If Abkhazia, Artsakh, and South Ossetia were widely recognized independent states, how would they compare in size to the microstates described earlier in this chapter?

-Abkhazia is a de facto independent republic within the borders of Georgia. The country lies on the east coast of the Black Sea and borders Russia in the north. Besides Russia, Abkhazia is today recognized by Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, South Ossetia and Transnistria, the last two of which are not internationally recognized states.

This country has a territory of 8,600 km² and an approximate of 245,000 inhabitants. In this way, if it were an independent nation or with a certain degree of autonomy, it would be ranked 171th in the ranking of countries with more territory, just behind Puerto Rico. It would also be much larger than European microstates such as the Vatican (0.44 km²), Monaco (2 km²) or San Marino (61 km²). As for its population, it would be 188 in the ranking, behind much smaller countries such as Luxembourg or Hong Kong.

-The Artsakh Republic is a self-proclaimed Armenian-majority region in the Caucasus within Azerbaijan's borders. No foreign country has recognized this nation as independent. It covers an area of 11,500 km² and was estimated to have a population of 155,000 people.

If it were independent, Artsakh would be the 165th largest country in the world, just 86 km² smaller than Qatar. But as for its population, it would be ranked 193th in the ranking, behind micronations or dependencies such as Iceland, Guam or Curacao. It is an area with very low population density, so much so that Qatar, with an almost identical area, has 2,800,000 inhabitants compared to the 155,000 in Artsakh.

-South Ossetia is a region of the Transcaucasus. It was formerly an autonomous oblast in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. South Ossetia is located between Georgia and Russia, about ten miles north of the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. Most of South Ossetia has been de facto independent from Georgia since the beginning of the 1990s under the name Republic of South Ossetia, but its independence has not been recognized by the international community. After a war in 2008, South Ossetia's independence has been recognized by the Russian Federation, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

This territory has a total area of 3,900 km², which would place it in 177th place, behind Cape Verde, which has 133 km² more. As for its population, it has just 55,000 inhabitants, located in 212th place, behind Greenland and the Marshall Islands and well behind Andorra, a country 9 times smaller.

-As it emerges from the data, these three de facto-independent territories are comparatively larger than the existing micro-states: countries such as the Vatican, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu or San Marino, being fully independent, have territories that do not exceed 100 km². However, with respect to their population, they are comparable: their populations are barely greater than those of these countries, although taking into account their territorial extension, the population density of these countries compared to the mentioned microstates is minimal in proportion.