Microstate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A microstate or ministate is a sovereign state having a very small population or very small land area, but usually both. Some examples include: Nauru, Singapore, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Vatican City. The influence of microstates in the United Nations General Assembly is disproportionately large due to the one state, one vote rule.
The smallest fully sovereign microstate is Vatican City, with 911 citizens as of July 2003 and an area of only 0.44 km²[1]. In Rome, Italy, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) (not to be confused with Malta, an island microstate in the Mediterranean) is an effectively non-territorial sovereign entity that might also be considered to be a microstate; its sovereignty is recognized by 105 states, 100 of which have entered into full diplomatic relations,[2] but unlike the Vatican City state, it has no substantive territorial base (the SMOM's only property, its headquarters buildings, holds extraterritorial status, similar to an embassy building). Neither the Vatican nor SMOM are members of the United Nations, although both have permanent observer status at the UN: Vatican City is a "non-member state" under the name of the atypical international entity of the Holy See, SMOM is an "other entity".
Microstates should not be confused with micronations, which are not recognized as sovereign states. Special territories without full sovereignty, such as the Channel Islands, are not considered microstates either.
Contents |
[edit] List of sovereign nations with an area less than 1000 km²
Sovereign states with an area less than 1000 km².[3][4]
| Rank | Country / Territory | Area (km²) | Location |
| 1 |  Vatican City |
0.44 | Southern Europe |
| 2 |  Monaco |
1.95 | Southern Europe |
| 3 |  Nauru |
21 | Oceania - Micronesia |
| 4 |  Tuvalu |
26 | Oceania - Polynesia |
| 5 |  San Marino |
61 | Southern Europe |
| 6 |  Liechtenstein |
164 | Central Europe |
| 7 |  Marshall Islands |
181 | Oceania - Micronesia |
| 8 |  Saint Kitts and Nevis |
261 | Caribbean |
| 9 |  Maldives |
298 | Southern Asia - Indian Ocean |
| 10 |  Malta |
316 | Southern Europe - Mediterranean Sea |
| 11 |  Grenada |
344 | Caribbean |
| 12 |  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
388 | Caribbean |
| 13 |  Barbados |
430 | Caribbean |
| 14 |  Antigua and Barbuda |
442 | Caribbean |
| 15 |  Seychelles |
455 | Indian Ocean/Africa |
| 16 |  Palau |
459 | Oceania - Micronesia |
| 17 |  Andorra |
468 | Southern Europe |
| 18 |  Saint Lucia |
539 | Caribbean |
| 19 |  Bahrain |
694 | Asia - Persian Gulf |
| 20 |  Federated States of Micronesia |
702 | Oceania - Micronesia |
| 21 |  Singapore |
710.2 | Southeast Asia |
| 22 |  Kiribati |
726 | Oceania - Micronesia |
| 23 |  Tonga |
747 | Oceania - Polynesia |
| 24 |  Dominica |
751 | Caribbean |
| 25 |  São Tomé and Príncipe |
964 | Central Africa |
[edit] List of sovereign nations with fewer than one million people
| Rank | Country/territory/entity | Population | Date | % of world population | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 |  Cyprus |
855,000[5] | 0.013% | UN estimate | |
| 40 |  Qatar |
841,000[6] | 0.013% | UN estimate | |
| 39 |  Djibouti |
833,000 | 0.012% | UN estimate | |
| 38 |  Fiji |
827,900 | 2007 | 0.013% | Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics |
| 37 |  Guyana |
738,000 | 0.011% | UN estimate | |
| 36 |  Comoros |
682,000[7] | July 2007 | 0.01% | World Gazetteer projection |
| 35 |  Montenegro |
620,000 | 0.009% | UN estimate | |
| 34 |  Cape Verde |
530,000 | 0.008% | UN estimate | |
| 33 |  Equatorial Guinea[8] |
507,000 | 0.008% | UN estimate | |
| 32 |  Solomon Islands |
506,992 | 0.007% | [2] | |
| 31 |  Luxembourg |
483,800 | January 1, 2008 | 0.007% | Le portail des statistiques du Luxenbourg |
| 30 |  Suriname |
458,000 | 0.007% | UN estimate | |
| 29 |  Malta |
407,000 | 0.006% | UN estimate | |
| 28 |  Brunei |
390,000 | 0.006% | UN estimate | |
