a) Monaco
b) Vatican City
c) San Marino
d) Nauru
e) Liechtenstein
(Scroll down for the answer…)
Going from largest to smallest in terms of land mass, the five smallest countries in the world are San Marino (24 square miles, located in Northern Italy), Tuvalu (9 square miles, in Polynesia), Nauru (an 8.5-square-mile Pacific island), Monaco (0.7 square miles in the French Riviera), and b) Vatican City (0.2 square miles, surrounded by Rome, Italy). The center of the Roman Catholic Church, Vatican City is home to about 800 residents, making it also the smallest country in the world in terms of population.
In case you were wondering, Liechtenstein, listed as a possible answer above, is the sixth smallest (62 square miles, between Switzerland and Austria in the Alps).
I’ve visited three of these countries: Vatican City, Monaco and Liechtenstein. How many of these tiny countries have you visited? Let us know in the comments!
Photo by xenia (Creative Commons).
About Colleen Lanin
Technically, Liechtenstein is a principality not a country.
Monaco is also a principality, meaning they are both ruled by princes.