Microstate
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- This is an article about Political geography. For the specific configuration of particles of a material in statistical mechanics, see microstate (statistical mechanics).
A microstate is a sovereign state having a very small population or very little land area - usually both. Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Vatican City are all microstates. Microstates have a 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 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; its sovereignty is recognized by dozens of states, but unlike the Vatican City State it has no substantive territorial base.
Special territories like the Channel Islands without full sovereignty are not considered as microstates. The distinction between microstates and micronations is a grey area. In general, those states which have formal recognition by other sovereign states are considered microstates, whereas those without such recognition are micronations.
Related categories are unrecognized de facto states like Somaliland, some disputed territories like the Spratly Islands, and the UNPO, an organization of aspirant nations like Kosovo.
See also
fr:Micro-État ko:소국 lb:Zwergstaat nl:Dwergstaat no:Mikrostat pt:Micro-estados ru:Карликовое государство zh:微型国家