A Brief History
On September 18, 1990, the tiny European Principality of Liechtenstein was admitted to the United Nations. Incredibly, Liechtenstein is only the 4th smallest country in Europe, behind Vatican City, Monaco and San Marino.
Digging Deeper
A monarchy, Liechtenstein is ruled by the Prince of Liechtenstein, though under a national constitution. With barely over 38,000 residents, this German speaking country lies between Switzerland and Austria and occupies a miniscule 62 square miles.
While the national wealth of Liechtenstein as measured by GDP ranks a mere 149th in the world, the individual wealth of the population is a staggering $180,000 dollars per capita as measured by Nominal GDP, ranking first in the entire world!
Liechtenstein sought to remain neutral during the 20th Century, including during the World Wars, though their ties to Austria and Germany were generally stronger than to the West. During the Cold War Liechtenstein was officially neutral as well, though relations with communist controlled Eastern European countries were strained.
Have you ever been to Liechtenstein? Do you know anybody from Liechtenstein?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Eccardt, Thomas. Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City. Hippocrene Books, 2004.
Russell, Jesse. Liechtenstein Travel Guide: Tourism. Independently published, 2019.
The featured image in this article, a map by TUBS of Liechtenstein in Europe, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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