| 27 |  Bahamas |
331,000 | 0.005% | UN estimate | |
| 26 |  Iceland |
316,252 | April 1, 2008 | 0.005% | Hagstofa Íslands |
| 25 |  Maldives |
306,000 | 0.005% | UN estimate | |
| 24 |  Barbados |
294,000 | 0.004% | UN estimate | |
| 23 |  Belize |
288,000 | 0.004% | UN estimate | |
| 22 |  Vanuatu |
226,000 | 0.003% | UN estimate | |
| 21 |  Samoa |
188,540 | 2008 | 0.003% | Samoa Statistics Department |
| 20 |  Saint Lucia |
165,000 | 0.002% | UN estimate | |
| 19 |  São Tomé and Príncipe |
158,000 | 0.002% | UN estimate | |
| 18 |  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
120,000 | 0.002% | UN estimate | |
| 17 |  Federated States of Micronesia |
111,000 | 0.002% | UN estimate | |
| 16 |  Grenada |
106,000 | 0.002% | UN estimate | |
| 15 |  Tonga |
100,000 | 0.001% | UN estimate | |
| 14 |  Kiribati |
95,000 | 0.001% | UN estimate | |
| 13 |  Seychelles |
87,000 | 0.001% | UN estimate | |
| 12 |  Antigua and Barbuda |
85,000 | 0.001% | UN estimate | |
| 11 |  Andorra |
83,137 | December 31, 2007 | 0.001% | [3] |
| 10 |  Dominica |
67,000 | 0.001% | UN estimate | |
| 9 |  Marshall Islands |
59,000 | 0.001% | UN estimate | |
| 8 |  Saint Kitts and Nevis |
50,000 | 0.001% | UN estimate | |
| 7 |  Liechtenstein |
35,365 | December 31, 2007 | 0.0005% | Statistik Liechtenstein |
| 6 |  Monaco |
33,000 | 0.0005% |
UN estimate |
|
| 5 |  San Marino |
31,000 | 0.0005% | UN estimate | |
| 4 |  Palau |
20,000 | 0.0003% | UN estimate | |
| 3 |  Tuvalu |
11,000 | 0.0002% | UN estimate | |
| 2 |  Nauru |
10,000 | 0.0001% | UN estimate | |
| 1 |  Vatican City |
900 | 0.00002% | UN estimate |
[edit] Historical anomalies and aspirant states
A small number of microstates are founded on historical anomalies or eccentric interpretations of law. These types of microstates are usually located on small (usually disputed) territorial enclaves, generate limited economic activity founded on tourism and philatelic and numismatic sales, and are tolerated or ignored by the nations from which they claim to have seceded.
One example includes the Republic of Indian Stream, now the town of Pittsburg, New Hampshire — A geographic anomaly left unresolved by Treaty of Paris that ended the U.S. Revolutionary War, and claimed by both the U.S. and Canada. Between 1832 and 1835, the area's residents refused to acknowledge either claimant.
[edit] See also
- European microstates
- List of countries by population
- List of countries and outlying territories by total area
- Micronation
- City state
[edit] References
- ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Holy See (Vatican City)
- ^ The Order's official website lists them in this table.
- ^ "CIA - The World Factbook -- Rank Order - Area". CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2147rank.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-20.
- ^ "CIA - The World Factbook -- Field Listing - Population". CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2119.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-20.
- ^ Includes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (264,172). The Statistical Institute of the Republic of Cyprus shows a population of 749,200 (2004 Census).
- ^ Figure for Qatari residents only. Estimates for 2008 that include non-resident, transient laborers indicate a population of 1,448,446. From Qatar General Secretariat for Development Planning
- ^ Excludes the island of Mayotte. The UN estimate is 839,000 (including Mayotte)
- ^ A 2003 U.S State Department report states the following: "Although the 2002 census estimated the population at 1,015,000, credible estimates put the number at closer to 500,000. The opposition claimed that the Government inflated the census in anticipation of the December presidential election." (...) "Opposition leaders charged earlier in the year that census results showing a twofold population increase were flawed and that numbers were inflated to perpetuate election fraud." [1] The official census figures are available here.
