How Small Are These Microstates?
Officially called the Principality of Monaco, it is a wee country bordering both France and the Mediterranean Sea. Which US city park is closest in size to Monaco?
- Central Park in New York City is nearly the same size and shape as Monaco, being only 1.50 times the microstate's size.
Landlocked by the hills of Italy, San Marino measures just 61 square kilometers. Which fictional island is roughly the same size as this microstate?
- Isla Nublar, the fictional home of Jurassic Park, is nearly the same size as San Marino, being only 1.26 times as big, with plenty of room for dinosaurs.
Though Vatican City is tightly contained, it holds an incredible amount of history, art, and culture within its boundaries. Vatican city is bigger than some landmarks, though— which ones?
- Vatican City is only 0.44 kilometers squared, but is still bigger than all three of these landmarks around the world!
Nauru is a little coral island off the coast of the Solomon Islands, in the Pacific Ocean. Can you determine its rank when compared to the other smallest microstates in the world?
- With only 21 square kilometers of space, this small island is the third-smallest in the world, falling behind Vatican City and Monaco as the first and second-smallest, respectively.
With Australia and Hawaii as neighbors, Tuvalu is perched in the west-central Pacific and is composed of nine small islands in total. Which of the following islands is the most similar in size to Tuvalu?
- Situated in the Bering Strait, the Diomede Islands are only 1.40 times as big as Tuvalu, making them the closest match among the options on this list.
Liechtenstein is definitely smaller than the Great Lakes of North America, but can you guess which of those bodies of water is the closest in size?
- Lake Ontario is still a huge lake at nearly 19,000 square kilometers, but it's still the smallest of the Great Lakes and is the closest to this microstate's size of 160 square kilometers.
Officially known as the Republic of the Marshall Islands, this small chain of islands and atolls is only 181 kilometers squared. When comparing this microstate to US states, which is the closest match in size?
- In comparison, the Marshall Islands are still 28 times smaller than the state of Delaware, even though it's the second-smallest state in the country!
You can find the microstate of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, but do you know which African country is closest in size to it?
- With an area of 451 square kilometers, Seychelles is the smallest African country size-wise, and thus is the closest to Saint Kitts and Nevis.
The microstate of the Maldives sits in the Indian Ocean, just 600 kilometers south-southwest of India. But which international city is smaller than the Maldives?
- The Maldives is actually fairly large as far as microstates go, and the Spanish city of Barcelona is actually only 0.34 times as big as this microstate!
The island of Malta sits south of Sicily, in the Mediterranean Sea, and is made up of three islands. What US state is the closest in size to this sunny microstate?
- Rhode Island and Malta are surprisingly close in size, with Malta only being 9 times smaller than the state, and with approximately half the population dwelling across the island's 316 square kilometers.
