Least Populated Countries in the World

The world's least populated countries are a fascinating mix of tiny city-states, remote island nations, and microstates. Vatican City, with fewer than 1,000 residents, is the smallest by population, followed by island nations like Nauru, Tuvalu, and Palau. Many of these countries face unique challenges including vulnerability to climate change, limited economic diversification, and dependence on foreign aid. Despite their small size, several of these nations play important roles in international diplomacy, holding equal votes in the United Nations General Assembly.

Complete ranking

#	Country	Capital	Population	Area	Region
1	Pitcairn Islands	Adamstown	35	47 km²	Oceania
2	French Southern and Antarctic Lands	Port-aux-Français	400	7,747 km²	Antarctic
3	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	West Island	593	14 km²	Oceania
4	Vatican City	Vatican City	882	0.49 km²	Europe
5	Antarctica	—	1.3K	14,000,000 km²	Antarctic
6	Niue	Alofi	1.7K	260 km²	Oceania
7	Christmas Island	Flying Fish Cove	1.7K	135 km²	Oceania
8	Norfolk Island	Kingston	2.2K	36 km²	Oceania
9	Svalbard and Jan Mayen	Longyearbyen	2.5K	61,399 km²	Europe
10	Tokelau	Fakaofo	2.6K	12 km²	Oceania
11	Falkland Islands	Stanley	3.7K	12,173 km²	Americas
12	Montserrat	Plymouth	4.4K	102 km²	Americas
13	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	Jamestown	5.7K	394 km²	Africa
14	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	Saint-Pierre	5.8K	242 km²	Americas
15	Saint Barthélemy	Gustavia	10.6K	21 km²	Americas
16	Tuvalu	Funafuti	10.6K	26 km²	Oceania
17	Wallis and Futuna	Mata-Utu	11.6K	142 km²	Oceania
18	Nauru	Yaren	11.7K	21 km²	Oceania
19	Cook Islands	Avarua	15.0K	236 km²	Oceania
20	Anguilla	The Valley	16.0K	91 km²	Americas
21	Palau	Ngerulmud	16.7K	459 km²	Oceania
22	Åland Islands	Mariehamn	30.7K	1,580 km²	Europe
23	Saint Martin	Marigot	31.5K	53 km²	Americas
24	Caribbean Netherlands	Kralendijk	32.0K	328 km²	Americas
25	San Marino	City of San Marino	34.1K	61 km²	Europe
26	Gibraltar	Gibraltar	38.0K	6 km²	Europe
27	Monaco	Monaco	38.4K	2.02 km²	Europe
28	British Virgin Islands	Road Town	39.5K	151 km²	Americas
29	Liechtenstein	Vaduz	40.9K	160 km²	Europe
30	Sint Maarten	Philipsburg	41.3K	34 km²	Americas
31	Marshall Islands	Majuro	42.4K	181 km²	Oceania
32	Northern Mariana Islands	Saipan	47.3K	464 km²	Oceania
33	American Samoa	Pago Pago	49.7K	199 km²	Oceania
34	Turks and Caicos Islands	Cockburn Town	50.8K	948 km²	Americas
35	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Basseterre	51.3K	261 km²	Americas
36	Faroe Islands	Tórshavn	54.9K	1,393 km²	Europe
37	Greenland	Nuuk	56.5K	2,166,086 km²	Americas
38	Bermuda	Hamilton	64.1K	54 km²	Americas
39	Guernsey	St. Peter Port	64.8K	78 km²	Europe
40	Dominica	Roseau	67.4K	751 km²	Americas
41	Isle of Man	Douglas	84.5K	572 km²	Europe
42	Cayman Islands	George Town	84.7K	264 km²	Americas
43	United States Virgin Islands	Charlotte Amalie	87.1K	347 km²	Americas
44	Andorra	Andorra la Vella	88.4K	468 km²	Europe
45	Tonga	Nuku'alofa	100.2K	747 km²	Oceania
46	Jersey	Saint Helier	103.3K	116 km²	Europe
47	Antigua and Barbuda	Saint John's	103.6K	442 km²	Americas
