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Smallest Countries 2023

What is the smallest country in the world by area?

The countries of the world can be ranked according to which has the smallest population or by which has the smallest total land area. Although many countries that appear on one list will also appear on the other, the order will change depending upon which statistic is chosen. The total area of a country refers to how much area (both land and water) is encompassed by the country's borders. Often denoted in terms of miles squared or kilometers squared, its total area is a numerical value of its physical size. Some of the largest countries globally are Russia (6.59 million square miles), Canada (3.85 million square miles), and China (3.75 million square miles). Unlike the population, the total area of countries usually does not change from one year to the next.

Total area and population size are often loosely connected—after allas the greater the area, the more people can fit onto it. However, the type and climate of the land (mountainous vs plains, swamps, deserts, etc), the development level (cities vs towns vs rural) and function of the land (farming vs forestry, manufacture, residential, etc) also have a significant impact upon the population of that land. Therefore, a country with a massive area is not guaranteed to have a massive population, and a country with very little area may pack an impressive number of citizens into that space.

Top 10 Smallest Countries in the World (by Total Area in km²/mi² - 2021)

  1. Vatican City — 0.49 km²/0.17 mi²
  2. Monaco — 2 km²/0.78 mi²
  3. Nauru — 20 km²/8.1 mi²
  4. Tuvalu — 30 km²/11.6 mi²
  5. San Marino — 60 km²/24 mi²
  6. Liechtenstein — 160 km²/62 mi²
  7. Marshall Islands — 180 km²/70 mi²
  8. Saint Kitts and Nevis — 260 km²/101 mi²
  9. Maldives — 300 km²/116 mi²
  10. Malta — 320 km²/122 mi²

The country with the smallest area is Vatican City, which spans over just 0.19 square miles (.49 square kilometers). Ultra-luxurious Monaco comes in second with 0.78 mi²/2.02 km², and San Marino right behind at 24 mi²/60 km². Note that this list includes only countries. Territories such as Tokelau (New Zealand), Saint Barthélemy (France), and Macau (China) are comparably tiny, but not independent countries, and are therefore ineligible.

What is the least populated country in the world?

The smallest country in the world in terms of population is Vatican City, which has approximately 800 citizens. This is far and away the smallest population of any country, although as before, several territories come close: Tokelau (New Zealand territory) with 1,373 people, Niue (New Zealand territory) with 1,619 people, Falkland Islands (UK territory) with 3,533 people, Montserrat (UK territory) with 4,977 people, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon (French territory) with 5,766 people. Even restricting the list to only U.N.-recognized independent countries, there are still a surprising number of nations whose entire populations are small enough to fit into a football stadium:

Top 10 Smallest Countries in the World (by Population)

  1. Vatican City — 800
  2. Nauru — 10,876
  3. Tuvalu — 11,931
  4. Palau — 18,169
  5. San Marino — 34,017
  6. Liechtenstein — 38,250
  7. Monaco — 39,511
  8. Saint Kitts and Nevis — 53,544
  9. Marshall Islands — 59,610
  10. Dominica — 72,167

The census and population trends in the United States

The first US census was conducted on August 2, 1790, and is conducted every ten years. In other words, the Census Bureau of the United States of America performs a decennial census. Before the official decennial census, there were similar acts of counting the number of people in the US and recording the population. These documents are kept safe by the National Archives and Records Administration of the USA. The results of the United States' census offer an example of how a population can change and grow over the course of several decades: in 1940, the US population was 132,164,569 people and in 2020, it was 331,449,281 people.

While most countries see population growth over the years, several nations are experiencing population decline. This is due to lower birth rates (especially in developed countries, where young couples may prioritize careers over children), negative net migration, and higher death rates, particularly as the post-WWII "baby boomer" generation enters old age.

