Monaco and Morocco, if you don't look closely, it's easy to confuse these two countries! Although the difference between the names of these two "brothers" is only one word, they are actually 108,000 miles apart!
The two countries are close to each other, but they are on different continents
Monaco is a serious European country, the territory of the country is located on the Mediterranean coast of southern Europe, and the land neighbor is only France.
Judging from the map, Monaco is surrounded by France on three sides, which can be regarded as half of the "country within a country"!
Morocco, on the other hand, is a typical North African country, located in the northwest corner of the African continent, across the sea from the Iberian Peninsula.
Morocco is arguably the closest African country to Europe, separated by a narrow Strait of Gibraltar and only about 15 kilometers away.
Truth be told, Morocco is in a really good location, right at the heart of Europe, Africa and the Arab region!
The size of the two countries is very different!
Monaco.
Monaco is a truly "small country", with a total land area of about 2 square kilometers!
Not 2000 square kilometers, not 200 square kilometers, but really only 2 square kilometers!
This area is about the same as a larger community in China, and it is indeed very small and compact!
The point is that the 2 square kilometers of Monaco's land and another 0.5 square kilometers are the result of later land reclamation.
Monaco as a whole runs east-west, like a long and narrow corridor.
The farthest distance between the east and west ends is about three kilometers, and the narrowest point from north to south is only two hundred meters.
Of course, Monaco in history was not as small as it is now! At its peak, Monaco's territory was almost ten times the size of its current size, at more than twenty square kilometres!
It's just that its neighbor France is stronger, and little by little it continues to encroach on Monaco's territory, and eventually forms the two-square-kilometer pattern it is today.
Monaco at night
One thing to say, Monaco was born to be a small country! The difference between 20 square kilometers at its peak and 2 square kilometers now is that it takes 10 minutes to drive and 10 minutes to walk!
Monaco is small in size and naturally has a small population!
Princess of Monaco
Monaco has a population of about 40,000, which feels like a small town, and there are many foreign workers in it, so Monaco's own population should be more than 10,000.
Morocco.
Compared to Monaco, Morocco is like a behemoth!
Even if the Western Sahara region is removed, Morocco has a land area of 459,000 square kilometers!
Although it is only at the average level in the world, it is more than 200,000 times the area of Monaco!
In addition, Morocco has a population of 37 million people, which is almost a thousand times the size of Monaco!
Morocco, located in North Africa, is a typical Arab country, with nearly eighty percent of the country's population being Arabs and Arabic as the lingua franca.
However, due to the historical influence of France, the current official language of Morocco is French.
Monaco, located in the south of France, has English and Spanish as the lingua franca, and French as its official language.
In other words, when the Monegasque and the Moroccan meet, there should be no big obstacle to communication between the two sides!
Monaco has a higher level of economy per capita!
Although Monaco is a small country, it has a very strong per capita economy!
According to the statistics of 2021, Monaco's total GDP is about 8.6 billion US dollars, and the per capita GDP is more than 200,000 US dollars!
Monaco is such a small country, with so few people, and few serious enterprises, why is the economic level so high?
At this time, it reflects the advantages of a small country!
A country of Monaco's size does not have the conditions to develop industry and agriculture and sell natural resources, so it has to find another way to engage in the service industry.
Monaco's main industries include tourism, gaming, stamps, banking and insurance, thanks to its geographical advantages and policy support, Monaco has made this whole set of industries world-famous and successfully boosted the national economy.
In comparison, Morocco, which is much larger, is doing very well economically!
Also according to 2021 statistics, Morocco's annual GDP totals about $126 billion, with a per capita GDP of more than $3,400.
This kind of economic performance is still good within Africa.
Morocco, like other African countries, has few outstanding industrial manufacturing industries, and its economy is largely dependent on tourism and the export of natural resources such as phosphates.
The old town of Morocco
In addition, Morocco's agriculture also contributes to the economy, but it is only a drop in the bucket, and Morocco is not yet fully self-sufficient!
Of course, compared with other African countries, Morocco's economic development still has one advantage - its proximity to Europe.
Morocco has maintained good relations with Spain and France, with Spain being Morocco's largest trading partner and France being its second largest trading partner and the largest investor.