What Are the Smallest Countries in the World?

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, at about 0.44 km². Monaco (about 2 km²), Nauru (about 21 km²), Tuvalu (about 26 km²) and San Marino (about 61 km²) follow. Leave out Tuvalu, whose islands are scattered, and the four smallest (Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru and San Marino) cover only about 84 km² together, which fits inside Liechtenstein's roughly 160 km².

Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru and San Marino placed over Liechtenstein, with a copy of Liechtenstein beside them for scale. Tuvalu is left out because its islands are scattered.

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The numbers

Rank	Country	Area (about)	Population (about)
1	Vatican City	0.44 km²	800
2	Monaco	2 km²	38,000
3	Nauru	21 km²	12,000
4	Tuvalu	26 km²	11,000
5	San Marino	61 km²	34,000
6	Liechtenstein	160 km²	39,000

Sources: Wikipedia and national statistics. Population values are rounded and change every year.

What is notable about each

• Vatican City is the headquarters of the Catholic Church and an independent state since 1929. It is smaller than most city parks.
• Monaco is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
• Nauru is the smallest island nation and a single island in the Pacific.
• Tuvalu is spread over nine small islands and atolls, so its shape is scattered rather than one block. Its land is very low and exposed to rising seas.
• San Marino is completely surrounded by Italy and calls itself the oldest republic still in existence.
• Liechtenstein lies in the Alps between Switzerland and Austria.

Why a normal map hides them

At world scale, these countries are smaller than one pixel, so most maps show them only as dots, or leave them out. Mercator stretch applies to them like any other place, but the bigger problem is scale. When you zoom into one country in TrueSize and place another next to it, both keep their true area, so the size ratio is easy to see.

Try it yourself

1. Search for "Liechtenstein" ("Search for a country or region…") and zoom in.
2. Search for and add "San Marino", "Monaco" and "Vatican City".
3. Drag each one into Liechtenstein. To compare with something familiar, add a small town or city.

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More comparisons

• Largest states and provinces in the world
• All countries at equator size
• City size comparison
• Tutorial: selecting countries

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