Download Table Data

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Country
Area (km²)
2023 Population
Afghanistan652.2K42,239,854
Albania28.7K2,832,439
Algeria2.4M45,606,480
American Samoa19943,914
Andorra46880,088
Angola1.2M36,684,202
Anguilla9115,899
Antigua and Barbuda44294,298
Argentina2.8M45,773,884
Armenia29.7K2,777,970
Aruba180106,277
Australia7.7M26,439,111
Austria83.9K8,958,960
Azerbaijan86.6K10,412,651
Bahamas13.9K412,623
Bahrain7651,485,509
Bangladesh147.6K172,954,319
Barbados430281,995
Belarus207.6K9,498,238
Belgium30.5K11,686,140
Belize23K410,825
Benin112.6K13,712,828
Bermuda5464,069
Bhutan38.4K787,424
Bolivia1.1M12,388,571
Bosnia and Herzegovina51.2K3,210,847
Botswana582K2,675,352
Brazil8.5M216,422,446
British Virgin Islands15131,538
Brunei5.8K452,524
Bulgaria110.9K6,687,717
Burkina Faso273K23,251,485
Burundi27.8K13,238,559
Cambodia181K16,944,826
Cameroon475.4K28,647,293
Canada10M38,781,291
Cape Verde4K598,682
Cayman Islands26469,310
Central African Republic623K5,742,315
Chad1.3M18,278,568
Chile756.1K19,629,590
China9.7M1,425,671,352
Colombia1.1M52,085,168
Comoros1.9K852,075
Cook Islands24017,044
Costa Rica51.1K5,212,173
Croatia56.6K4,008,617
Cuba109.9K11,194,449
Curacao444192,077
Cyprus9.3K1,260,138
Czech Republic78.9K10,495,295
Denmark43.1K5,910,913
Djibouti23.2K1,136,455
Dominica75173,040
Dominican Republic48.7K11,332,972
DR Congo2.3M102,262,808
Ecuador276.8K18,190,484
Egypt1M112,716,598
El Salvador21K6,364,943
Equatorial Guinea28.1K1,714,671
Eritrea117.6K3,748,901
Estonia45.2K1,322,765
Eswatini17.4K1,210,822
Ethiopia1.1M126,527,060
Falkland Islands12.2K3,791
Faroe Islands1.4K53,270
Fiji18.3K936,375
Finland338.4K5,545,475
France551.7K64,756,584
French Guiana83.5K312,155
French Polynesia4.2K308,872
Gabon267.7K2,436,566
Gambia10.7K2,773,168
Georgia69.7K3,728,282
Germany357.1K83,294,633
Ghana238.5K34,121,985
Gibraltar732,688
Greece132K10,341,277
Greenland2.2M56,643
Grenada344126,183
Guadeloupe1.6K395,839
Guam549172,952
Guatemala108.9K18,092,026
Guernsey7863,544
Guinea245.9K14,190,612
Guinea Bissau36.1K2,150,842
Guyana215K813,834
Haiti27.8K11,724,763
Honduras112.5K10,593,798
Hong Kong1.1K7,491,609
Hungary93K10,156,239
Iceland103K375,318
India3.3M1,428,627,663
Indonesia1.9M277,534,122
Iran1.6M89,172,767
Iraq438.3K45,504,560
Ireland70.3K5,056,935
Isle of Man57284,710
Israel20.8K9,174,520
Italy301.3K58,870,762
Ivory Coast322.5K28,873,034
Jamaica11K2,825,544
Japan377.9K123,294,513
Jersey116111,802
Jordan89.3K11,337,052
Kazakhstan2.7M19,606,633
Kenya580.4K55,100,586
Kiribati811133,515
Kuwait17.8K4,310,108
Kyrgyzstan200K6,735,347
Laos236.8K7,633,779
Latvia64.6K1,830,211
Lebanon10.5K5,353,930
Lesotho30.4K2,330,318
Liberia111.4K5,418,377
Libya1.8M6,888,388
Liechtenstein16039,584
Lithuania65.3K2,718,352
Luxembourg2.6K654,768
Macau33704,149
Madagascar587K30,325,732
Malawi118.5K20,931,751
Malaysia330.8K34,308,525
