Citizenship by Investment in Microstates

Microstates

Microstates are smallest countries in the world with small land mass (less than 1000 km2) and small population (less than 500K).  It is important to understand that overseas territories, and SARs are not considered as microstates.

Microstates should not be confused with micronations, which are not recognized as sovereign states. Micronation citizenships that have no value.

Microstates often rely on other countries in order to survive, as they have a small military capacity and a lack of resources. In Europe, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City as examples of such microstates.

There are 7 microstates that have already installed active citizenship by investment programs. Future citizenship by Investment programs have high chances of being established in microstates to support their economic revival from devastating effects of Covid and natural disasters.

Microstates have their own citizenship legislation and they issue their own passports to its citizens. These passports are internationally recognized everywhere facilitating visa free travel to most parts of globe.

St Kitts was the first sovereign micro-state to start a citizenship by investment program in the Caribbean in 1984. Since then many other states followed. Citizenship sales is the biggest revenue earner for these small nations raising billions in revenues that helped to reduce their public debts, social and economic development, welfare projects and insurance against hurricanes that strike every year.

Below are the top microstates in terms of land area and local population.

Rank Country Area (km2 or sqmi) Population
1 Vatican City 0.44 km2 (0.17 sq mi) 1,000
2  Monaco 2.02 km2 (0.78 sq mi) 37,308
3  Nauru 21 km2 (8 sq mi) 9,488
4  Tuvalu 26 km2 (10 sq mi) 10,782
5  San Marino 61 km2 (24 sq mi) 32,742
6  Liechtenstein 160 km2 (62 sq mi) 37,313
7 Marshall Islands 181 km2 (70 sq mi) 70,983
8 Saint Kitts and Nevis* 261 km2 (101 sq mi) 51,538
9 Maldives 298 km2 (115 sq mi) 393,595
10 Malta* 316 km2 (122 sq mi) 412,655
11 Grenada* 344 km2 (133 sq mi) 110,152
12 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 389 km2 (150 sq mi) 102,918
13 Barbados 430 km2 (166 sq mi) 289,680
14  Antigua and Barbuda* 443 km2 (171 sq mi) 91,295
15  Seychelles 455 km2 (176 sq mi) 91,650
16  Palau 459 km2 (177 sq mi) 21,186
17  Andorra 468 km2 (181 sq mi) 85,458
18  Saint Lucia* 616 km2 (238 sq mi) 163,362
19  Federated States of Micronesia 702 km2 (271 sq mi) 105,681
20  Singapore 714 km2 (276 sq mi) 5,888,926
21  Tonga 747 km2 (288 sq mi) 106,440
22  Dominica* 751 km2 (290 sq mi) 73,449
23  Bahrain 765 km2 (295 sq mi) 1,140,942
24  Kiribati 811 km2 (313 sq mi) 104,488
25  São Tomé and Príncipe 964 km2 (372 sq mi) 190,428
26  Samoa* 2,831 km2 (1,093 sq mi) 196,628
27  Brunei 5,765 km2 (2,226 sq mi) 422,675
28  Vanuatu* 12,189 km2 (4,706 sq mi) 266,937
29  Bahamas 13,880 km2 (5,359 sq mi) 321,834
30  Belize 22,966 km2 (8,867 sq mi) 340,844
31  Iceland 103,000 km2 (39,769 sq mi) 317,351

*Active CBI schemes

Source: Wikipedia

 

Prabhu Balakrishnan

Prabhu Balakrishnan

Founder and CEO of Best Citizenships

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