List of Smallest Countries in the World

Vatican City is the smallest country on Earth — so small that you can walk around its entire perimeter in under an hour. Its 0.49 square kilometres fit inside the city of Rome, and its population of roughly 800 is the smallest of any sovereign state. It is also one of the very few countries with a negative birth rate as a matter of policy, because its population is defined largely by clergy and Swiss Guards rather than by families. Seven of the world's ten smallest countries are island nations. Tuvalu, Nauru, and the Marshall Islands sit in the Pacific; Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean; the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. These micro-states face an existential threat that the landlocked micro-states of Europe do not: sea level rise. Much of Tuvalu sits less than 2 metres above sea level, and the government has for years been negotiating what sovereignty looks like for a nation whose physical territory may disappear. The European microstates — Monaco, Vatican City, San Marino, Liechtenstein — each exist for distinct historical reasons. San Marino claims to be the world's oldest continuously-operating republic, dating to the year 301. Liechtenstein and Monaco survived the age of empires by attaching themselves to larger neighbours through carefully negotiated treaties. Vatican City is the territorial sovereign holding of the Catholic Church, created by the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Smallness brings advantages as well as vulnerabilities. Several of these countries — particularly Monaco, Liechtenstein, and Saint Kitts — have per-capita incomes among the highest in the world, built on banking, tourism, and niche regulatory regimes.