Microstate - Definition and Overview

A microstate is a very small internationally recognized sovereign state. Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Kiribati, and Nauru are all microstates. Size in the context of microstates can refer to either physical extent, or population - but usually to both.

In terms of population the most extreme example is the Pitcairn Islands, with ca. 47 inhabitants, although as a dependency of the United Kingdom it is not itself a sovereign state. The smallest fully sovereign microstate is the Vatican City, with 911 inhabitants as of July 2003 and an area of only 0.44 sq km. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) is an effectively non-territorial sovereign entity that might also be considered to be a microstate.

The term microstate is sometimes confused with the term micronation. The distinction is that the former are recognised as sovereign states whereas the latter are not.

See also

• European microstates,
• List of countries by population,
• List of countries by area.

Microstate is also used in thermodynamics to refer to a specific configuration of particles of a material: see microstate (thermodynamics).