2/ Vatican City 🇻🇦, with an area of just 49 hectares and a population of under 1,000, is the world's smallest state.
The operating centre of the Catholic Church and governed by the Holy See, it gained independence in 1929 as part of the Lateran Treaty with Italy 🇮🇹. This treaty also instigated the use of only one of two square national flags, the other being Switzerland 🇨🇭