Claim: Ministates include San Marino.

A ministate or microstate is a sovereign state having a very small population or very small land area , and usually both . As the meaning of neither `` state '' nor `` very small '' is well-defined in international law , 2010 's attempts to define microstates focus on identifying political entities with unique qualitative features linked to their geographic or demographic limitations . According to a qualitative definition , microstates are : `` modern protected states , i.e. sovereign states that have been able to unilaterally depute certain attributes of sovereignty to larger powers in exchange for benign protection of their political and economic viability against their geographic or demographic constraints . '' In line with this and most other definitions the examples of microstates include : Liechtenstein , Monaco , San Marino , Andorra , the Cook Islands , Niue and the Federated States of Micronesia .   The smallest political unit recognized as a sovereign state is Vatican City , with 842 citizens as of July 2013 and an area of only 44 ha . However , some scholars dispute qualifying the Vatican as a state arguing that it does not meet the `` traditional criteria of statehood '' and that the `` special status of the Vatican City is probably best regarded as a means of ensuring that the Pope can freely exercise his spiritual functions , and in this respect is loosely analogous to that of the headquarters of international organisations . ''   Microstates are distinct from micronations , which are not recognized as sovereign states . Special territories without full sovereignty , such as the British Crown Dependencies , the Chinese Special Administrative Regions and overseas territories of Denmark , France , the Netherlands , Australia , Norway and the United Kingdom , are also not considered microstates .