list of the smallest countries by area

Written by Amy Tikkanen, World Data Editors•All

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Related Topics:: nation-state

See all related content

How small is small? For some of the world’s countries, the answer is very, very small, even teeny tiny. Vatican City holds the title as the world’s smallest country, with an area of just 0.17 square mile (0.44 square km). As a point of comparison, the largest country in the world, Russia, is almost 39 million times bigger. Close behind Vatican City is Monaco, measuring 0.8 square mile (2.1 square km). Ten times larger is Nauru, which is next on the list. What are some of the other smallest countries? Find out in our list below.

country	total square miles	total square km
1. Vatican City	0.17	0.44
2. Monaco	0.8	2.1
3. Nauru	8	21
4. Tuvalu	10	26
5. San Marino	24	61
6. Liechtenstein	62	160
7. Marshall Islands	70	181
8. Saint Kitts and Nevis	102	263
9. Maldives	114	298
10. Malta	122	315
11. Grenada	133	344
12. Saint Vincent and Grenadines	150	388
13. Barbados	167	432
14. Antigua and Barbuda	171	442
15. Seychelles	172	446
16. Andorra	181	468
17. Palau	188	488
18. Saint Lucia	238	616
19. Tonga	251	650
20. Micronesia	271	701
21. Singapore	284	735
22. Dominica	290	751
23. Bahrain	304	787
24. Kiribati	313	811
25. Sao Tome and Principe	386	1,001

World Data Editors Amy Tikkanen