Microstate

This article is about political geography. For the specific configuration of particles of a material in statistical mechanics, see microstate (statistical mechanics).

The world's five smallest sovereign states: Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu and San Marino, shown in the same scale for size comparison

A microstate (or ministate) is a sovereign state having a very small population or very little land area – usually both. Perhaps the best known examples of microstates include Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Singapore and Vatican City. Microstates have a relatively strong influence in the United Nations General Assembly due to the one state, one vote power structure.

The smallest fully sovereign microstate is Vatican City, with 911 citizens as of July 2003 and an area of only 0.44 km². The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) is an effectively non-territorial sovereign entity that might also be considered to be a microstate; its sovereignty is recognized by dozens of states, but unlike the Vatican City state it has no substantive territorial base (the SMOM's only property, its headquarters buildings, hold "extraterritorial status," similar to an embassy building). Neither the Vatican nor SMOM are members of the United Nations, although both have permanent observer status at the UN, Vatican City as "non-member state", SMOM as "other entity".

Microstates should not be confused with micronations, which are not recognized as sovereign states. Special territories like the Channel Islands without full sovereignty are also not considered as microstates.

List of sovereign states with an area less than 1000 km²

Rank	Country / Territory	Area (km²)	Location
1	Vatican City	0.44	Southern Europe
2	Monaco	1.95	Southern Europe
3	Nauru	21	Oceania - Micronesia
4	Tuvalu	26	Oceania - Polynesia
5	San Marino	61	Southern Europe
6	Liechtenstein	164	Central Europe
7	Marshall Islands	181	Oceania - Micronesia
8	Saint Kitts and Nevis	261	Caribbean
9	Maldives	298	Southern Asia - Indian Ocean
10	Malta	316	Southern Europe - Mediterranean Sea
11	Grenada	344	Caribbean
12	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	388	Caribbean
13	Barbados	430	Caribbean
14	Antigua and Barbuda	442	Caribbean
15	Seychelles	455	Indian Ocean/Africa
16	Palau	459	Oceania - Micronesia
17	Andorra	468	Southern Europe
18	Saint Lucia	539	Caribbean
19	Singapore	683	Southeast Asia
20	Bahrain	694	Asia - Persian Gulf
21	Federated States of Micronesia	702	Oceania - Micronesia
22	Kiribati	726	Oceania - Micronesia
23	Tonga	747	Oceania - Polynesia
24	Dominica	751	Caribbean
25	São Tomé and Príncipe	964	Central Africa

See also

• European microstates
• List of countries by population
• List of countries and outlying territories by total area
• Micronation