Does size matter? Pridnestrovie compared to other countries

Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica has a population of 555,000 people and covers a territory of 4,163 square kilometers. Is that too small to be a nation? Comparatively, the answer is no.

In terms of population, Pridnestrovie is almost double the size of Iceland (296,000) and Belize (283,000), and even larger than Luxembourg (468,000). In fact, scores of UN members have population sizes below Pridnestrovie -- and are still independent, sovereign nations. Pridnestrovie has more than fifty times the population of UN members Nauru and Tuvalu. On the scale of new and independent nations, Pridnestrovie falls into the high end of the category: It is one of the larger countries and fully capable of continued independent statehood.

The same goes for territory: Pridnestrovie has a size of 4,163 square km, six times larger than Singapore (693 km²) or Bahrain (665 km²), and nearly twice the size of Luxembourg (2,586 km²). What's more, you could fit two thousand Monaco's inside Pridnestrovie. So if size matters, Pridnestrovie clearly has plenty. A couple of recent UN members, Nauru and Tuvalu, are two hundred times smaller than Pridnestrovie. The territory which Pridnestrovie governs is large when compared to other new and independent nations.

Pridnestrovie is small, but is it too small to stand on its own? Based on nearly two decades of independence, the answer is no. Ever since independence in 1990, the country has proven to the world that it meets all the tests of an independent, economically viable nation state. The size of the country, while small, is much larger than lots of other independent nations.

International experts agree. In an analysis of Pridnestrovie, the British publication 'The Economist' reached the conclusion that the country "controls territory and (an) economy capable of standing alone."
The same article also stated unquestionably that based on historical grounds alone, Pridnestrovie has a claim to separateness.

Look at dozens of other countries in the world and it becomes clear that Pridnestrovie, too, has what it takes to be a country. It is small, but not as small as lots of other countries. Both in land-size and population, Pridnestrovie is large enough to prosper and to continue as an independent country.

There are different ways to look at what makes a country large enough to be a viable separate nation. But in the case of Pridnestrovie, either way you look at it, the country meets the standards: It has enough territory, plenty of people, a strong self-sustaining economy, and even a historical claim to independence.

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