This world is wonderfully diverse, and we currently have 195 official countries that make up its population. Of course, because there’s so many of them, one can hardly be assumed to know every single one. That’s why we’re going to make you feel bad and list a few countries that you’ve probably never heard of.
Don’t worry about it – almost no one has. Honest.
Kiribati
This country, pronounced Kirabass, is an island on the Pacific Ocean and has slightly over 100,000 inhabitants. It’s one of the poorest countries in the Pacific region, but that’s mainly because it’s not easy to access because of how remote it is and its main source of income is tourism. That’s not really a recipe for wealth.
Liechtenstein
One of Europe’s many dwarf states, this one has a population lower than 40,000 people and can be found between Switzerland and Austria. It’s not a poor country though, it actually has the highest GDP in the whole world.
Dominica
Contrary to popular belief, this country has nothing to do with the Dominican Republic. It’s actually an island between Guadeloupe and Martinique. Don’t worry, I don’t know where either of those are, either. It’s somewhere in the east Caribbean. Their population numbers are 70,000 strong, and it’s a pretty poor country like most remote islands that depend on tourism.
Djibouti
What now? Exactly! Djibouti is a country in the Horn of Africa. It’s been independent since the late 70’s and has about one million inhabitants. That’s probably the main reason why no one’s heard of it.
Niue
Northeast of New Zealand, you can find the small island of Niue. Its 1400 inhabitants, despite being part of an independent country, rely on New Zealand for most of its politics. I guess that’s just the easiest way to manage it if your country is this small.
Comoros
This group of islands can be found in the Indian Ocean, somewhere near Madagascar. It has a population of slightly under a million and it’s considered to be a very beautiful place to visit. I mean, they’re islands off the coast of Africa, they were always going to be gorgeous, right?
Tuvalu
This South Pacific island nation only has about 10,000 inhabitants and is one of the smallest countries in the world. Sadly, because of the fact that it’s a tiny island, this country actually has a high risk of sinking because of global warming.
