Smallest Countries Quiz

Identify the world's tiniest sovereign states.

The world's tiniest sovereign states — several of them smaller than a single large city, and all of them regular quiz answers.

The microstates

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world by both area and population, small enough to walk across in minutes. It is an enclave entirely within Rome.

Monaco is second by area, a narrow strip on the Mediterranean coast and the most densely populated sovereign state on Earth.

Nauru is the smallest island country and among the least visited places anywhere.

Tuvalu, San Marino and Liechtenstein complete the group most quizzes ask about.

Why they matter more than their size suggests

Microstates are disproportionately common in quizzes for two reasons. They are easy to forget when naming every country in a region, which makes them good discriminating questions. And several hold unusual records — smallest, most densely populated, oldest republic — that make them memorable once learned.

San Marino claims to be the oldest surviving sovereign state and the oldest constitutional republic, founded in the fourth century.

Vatican City and San Marino are both entirely surrounded by Italy, making them two of only three enclaved countries in the world. The third is Lesotho, within South Africa.

The Caribbean and Pacific small states

Below the famous microstates sits a long tail of small island nations — Saint Kitts and Nevis, Marshall Islands, Seychelles, Maldives, Malta, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Palau. These are the ones that go missing when someone tries to name all 197 countries.

Learning the small states is unusually good value for that reason: they are a concentrated block of answers that most people simply do not have.

Area versus population

Small in area does not mean small in population. Singapore and Bahrain are tiny and densely settled; Monaco is the densest place of all. Meanwhile Mongolia and Namibia are large and nearly empty. The two measures run independently.

Frequently asked questions

What is the smallest country in the world?

Vatican City, by both area and population. It is an independent enclave entirely within the city of Rome and is small enough to walk across in a matter of minutes.

What is the smallest island country?

Nauru, a single raised coral island in the Pacific. It is among the smallest sovereign states by any measure and one of the least visited countries in the world.

Which is the most densely populated country?

Monaco, by a wide margin. It is the second-smallest country by area and packs a substantial population into a narrow strip of Mediterranean coastline.

Which countries are surrounded entirely by one other country?

Three: Vatican City and San Marino, both entirely within Italy, and Lesotho, entirely within South Africa. They are known as enclaved countries.

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