48	Micronesia	Palikir	105.6K	702 km²	Oceania
49	Aruba	Oranjestad	107.6K	180 km²	Americas
50	Grenada	St. George's	109.0K	344 km²	Americas
51	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Kingstown	110.9K	389 km²	Americas
52	Kiribati	South Tarawa	120.7K	811 km²	Oceania
53	Seychelles	Victoria	122.7K	452 km²	Africa
54	Guam	Hagåtña	153.8K	549 km²	Oceania
55	Curaçao	Willemstad	156.1K	444 km²	Americas
56	Saint Lucia	Castries	184.1K	616 km²	Americas
57	Samoa	Apia	205.6K	2,842 km²	Oceania
58	São Tomé and Príncipe	São Tomé	209.6K	964 km²	Africa
59	New Caledonia	Nouméa	264.6K	18,575 km²	Oceania
60	Barbados	Bridgetown	267.8K	430 km²	Americas
61	French Polynesia	Papeetē	279.5K	4,167 km²	Oceania
62	French Guiana	Cayenne	292.4K	83,534 km²	Americas
63	Mayotte	Mamoudzou	320.9K	374 km²	Africa
64	Vanuatu	Port Vila	321.4K	12,189 km²	Oceania
65	Martinique	Fort-de-France	349.9K	1,128 km²	Americas
66	Guadeloupe	Basse-Terre	378.6K	1,628 km²	Americas
67	Iceland	Reykjavik	391.8K	103,000 km²	Europe
68	Bahamas	Nassau	398.2K	13,943 km²	Americas
69	Belize	Belmopan	417.6K	22,966 km²	Americas
70	Brunei	Bandar Seri Begawan	455.5K	5,765 km²	Asia
71	Cape Verde	Praia	491.2K	4,033 km²	Africa
72	Maldives	Malé	515.1K	300 km²	Asia
73	Malta	Valletta	574.3K	316 km²	Europe
74	Western Sahara	El Aaiún	600.9K	266,000 km²	Africa
75	Suriname	Paramaribo	616.5K	163,820 km²	Americas
76	Montenegro	Podgorica	623.3K	13,812 km²	Europe
77	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	682.0K	2,586 km²	Europe
78	Macau	—	685.9K	30 km²	Asia
79	Solomon Islands	Honiara	750.3K	28,896 km²	Oceania
80	Guyana	Georgetown	773.0K	214,969 km²	Americas
81	Bhutan	Thimphu	784.0K	38,394 km²	Asia
82	Réunion	Saint-Denis	896.2K	2,511 km²	Africa
83	Fiji	Suva	900.9K	18,272 km²	Oceania
84	Comoros	Moroni	919.9K	1,862 km²	Africa
85	Djibouti	Djibouti	1.07M	23,200 km²	Africa
86	Eswatini	Mbabane	1.24M	17,364 km²	Africa
87	Mauritius	Port Louis	1.24M	2,040 km²	Africa
88	Trinidad and Tobago	Port of Spain	1.37M	5,130 km²	Americas
89	Estonia	Tallinn	1.37M	45,227 km²	Europe
90	Timor-Leste	Dili	1.39M	14,874 km²	Asia
91	Cyprus	Nicosia	1.44M	9,251 km²	Europe
92	Kosovo	Pristina	1.59M	10,908 km²	Europe
93	Bahrain	Manama	1.59M	765 km²	Asia
94	Equatorial Guinea	Ciudad de la Paz	1.67M	28,051 km²	Africa
95	Guinea-Bissau	Bissau	1.78M	36,125 km²	Africa
96	North Macedonia	Skopje	1.82M	25,713 km²	Europe
97	Latvia	Riga	1.83M	64,559 km²	Europe
98	Lesotho	Maseru	2.12M	30,355 km²	Africa
99	Slovenia	Ljubljana	2.13M	20,273 km²	Europe
100	Botswana	Gaborone	2.36M	582,000 km²	Africa
101	Albania	Tirana	2.36M	28,748 km²	Europe
102	Gambia	Banjul	2.42M	10,689 km²	Africa
103	Gabon	Libreville	2.47M	267,668 km²	Africa
104	Moldova	Chișinău	2.75M	33,847 km²	Europe
105	Jamaica	Kingston	2.83M	10,991 km²	Americas
106	Lithuania	Vilnius	2.89M	65,300 km²	Europe
107	Namibia	Windhoek	3.02M	825,615 km²	Africa
108	Armenia	Yerevan	3.08M	29,743 km²	Asia
109	Qatar	Doha	3.17M	11,586 km²	Asia
110	Puerto Rico	San Juan	3.20M	8,870 km²	Americas
111	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Sarajevo	3.42M	51,209 km²	Europe
112	Uruguay	Montevideo	3.50M	181,034 km²	Americas
113	Mongolia	Ulan Bator	3.54M	1,564,110 km²	Asia
