The 30 smallest countries

The smallest countries by area

We have marked with an asterisk (explanation at the end of the page) all those countries that are not independent and sovereign states. In this table it is clearly noticeable that a significant portion of the smallest "countries" are dependent on other states. A full 21 out of 30 countries are not independent states. After all, seven of them are in Europe, and eight are in the Caribbean. A full 21 are small island states.

The smallest countries by population

A somewhat different picture emerges when the smallest countries in the world are calculated according to their number of inhabitants. Many of the small island states reappear. In addition, there are countries with a large surface area, but which are extremely sparsely populated. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands lie deep in the south near Antarctica and are largely covered with ice. The Falkland Islands lie only a little further north. Svalbard (Spitsbergen) and Jan Mayen lie high in the north and are sparsely inhabited due to their proximity to the Arctic for the same reasons. Only 2,926 people share an area of over 62,000 km² here.

With such small populations, however, it's important to look behind the statistics because even small deviations or differently interpreted definitions can have a big impact. For example, the official population figure for Vatican City is about 1,000. In fact, only about 600 of them live within the holy city in Rome. More than 400 others are considered citizens but live outside. The population density is therefore merely a theoretical value.

Dwarf states are often former colonies

It is not only striking that the smallest countries are often (still) dependent foreign territories. The microstates that are considered sovereign are also often former colonies of other countries. Far ahead are the external territories of France and the British Empire. As a rule, these were small islands that could be captured without much military effort and were simply overrun by large colonial powers hundreds of years ago. However, over time, in most cases within the last 50 to 100 years, they were given back their independence.

* Dependent territories

The following countries are not sovereign states, but dependent countries of other states:

• Åland Islands: Autonomous region of Finland
• American Samoa: self-governing territory of the US
• Anguilla: self-governing territory of the UK
• Aruba: territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
• Bermuda: self-governing territory of the UK
• Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba: Special municipalities of the Netherlands
• British Indian Ocean Territory: British overseas territory
• British Virgin Islands: self-governing territory of the UK
• Christmas Island: non-self-governing territory of Australia
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands: non-self-governing territory of Australia
• Falkland Islands: self-governing territory of the UK
• Gibraltar: self-governing territory of the UK
• Guernsey: autonomous Crown dependency of the UK
• Jersey: autonomous Crown dependency of the UK
• Macao: special administrative region of China
• Montserrat: self-governing territory of the UK
• Norfolk Island: territory of Australia
• Pitcairn Islands: British overseas territory
• Saint Barthelemy: Corporation of France
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha: limited self-governing territory of the UK
• Saint Martin: French overseas territory
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon: territory of France
• Sint Maarten: autonomous territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
• South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands: British overseas territory
• Svalbard: Territory of Norway
• Tokelau: territory of New Zealand
• Turks and Caicos Islands: self-governing territory of the UK
• Wallis and Futuna: territory of France

Further information on the definition of a country can be found in our article, What is a country?