Una ciudad-estado es un Estado que solamente consta de una ciudad y un exiguo territorio circundante. Pueden ser independientes —como por ejemplo Singapur o la Ciudad del Vaticano actualmente—, o bien formar parte de una nación —como Ceuta o Berlín—. Aunque los motivos de su origen son variados, predominan las razones de tipo comercial, sobre todo en la Edad Media, y en consecuencia, también de tipo político. Las primeras ciudades-estado se hallaban al sur de Mesopotamia, entre los ríos Tigris y Éufrates, en el territorio de Sumeria. Los ciudadanos ya practicaban una cultura agraria. Alrededor del siglo IV a. C. los ciudadanos ya controlaban las aguas de los ríos y las aprovechaban al máximo. Allí surgieron las ciudades-estado que eran muy independientes.

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A city-state is a sovereign state that consists of a city and its dependent territories. Historically, this included cities such as Rome, Athens, Carthage, and the Italian city-states during the Renaissance—but today only a handful of sovereign city-states exist, with some disagreement as to which are city-states. A great deal of consensus exists that the term properly applies to Singapore, Monaco, and Vatican City. A number of other states share similar characteristics, and therefore are sometimes also cited as modern city-states. These include Malta, Bahrain, and San Marino which are microstates with high population densities; as well as Qatar, Brunei, and Kuwait, each with an urban center comprising a significant proportion of the population, though all of them have several distinct settlements and a designated or de facto capital city. Several non-sovereign cities enjoy a high degree of autonomy, and are sometimes considered city-states. Hong Kong and Macau, along with independent members of the United Arab Emirates, most notably Dubai and Abu Dhabi, are often cited as such.

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