	Africa	Eastern Africa
Luxembourg	2,586 km2 (998 sq mi)	660,924	Luxembourg City	Europe	Western Europe
Samoa	2,831 km2 (1,093 sq mi)	207,501	Apia	Oceania	Polynesia
Artsakh	3,101 km2 (1,197 sq mi)	156,300	Stepanakert	Asia	Western Asia
Northern Cyprus	3,351 km2 (1,294 sq mi)	356,262	North Nicosia	Europe	Southern Europe
South Ossetia	3,900 km2 (1,500 sq mi)	63,118	Tskhinvali	Asia	Western Asia
Cape Verde	4,033 km2 (1,557 sq mi)	603,901	Praia	Africa	Western Africa
Transnistria	4,152 km2 (1,603 sq mi)	531,365	Tiraspol	Europe	Eastern Europe
Trinidad and Tobago	5,128 km2 (1,980 sq mi)	1,409,460	Port of Spain	Americas	Caribbean
Brunei	5,765 km2 (2,226 sq mi)	484,991	Bandar Seri Begawan	Asia	Southeast Asia
Cyprus	5,900 km2 (2,300 sq mi)	962,232	Nicosia	Europe	Southern Europe
Abkhazia	8,660 km2 (3,340 sq mi)	259,323	Sukhumi	Asia	Western Asia
Bougainville	9,500 km2 (3,700 sq mi)	310,013	Tendoo	Oceania	Melanesia
Vanuatu	12,189 km2 (4,706 sq mi)	313,046	Port Vila	Oceania	Melanesia
Montenegro	13,812 km2 (5,333 sq mi)	602,445	Podgorica	Europe	Southern Europe
Bahamas	13,880 km2 (5,360 sq mi)	358,508	Nassau	Americas	Caribbean
Fiji	18,274 km2 (7,056 sq mi)	947,760	Suva	Oceania	Melanesia
Belize	22,966 km2 (8,867 sq mi)	419,137	Belmopan	Americas	Central America
Djibouti	23,200 km2 (9,000 sq mi)	976,143	Djibouti City	Africa	Eastern Africa
Solomon Islands	28,896 km2 (11,157 sq mi)	714,766	Honiara	Oceania	Melanesia
Bhutan	38,394 km2 (14,824 sq mi)	876,181	Thimphu	Asia	Southern Asia
Iceland	103,000 km2 (40,000 sq mi)	360,872	Reykjavík	Europe	Northern Europe
Suriname	163,820 km2 (63,250 sq mi)	639,759	Paramaribo	Americas	South America
Guyana	214,969 km2 (83,000 sq mi)	791,739	Georgetown	Americas	South America
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic	266,000 km2 (103,000 sq mi)	646,191	Laayoune	Africa	Northern Africa
Greenland	2,166,086 km2 (836,330 sq mi)	57,777	Nuuk	Americas	North America