Which country has the smallest population?

Vatican City has the smallest population of any sovereign country. Its resident population was 882 at the end of 2024, making it the only country with fewer than 1,000 residents.

The tiny state occupies about 49 hectares inside Rome and was established as an independent country by the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Its population includes the pope, cardinals, clergy, members of religious orders, lay employees, Swiss Guards, and some family members. Many Vatican citizens, including diplomats and cardinals, live elsewhere, so citizenship totals differ from resident-population totals.

The common mix-up is with small island nations such as Tuvalu and Nauru. Those countries have populations in the thousands, while Monaco has tens of thousands of residents. Some dependent territories have fewer people than Vatican City, but they are not sovereign countries; for a quiz asking which country is smallest by population, Vatican City is the canonical answer.

Vatican City is also the world’s smallest sovereign state by land area. It should not be confused with the Holy See, the Catholic Church’s central governing authority, which is legally distinct from the territory itself.