# Are there modern nations which are basically just a city state **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 4, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-nations-which-are-basically-just-a-city-state/765019 "2016-09-04T14:41:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-nations-which-are-basically-just-a-city-state/765019/21 "2016-09-05T23:05:18Z")
I think Kuwait then is the perfect answer; Kuwait 17,820 sq ki 4.35 million people Kuwait City 200 sq ki Metro area, still quite small and only 1.1% of the nation’s landmass. 4.1 million people (Metro area) ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-nations-which-are-basically-just-a-city-state/765019/22 "2016-09-05T23:13:24Z")
Oddly enough, Hong Kong. As tiny as it is, the majority of Hong Kong is mountainous forested parks with the majority of population clustered in Hong Kong Island & Kowloon. 3.3 of the 7.3 million people reside in an area just 10% of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-nations-which-are-basically-just-a-city-state/765019/23 "2016-09-06T01:22:19Z")
To piggyback: Are there any city-states that are entities unto themselves, and which are effectively neutral zones for warring territories? I’m writing a novel that includes a fictitious city-state and I’m curious what real life models I can look at for insight. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-nations-which-are-basically-just-a-city-state/765019/24 "2016-09-06T02:59:46Z")
30 percent of Montenegro’s population lives in the capital of Podgorica, which is 10 percent of the total area. Meanwhile, in South America, roughly half the populations of Suriname and Guyana live in or around their capitals. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-nations-which-are-basically-just-a-city-state/765019/25 "2016-09-06T06:05:06Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > What I mean is you have an entire nation, and a small % of the land mass of the nation is one city, but that one city has the majority of the country. > > The example I posed in my OP was South Korea. South Korea has 50 million people, but the metro area for Seoul is 24 million. So about half the nation lives in the metro area of the capital city. The metro area of Seoul is about 10-12% of the entire countries landmass. I think that you would be alone in calling Korea a city state. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-nations-which-are-basically-just-a-city-state/765019/26 "2016-09-06T12:10:40Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Of particular note is Bangkok, which has been called “the most primate city on earth” Lopburi is pretty [primate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Buffet_Festival). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-nations-which-are-basically-just-a-city-state/765019/27 "2016-09-06T12:12:53Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > To piggyback: Are there any city-states that are entities unto themselves, and which are effectively neutral zones for warring territories? > > I’m writing a novel that includes a fictitious city-state and I’m curious what real life models I can look at for insight. No current ones that I can think of. In recent times in Europe there’s been the [Free\_City\_of\_Danzig]([Free - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free) City of Danzig) and the [Free Territory of Trieste](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Territory_of_Trieste). Some locals are arguing for the return of the latter’s status. Going back to Holy Roman Empire days, there were a huge number of “Free States” and such. And a lot of other similar situations in pre-modern times. For a good chunk of the 20th century, [Tangier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangier#History) was an “international city” independent of French or Spanish Morocco. It was under the control of those two plus Britain. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-nations-which-are-basically-just-a-city-state/765019/28 "2016-09-06T12:49:42Z")
It also was a common situation for Andorranos during the Middle Ages and Renaissance; I’m sure that the period of the Taifas must have seen quite a bit of that as well but can’t remember specific episodes. Some of the Taifas were pretty large but a few made Andorra look big. But Andorra is a mountain valley; people tend to think of “city states” as being in the flatlands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-nations-which-are-basically-just-a-city-state/765019.md?page=1)