114	Eritrea	Asmara	3.61M	117,600 km²	Africa
115	Croatia	Zagreb	3.87M	56,594 km²	Europe
116	Georgia	Tbilisi	4.00M	69,700 km²	Asia
117	Panama	Panama City	4.06M	75,417 km²	Americas
118	Kuwait	Kuwait City	4.88M	17,818 km²	Asia
119	Mauritania	Nouakchott	4.93M	1,030,700 km²	Africa
120	Liberia	Monrovia	5.25M	111,369 km²	Africa
121	Costa Rica	San José	5.31M	51,100 km²	Americas
122	New Zealand	Wellington	5.32M	268,838 km²	Oceania
123	Oman	Muscat	5.34M	309,500 km²	Asia
124	Slovakia	Bratislava	5.41M	49,037 km²	Europe
125	Ireland	Dublin	5.46M	70,273 km²	Europe
126	Palestine	Ramallah	5.48M	6,220 km²	Asia
127	Lebanon	Beirut	5.49M	10,452 km²	Asia
128	Norway	Oslo	5.61M	386,224 km²	Europe
129	Finland	Helsinki	5.65M	338,455 km²	Europe
130	Denmark	Copenhagen	6.01M	43,094 km²	Europe
131	El Salvador	San Salvador	6.03M	21,041 km²	Americas
132	Paraguay	Asunción	6.11M	406,752 km²	Americas
133	Singapore	Singapore	6.11M	710 km²	Asia
134	Republic of the Congo	Brazzaville	6.14M	342,000 km²	Africa
135	Bulgaria	Sofia	6.44M	110,879 km²	Europe
136	Central African Republic	Bangui	6.47M	622,984 km²	Africa
137	Serbia	Belgrade	6.57M	77,589 km²	Europe
138	Nicaragua	Managua	6.80M	130,373 km²	Americas
139	Turkmenistan	Ashgabat	7.06M	488,100 km²	Asia
140	Kyrgyzstan	Bishkek	7.28M	199,951 km²	Asia
141	Libya	Tripoli	7.46M	1,759,540 km²	Africa
142	Hong Kong	City of Victoria	7.53M	1,104 km²	Asia
143	Laos	Vientiane	7.65M	236,800 km²	Asia
144	Togo	Lomé	8.10M	56,785 km²	Africa
145	Sierra Leone	Freetown	9.08M	71,740 km²	Africa
146	Switzerland	Bern	9.08M	41,284 km²	Europe
147	Belarus	Minsk	9.11M	207,600 km²	Europe
148	Austria	Vienna	9.20M	83,871 km²	Europe
149	Hungary	Budapest	9.54M	93,028 km²	Europe
150	Cuba	Havana	9.75M	109,884 km²	Americas
151	Honduras	Tegucigalpa	9.89M	112,492 km²	Americas
152	Israel	Jerusalem	10.13M	21,937 km²	Asia
153	Azerbaijan	Baku	10.24M	86,600 km²	Asia
154	Greece	Athens	10.40M	131,990 km²	Europe
155	Tajikistan	Dushanbe	10.50M	143,100 km²	Asia
156	Sweden	Stockholm	10.61M	450,295 km²	Europe
157	Portugal	Lisbon	10.75M	92,090 km²	Europe
158	Dominican Republic	Santo Domingo	10.77M	48,671 km²	Americas
159	Czechia	Prague	10.88M	78,865 km²	Europe
160	United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi	11.29M	83,600 km²	Asia
161	Bolivia	Sucre	11.37M	1,098,581 km²	Americas
162	Jordan	Amman	11.73M	89,342 km²	Asia
163	Papua New Guinea	Port Moresby	11.78M	462,840 km²	Oceania
164	Belgium	Brussels	11.83M	30,528 km²	Europe
165	Haiti	Port-au-Prince	11.87M	27,750 km²	Americas
166	Tunisia	Tunis	11.97M	163,610 km²	Africa
167	Burundi	Gitega	12.33M	27,834 km²	Africa
168	Benin	Porto-Novo	13.22M	112,622 km²	Africa
169	Rwanda	Kigali	14.10M	26,338 km²	Africa
170	Guinea	Conakry	14.36M	245,857 km²	Africa
171	South Sudan	Juba	15.79M	619,745 km²	Africa
172	Zimbabwe	Harare	17.07M	390,757 km²	Africa
173	Cambodia	Phnom Penh	17.58M	181,035 km²	Asia
174	Guatemala	Guatemala City	18.08M	108,889 km²	Americas
175	Netherlands	Amsterdam	18.10M	41,865 km²	Europe
176	Ecuador	Quito	18.10M	276,841 km²	Americas
177	Senegal	Dakar	18.59M	196,722 km²	Africa
178	Romania	Bucharest	19.04M	238,391 km²	Europe
179	Chad	N'Djamena	19.34M	1,284,000 km²	Africa
