Liechtenstein
A tiny Alpine principality between Switzerland and Austria
Liechtenstein is one of the world's smallest countries, a doubly landlocked Alpine principality of about 40,000 people tucked between Switzerland and Austria along the upper Rhine. Just 25 kilometers long, it is among only two countries on earth surrounded entirely by other landlocked states. Despite its size, Liechtenstein is extraordinarily wealthy, a low-tax financial center and an industrial niche power, and it remains a hereditary monarchy whose reigning prince retains unusually strong political authority. Above its capital, Vaduz, the prince's medieval castle still looks down on the valley.
The Rhine River forms the western border with Switzerland, beyond which the land rises sharply from the river plain into the Raetikon range of the Alps, peaking at the Vorder-Grauspitz at 2,599 meters. Roughly a quarter of this mountainous microstate lies in the valley, where most people live, while the rest is steep alpine terrain prized for skiing and hiking. The climate is alpine and continental. Liechtenstein's outsized economy rests on precision manufacturing, dental products, and machinery alongside banking and financial services, giving it one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world.
Created in 1719 within the Holy Roman Empire and named for the Austrian noble family that bought the territory, Liechtenstein gained full sovereignty in the nineteenth century and has been independent since. It maintains a customs and monetary union with Switzerland, using the Swiss franc, and has no army. A constitutional monarchy with a directly elected parliament, it joined the United Nations in 1990 and the European Economic Area in 1995 while staying outside the EU. The princely family's art collection ranks among the finest in private hands, a reminder of the dynasty's long European reach.