Africa is home to many of the world’s biggest countries. For example, Algeria and Democratic Republic of Congo take the title of the 10th and 11th largest in the world. As for the largest by population, Nigeria is the seventh largest in the world with a population of 206 million people!
But what are the smallest countries in Africa? How do these countries compare to the rest of the world? We’ll take a look at the smallest countries by land size here, so keep reading if that is something that interests you.
It can be interesting to look at the smallest countries and see how their economies and societies work compared to their much larger neighbors. For example, the fourth smallest country in Africa is Mauritius. This country has a strong economy with lots of tourism and investment firms choosing to base themselves out of the country, such as one mentioned in this article, for example.
Seychelles
The smallest country in Africa, and 15th smallest in the world, is Seychelles. Located in the Indian Ocean off of East Africa, the Seychelles are an island archipelago of 115 islands. It has a total land size of 175 square miles and accounts for 0.001% of the total land in Africa.
Sao Tome and Principe
Coming in at 372 square miles, Sao Tome and Principe is the second smallest country in Africa. Like Seychelles, it is an island country. However, it is not located near Seychelles. It is off the coast of equatorial East Africa, about 150 miles from Gabon in the Gulf of Guinea.
Comoros
The third smallest country in Africa is yet another island country. This time it’s the Comoros, with 719 square miles of land accounting for 0.01% of Africa. The island archipelago is located between Madagascar and Mozambique off the coast of East Africa.
The Comoros are also a fantastic holiday destination. Check out this article from Tripadvisor on the best places to visit in the island country.
Mauritius
The fourth island nation on this list, is the fourth smallest country in Africa, with a land size of 864 square miles. The island nation is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, and had been a colony of the Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British before getting its independence.
Cape Verde
Cape Verde is an island archipelago off the coast of West Africa that is made up of 10 volcanic islands. Its total land size is 1,557 square miles. Cape Verde is marked as the first European settlement to be made in the tropics. Portuguese settled the uninhabited islands in the mid 1400s.
Gambia
Gambia is the sixth smallest country in Africa, and the smallest when not counting island countries. It is significantly larger than all the other names on this list. Its land size is 4,361 square miles.
