The 10 Smallest Countries in the World by Area

Some countries are so small you could walk across them before lunch. Yet these microstates issue passports, field Olympic teams and sit in the United Nations beside giants a million times their size. Here are the ten smallest sovereign countries in the world, ranked by land area.

1. Vatican City — 0.44 km²

The smallest country on Earth sits entirely inside the city of Rome. Vatican City is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, home to the Pope, St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. With around 800 residents, its population is smaller than many apartment buildings — yet it receives millions of visitors every year.

2. Monaco — 2.02 km²

Squeezed against the French Riviera, Monaco packs casinos, a royal family, a Formula 1 Grand Prix and the world's highest population density for a country into an area smaller than New York's Central Park. Roughly one in three residents is a millionaire.

3. Nauru — 21 km²

The world's smallest island nation floats alone in the Pacific. Nauru grew briefly wealthy from phosphate mining in the twentieth century, and it remains the smallest UN member state with no official capital city.

4. Tuvalu — 26 km²

A chain of nine coral atolls midway between Hawaii and Australia, Tuvalu is one of the countries most threatened by rising sea levels. Its clever ".tv" internet domain earns the government meaningful revenue from streaming companies.

5. San Marino — 61 km²

Completely surrounded by Italy, San Marino claims to be the world's oldest surviving republic, founded — according to tradition — in the year 301. Its hilltop capital offers views across the Adriatic coast.

6. Liechtenstein — 160 km²

Wedged between Switzerland and Austria, Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries on Earth (the other is Uzbekistan). It is also one of the richest countries per person, known for banking and, curiously, as a leading manufacturer of false teeth.

7. Marshall Islands — 181 km²

More than a thousand islands and islets scattered across the central Pacific make up this nation of coral atolls. The surrounding ocean territory is nearly two million square kilometres — a tiny country with an enormous backyard.

8. Saint Kitts and Nevis — 261 km²

The smallest country in the Western Hemisphere is a two-island federation in the Caribbean, famous for beaches, sugar-plantation history and green volcanic peaks.

9. Maldives — 300 km²

The smallest country in Asia is also the world's lowest-lying: its highest natural point is barely 2.4 metres above sea level. Nearly 1,200 islands form 26 atolls strung across the Indian Ocean.

10. Malta — 316 km²

The smallest member state of the European Union has one of the richest histories anywhere: Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Knights of St John, the French and the British all ruled here before independence in 1964.

What microstates teach us

Small countries survive by being useful and distinctive — banking in Liechtenstein, faith in Vatican City, tourism in the Maldives, domains in Tuvalu. They are proof that a seat at the world's table is not reserved for the big. Spin the wheel a few times on our homepage and sooner or later you will land on one of these miniature marvels.