The world’s smallest countries can be judged by size or population. Considered either way, the smallest countries are to be found in areas classified as belonging to Europe, Oceania, and North America.
Here are the world’s smallest countries by land mass. Notice that many of them are islands or island groups, and some of these have only relatively recently come into self governance, while San Marino, established in 301 CE, claims to be the world’s oldest republic. Nauru is the world’s smallest independent republic.
WORLD’S SMALLEST COUNTRIES BY LAND MASS
OrderCountry NameAreaIsland(s)? Date of Self-Rule 1.Holy See/Vatican City0.17 sq miles (0.44 sq km)No19292.Monaco0.75 sq miles (1.95 sq km)Nooriginally – 14893.Nauru8.1 sq miles (21 sq km)Yes19684.Tuvalu10 sq miles (26 sq km)Yes19785.San Marino23.6 sq miles (61.2 sq km)No301 6.Liechtenstein62 sq miles (160 sq km)No18067.Marshall Islands70 sq miles (181.3 sq km)Yes19868.Cook Islands93 sq miles (240 sq km)Yes19659.Niue100 sq miles (260 sq km)Yes197410.Saint Kitts and Nevis101 sq miles (261 sq km)Yes198311.Maldives116 sq miles (300 sq km)Yes196812.Malta122 sq miles (316 sq km)Yes1964
Looking at the population chart, we see that some of the world’s smallest countries by population are not represented on the chart of smallest countries by land mass: namely Palau and Dominica – while Malta and the Maldives don’t appear. The explanations are, firstly, that Palau and Dominica, while not that much bigger – 177 sq mi (458 sq km) and 291 sq mi (754 sq km), respectively, they have relatively small populations; and secondly, the Maldives and Malta each have a relatively large population for their size compared to the others: 359,008 and 400,214 respectively.
WORLD’S SMALLEST COUNTRIES BY POPULATION
OrderCountry NamePopulation (July, 2006 estimate)1.Holy See/Vatican City9322.Niue2,1663.Tuvalu11,8104.Nauru13,2875.Palau20,5796.Cook Islands21,3887.San Marino29,2518.Monaco32,5439.Liechtenstein33,98710.St. Kitts and Nevis38,12911.Marshall Islands60,42212.Dominica68,910