Microstate
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- This article is about political geography. For the specific configuration of particles of a material in statistical mechanics, see microstate (statistical mechanics).
A microstate (or ministate) is a sovereign state having a very small population or very little land area – usually both. Andorra, Monaco, Kuwait, Bahrain, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Vatican City are all examples of microstates. Microstates have a relatively strong influence in the United Nations General Assembly due to the one state, one vote power structure.
The smallest fully sovereign microstate is Vatican City, with 911 citizens as of July 2003 and an area of only 0.44 km²[1]. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) is an effectively non-territorial sovereign entity that might also be considered to be a microstate; its sovereignty is recognized by dozens of states, but unlike the Vatican City state it has no substantive territorial base (the SMOM's only property, its headquarters buildings, hold "extraterritorial status," similar to an embassy building). Neither the Vatican nor SMOM are members of the United Nations, although both have permanent observer status at the UN, Vatican City as "non-member state", SMOM as "other entity".
Microstates should not be confused with micronations. Special territories like the Channel Islands without full sovereignty are also not considered as microstates.