180	Somalia	Mogadishu	19.66M	637,657 km²	Africa
181	Zambia	Lusaka	19.69M	752,612 km²	Africa
182	Chile	Santiago	20.21M	756,102 km²	Americas
183	Kazakhstan	Astana	20.43M	2,724,900 km²	Asia
184	Malawi	Lilongwe	20.73M	118,484 km²	Africa
185	Sri Lanka	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	21.76M	65,610 km²	Asia
186	Mali	Bamako	22.40M	1,240,192 km²	Africa
187	Taiwan	Taipei	23.32M	36,197 km²	Asia
188	Burkina Faso	Ouagadougou	24.07M	272,967 km²	Africa
189	Syria	Damascus	25.62M	185,180 km²	Asia
190	North Korea	Pyongyang	25.95M	120,538 km²	Asia
191	Niger	Niamey	26.31M	1,267,000 km²	Africa
192	Australia	Canberra	27.54M	7,692,024 km²	Oceania
193	Venezuela	Caracas	28.52M	916,445 km²	Americas
194	Cameroon	Yaoundé	29.44M	475,442 km²	Africa
195	Nepal	Kathmandu	29.91M	147,181 km²	Asia
196	Ivory Coast	Yamoussoukro	31.72M	322,463 km²	Africa
197	Madagascar	Antananarivo	31.73M	587,041 km²	Africa
198	Yemen	Sana'a	32.68M	527,968 km²	Asia
199	Ukraine	Kyiv	32.86M	603,550 km²	Europe
200	Ghana	Accra	33.74M	238,533 km²	Africa
201	Mozambique	Maputo	34.09M	801,590 km²	Africa
202	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	34.23M	330,803 km²	Asia
203	Peru	Lima	34.35M	1,285,216 km²	Americas
204	Saudi Arabia	Riyadh	35.30M	2,149,690 km²	Asia
205	Angola	Luanda	36.17M	1,246,700 km²	Africa
206	Morocco	Rabat	36.83M	446,550 km²	Africa
207	Poland	Warsaw	37.39M	312,679 km²	Europe
208	Uzbekistan	Tashkent	37.86M	447,400 km²	Asia
209	Canada	Ottawa	41.65M	9,984,670 km²	Americas
210	Afghanistan	Kabul	43.84M	652,230 km²	Asia
211	Uganda	Kampala	45.91M	241,550 km²	Africa
212	Iraq	Baghdad	46.12M	438,317 km²	Asia
213	Argentina	Buenos Aires	46.74M	2,780,400 km²	Americas
214	Algeria	Algiers	47.40M	2,381,741 km²	Africa
215	Spain	Madrid	49.32M	505,992 km²	Europe
216	South Korea	Seoul	51.16M	100,210 km²	Asia
217	Myanmar	Naypyidaw	51.32M	676,578 km²	Asia
218	Sudan	Khartoum	51.66M	1,886,068 km²	Africa
219	Colombia	Bogotá	53.06M	1,141,748 km²	Americas
220	Kenya	Nairobi	53.33M	580,367 km²	Africa
221	Italy	Rome	58.93M	301,336 km²	Europe
222	South Africa	Pretoria	63.10M	1,221,037 km²	Africa
223	Thailand	Bangkok	65.86M	513,120 km²	Asia
224	France	Paris	66.35M	543,908 km²	Europe
225	Tanzania	Dodoma	68.15M	947,303 km²	Africa
226	United Kingdom	London	69.28M	244,376 km²	Europe
227	Germany	Berlin	83.49M	357,114 km²	Europe
228	Turkey	Ankara	85.66M	783,562 km²	Asia
229	Iran	Tehran	85.96M	1,648,195 km²	Asia
230	Vietnam	Hanoi	101.34M	331,212 km²	Asia
231	Egypt	Cairo	107.27M	1,002,450 km²	Africa
232	Ethiopia	Addis Ababa	111.65M	1,104,300 km²	Africa
233	DR Congo	Kinshasa	112.83M	2,344,858 km²	Africa
234	Philippines	Manila	114.12M	342,353 km²	Asia
235	Japan	Tokyo	123.21M	377,930 km²	Asia
236	Mexico	Mexico City	130.58M	1,964,375 km²	Americas
237	Russia	Moscow	146.03M	17,098,246 km²	Europe
238	Bangladesh	Dhaka	169.83M	147,570 km²	Asia
239	Brazil	Brasília	213.42M	8,515,767 km²	Americas
240	Nigeria	Abuja	223.80M	923,768 km²	Africa
241	Pakistan	Islamabad	241.50M	796,095 km²	Asia
242	Indonesia	Jakarta	284.44M	1,904,569 km²	Asia
243	United States	Washington, D.C.	340.11M	9,525,067 km²	Americas
244	China	Beijing	1.41B	9,706,961 km²	Asia
245	India	New Delhi	1.42B	3,287,263 km²	Asia