Microstate
A microstate[1] or ministate is a country that is very small in size, or has very little amounts of people living in it. Usually, both cases are true. However, there are no set definitions of the terms "state" and "very small".[2]
Some examples that are usually called microstates include Andorra, Bahamas, Comoros, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Guyana, Iceland, Kiribati, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, San Marino, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Western Sahara. The smallest state in the world is Sealand, in the U.K.
In addition, Greenland has been included here for its possible wishes or chances of independence. Bougainville is also there for the same reason.
Criteria
This is a criteria table to make sure that other countries are connected to its smallness.
Generally speaking, only a few countries of the world are so small, remote or lack a few resources that someone else uses these for even part of this year. These countries are tiny Islands, tiny landlocked countries, city states and sparsely populated countries.
| In function of area | In function of population | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 6000 km22 | 34 countries | Less than 1,000,0002 | 54 countries[3] |
| Less than 1000 km22 | 26 countries | Less than 500,0002 | 35 countries[3] |
| Less than 500 km22 | 19 countries | Less than 100,0002 | 22 countries[3] |
Origin
The origin of the word "microstate" is Europe, specially in Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City. Countries like Cyprus, Djibouti, Guyana, Iceland and Suriname are also microstates because their populations are so small. However, the qualifier for this is having an area of less than 6000 km² or a population of less than 1 000 000 people.
List of microstates
This is a table of all microstates according to the current CIA Factbook. In addition, states with limited recognition are included.
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References
- Microstate, Demography of
- Warrington, E. (1994). "Lilliputs Revisited". Asian Journal of Public Administration, 16(1).
- Including Bougainville and Greenland
- CIA - The World Factbook
- CIA - The World Factbook
- 95% of the population voted for independence.
- Greenland effort 95% of autonomy and started a referendum for independence from Denmark.