Visualized: The World’s 100 Smallest Countries

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The World’s 100 Smallest Countries

National borders may be mere human constructs, but they are powerful ones.

Russia, Canada, the U.S., and so on—it’s easy to focus on the countries with the largest landmasses and seemingly endless borders. Their sheer size makes them hard to ignore, and their natural resources are often vast.

But with the above graphic from TitleMax, we can focus on the power of small.

From economic might to religious influence, many of the smallest countries in the world are surprisingly powerful. Let’s take a closer look at the world’s 100 smallest countries and their spheres of influence.

RankCountrySize (mi²)

1Vatican City0.19

2Monaco0.78

3Nauru8.1

4Tuvalu10

5San Marino24

6Liechtenstein62

7Marshall Islands70

8Saint Kitts and Nevis101

9Maldives120

10Malta122

11Grenada133

12Saint Vincent and the Grenadines150

13Barbados170

14Antigua and Barbuda171

15Seychelles175

16Palau177

17Andorra181

18Saint Lucia238

19Federated States of Micronesia271

20Singapore280

21Tonga288

22Dominica290

23Bahrain300

24Kiribati313

25São Tomé and Príncipe372

26Comoros719

27Mauritius790

28Luxembourg998

29Samoa1,097

30Cape Verde1,557

31Trinidad and Tobago1,980

32Brunei2,226

33Cyprus3,572

34Lebanon4,036

35Jamaica4,244

36The Gambia4,361

37Qatar4,473

38Vanuatu4,706

39Montenegro5,333

40The Bahamas5,383

41imor-Leste5,760

42Eswatini6,704

43Kuwait6,880

44Fiji7,055

45Slovenia7,827

46Israel8,020

47El Salvador8,124

48Belize8,867

49Djibouti9,000

50North Macedonia9,928

51Rwanda10,169

52Haiti10,710

53Burundi10,747

54Equatorial Guinea10,831

55Albania11,100

56Solomon Islands11,157

57Armenia11,484

58Lesotho11,720

59Belgium11,787

60Moldova13,068

61Guinea-Bissau13,948

62Bhutan14,824

63Switzerland15,940

64Netherlands16,160

65Denmark16,639

66Estonia17,462

67Dominican Republic18,792

68Slovakia18,933

69Costa Rica19,700

70Bosnia and Herzegovina19,772

71Croatia21,851

72Togo21,925

73Latvia24,926

74Lithuania25,200

75Sri Lanka25,330

76Georgia26,900

77Ireland27,133

78Sierra Leone27,700

79Panama29,119

80Czech Republic30,450

81United Arab Emirates32,300

82Austria32,383

83Azerbaijan33,400

84Serbia34,116

85Jordan34,495

86Portugal35,560

87Hungary35,918

88South Korea38,690

89Iceland40,000

90Guatemala42,042

91Cuba42,426

92Bulgaria42,858

93Liberia43,000

94Honduras43,433

95Benin44,310

96Eritrea45,400

97Malawi45,747

98North Korea46,540

99Nicaragua50,337

100Greece50,949

Although several of the national borders shown above may be contested, the graphic gives us a clear overview of the globe’s smallest nations.

The Power of Small

Small size doesn’t mean less power. In many cases, it’s the contrary.

The Vatican—the smallest country on Earth at 0.19 square miles—is renowned for its leader and main inhabitant, the Pope. As leader of the Catholic Church, the pontiff and his papal staff make up a sizable part of the country’s tiny population of 825. Most of the Church’s 219 Cardinals, its leading dignitaries, live in their respective dioceses.

With more than 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world, the Vatican’s sphere of influence is of course far larger than its small physical size. Although the walls of the Vatican are situated inside the city of Rome, Italy, its centuries-old influence spans continents.

Nearly 40% of Roman Catholics live in the Americas, while the fastest-growing Catholic population can be found in Africa—home to more than 17% of the world’s Catholics.

Purchasing Power

Where the Vatican’s power lies in religion, plenty of spending power is held by the tiny country of Monaco, the second smallest country on Earth.

Situated along the French Riviera, Monaco is surrounded entirely by France—but it also sits fewer than 10 miles from the Italian border.

At 0.78 square miles, Monaco could be compared to the size of a large farm in the U.S. Midwest. Despite its small size, Monaco has a GDP of nearly US$7.2 billion, and boasts over 12,000 millionaires living within one square mile.

Along with Luxembourg and Liechtenstein—both of which are included in the smallest countries list—Monaco is one of the only countries globally with a GDP per capita higher than $100,000.

Switzerland and the Netherlands, both found in this graphic at ranks 63 and 64, also hold large shares of the global economy given their size. These two nations rank 20th and 17th in the world in economic output, respectively.

Similarly, Singapore is the 20th smallest country on the planet, but it ranks in the top 10 in terms of GDP per capita ($65,233) and sits in 34th place globally in terms of nominal GDP.

Perspective is Everything

To give us a better idea of just how small the tiniest countries are, let’s take a look at some simple size comparisons:

Monaco could fit inside New York City’s Central Park, with room to spare
Brunei is roughly the same size as Delaware
Nicaragua, the largest country in Central America, is similar in size to the state of Mississippi
Nauru is the smallest island nation, and smaller than Rhode Island
North Korea is roughly the size of Pennsylvania

“Small,” of course, is a qualitative factor. It depends on your vantage point.

As of September 2020, there are 195 countries on Earth. Although this graphic shows the smallest countries in the world, it is worth noting that a list of the world’s 100 largest countries would also include some of the same countries on this list, including North Korea, Nicaragua, and Greece.