Maldives300521,021
Mali1.2M23,293,698
Malta316535,064
Marshall Islands18141,996
Martinique1.1K366,981
Mauritania1M4,862,989
Mauritius2K1,300,557
Mayotte374335,995
Mexico2M128,455,567
Micronesia702115,224
Moldova33.8K3,435,931
Monaco236,297
Mongolia1.6M3,447,157
Montenegro13.8K626,485
Montserrat1024,386
Morocco446.6K37,840,044
Mozambique801.6K33,897,354
Myanmar676.6K54,577,997
Namibia825.6K2,604,172
Nauru2112,780
Nepal147.2K30,896,590
Netherlands41.9K17,618,299
New Caledonia18.6K292,991
New Zealand270.5K5,228,100
Nicaragua130.4K7,046,310
Niger1.3M27,202,843
Nigeria923.8K223,804,632
Niue2611,935
North Korea120.5K26,160,821
North Macedonia25.7K2,085,679
Northern Mariana Islands46449,796
Norway323.8K5,474,360
Oman309.5K4,644,384
Pakistan881.9K240,485,658
Palau45918,058
Palestine6.2K5,371,230
Panama75.4K4,468,087
Papua New Guinea462.8K10,329,931
Paraguay406.8K6,861,524
Peru1.3M34,352,719
Philippines342.4K117,337,368
Poland312.7K41,026,067
Portugal92.1K10,247,605
Puerto Rico8.9K3,260,314
Qatar11.6K2,716,391
Republic of the Congo342K6,106,869
Reunion2.5K981,796
Romania238.4K19,892,812
Russia17.1M144,444,359
Rwanda26.3K14,094,683
Saint Barthelemy2110,994
Saint Kitts and Nevis26147,755
Saint Lucia616180,251
Saint Martin5332,077
Saint Pierre and Miquelon2425,840
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines389103,698
Samoa2.8K225,681
San Marino6133,642
Sao Tome and Principe964231,856
Saudi Arabia2.1M36,947,025
Senegal196.7K17,763,163
Serbia88.4K7,149,077
Seychelles452107,660
Sierra Leone71.7K8,791,092
Singapore7106,014,723
Sint Maarten3444,222
Slovakia49K5,795,199
Slovenia20.3K2,119,675
Solomon Islands28.9K740,424
Somalia637.7K18,143,378
South Africa1.2M60,414,495
South Korea100.2K51,784,059
South Sudan619.7K11,088,796
Spain506K47,519,628
Sri Lanka65.6K21,893,579
Sudan1.9M48,109,006
Suriname163.8K623,236
Sweden450.3K10,612,086
Switzerland41.3K8,796,669
Syria185.2K23,227,014
Taiwan36.2K23,923,276
Tajikistan143.1K10,143,543
Tanzania945.1K67,438,106
Thailand513.1K71,801,279
Timor Leste14.9K1,360,596
Togo56.8K9,053,799
Tokelau121,893
Tonga747107,773
Trinidad and Tobago5.1K1,534,937
Tunisia163.6K12,458,223
Turkey783.6K85,816,199
Turkmenistan488.1K6,516,100
Turks and Caicos Islands94846,062
Tuvalu2611,396
Uganda241.6K48,582,334
Ukraine603.5K36,744,634
United Arab Emirates83.6K9,516,871
United Kingdom242.9K67,736,802
United States9.4M339,996,563
United States Virgin Islands34798,750
Uruguay181K3,423,108
Uzbekistan447.4K35,163,944
Vanuatu12.2K334,506
Vatican City< 1518
Venezuela916.4K28,838,499
Vietnam331.2K98,858,950
Wallis and Futuna27411,502
Western Sahara266K587,259
Yemen528K34,449,825
Zambia752.6K20,569,737
Zimbabwe390.8K16,665,409
showing: 234 rows

What is the smallest country?

The smallest country is Vatican City, which has a landmass of 0.19 square miles.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources