Microstate

Categories: Microstates

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.

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 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 recognized as sovereign states whereas the latter are not.

Microstates have been studied in micropatrology (along with those micronations that have real territory).

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Microstate

See also