Microstates

All you want to know about Microstates

This article is about political geography. For the specific configuration of particles of a material in statistical mechanics, see microstate (statistical mechanics).
Not to be confused with micronation.
The world's five smallest sovereign states: Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu and San Marino, shown in the same scale for size comparison
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 small land area, but usually both. Some examples include Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Vatican City. The influence of microstates in the United Nations General Assembly is disproportionately large due to the one state, one vote rule.

The smallest fully sovereign microstate is Vatican City, with 911 citizens as of July 2003 and an area of only 0.44 km²[1]. In Rome, Italy, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) (not to be confused with Malta, an island microstate in the Mediterranean) is an effectively non-territorial sovereign entity that might also be considered to be a microstate; its sovereignty is recognized by 105 states, 100 of which have entered into full diplomatic relations,[2] but unlike the Vatican City state, it has no substantive territorial base (the SMOM's only property, its headquarters buildings, holds 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 is a "non-member state", SMOM is an "other entity".

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

Contents

List of sovereign nations with an area less than 1000 km²

Sovereign states with an area less than 1000 km².[3][4]

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

List of sovereign nations with fewer than one million people

Rank Country/territory/entity Population Date  % of world population Source
41  Cyprus 855,000[5] 0.013% UN estimate
40  Qatar 841,000[6] 0.013% UN estimate
39  Djibouti 833,000 0.012% UN estimate
38  Fiji 827,900 2007 0.013% Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics
37  Guyana 738,000 0.011% UN estimate
36  Comoros 682,000[7] July 2007 0.01% World Gazetteer projection
35  Montenegro 598,000 0.009% UN estimate
34  Cape Verde 530,000 0.008% UN estimate
33  Equatorial Guinea[8] 507,000 0.008% UN estimate
32  Solomon Islands 506,992 0.007% [2]
31  Luxembourg 483,800 January 1, 2008 0.007% Le portail des statistiques du Luxenbourg
30  Suriname 458,000 0.007% UN estimate
29  Malta 407,000 0.006% UN estimate
28  Brunei 390,000 0.006% UN estimate
27  Bahamas 331,000 0.005% UN estimate
26  Iceland 316,252 April 1, 2008 0.005% Hagstofa Íslands
25  Maldives 306,000 0.005% UN estimate
24  Barbados 294,000 0.004% UN estimate
23  Belize 288,000 0.004% UN estimate
22  Vanuatu 226,000 0.003% UN estimate
21  Samoa 188,540 2008 0.003% Samoa Statistics Department
20  Saint Lucia 165,000 0.002% UN estimate
19  São Tomé and Príncipe 158,000 0.002% UN estimate
18  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 120,000 0.002% UN estimate
17  Federated States of Micronesia 111,000 0.002% UN estimate
16  Grenada 106,000 0.002% UN estimate
15  Tonga 100,000 0.001% UN estimate
14  Kiribati 95,000 0.001% UN estimate
13  Seychelles 87,000 0.001% UN estimate
12  Antigua and Barbuda 85,000 0.001% UN estimate
11  Andorra 83,137 December 31, 2007 0.001% [3]
10  Dominica 67,000 0.001% UN estimate
9  Marshall Islands 59,000 0.001% UN estimate
8  Saint Kitts and Nevis 50,000 0.001% UN estimate
7  Liechtenstein 35,365 December 31, 2007 0.0005% Statistik Liechtenstein
6  Monaco 33,000 0.0005%

UN estimate
5  San Marino 31,000 0.0005% UN estimate
4  Palau 20,000 0.0003% UN estimate
3  Tuvalu 11,000 0.0002% UN estimate
2  Nauru 10,000 0.0001% UN estimate
1  Vatican City 800 0.00002% UN estimate

See also

References

  1. ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Holy See (Vatican City)
  2. ^ The Order's official website lists them in this table.
  3. ^ "CIA - The World Factbook -- Rank Order - Area". CIA. Retrieved on 2008-06-20.
  4. ^ "CIA - The World Factbook -- Field Listing - Population". CIA. Retrieved on 2008-06-20.
  5. ^ Includes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (264,172). The Statistical Institute of the Republic of Cyprus shows a population of 749,200 (2004 Census).
  6. ^ Figure for Qatari residents only. Estimates for 2008 that include non-resident, transient laborers indicate a population of 1,448,446. From Qatar General Secretariat for Development Planning
  7. ^ Excludes the island of Mayotte. The UN estimate is 839,000 (including Mayotte)
  8. ^ A 2003 U.S State Department report states the following: "Although the 2002 census estimated the population at 1,015,000, credible estimates put the number at closer to 500,000. The opposition claimed that the Government inflated the census in anticipation of the December presidential election." (...) "Opposition leaders charged earlier in the year that census results showing a twofold population increase were flawed and that numbers were inflated to perpetuate election fraud." [1] The official census figures are available here.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microstate"

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