Asklemmy

Forks, Washington population of ~7000 made very notable due to the twilight series. Or Astoria, Oregon population of ~10,000 made famous by the Goonies.

Not my country, but what immediately came to mind was one that has global name recognition, and minimal population: Chernobyl.

It used to have around 12,000 population, but now it's technically illegal to live nearby, and up to 150 people are estimated to live there today. It's famous for being toxically irradiated as a result of the worst nuclear disaster in human history

Schengen - the village in Luxembourg where the Schengen Agreement was signed. The population was 5196 in 2023 (appears to be the last census quoted on Wikipedia) and the "Schengen Area", covered by the agreement represents 450m people.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area

In Denmark it's probably Snave (No English Wikipedia page for it). Population is a whopping 211 people. It was popularized in a series of commercials for a Danish cellular carrier. The concept was so popular that there even was a movie. I haven't seen it, but the reviews seems to suggest it could be fun to watch... If you are drunk enough.

The word "snave" in Danish can somewhat be translated to snogging in English. Heavy kissing. Which has led to the city having massive problems with theft of their signs.

The village "Wacken" is well known in Germany because they hold one of the worlds largest anual Heavy-Metal festivals. They have a population of around 2000, the festival regularly attracts around 80,000 people.

Hallstatt - Austria

The city so beautiful that the Chinese copied it.

For France it's probably Vichy, infamously well known internationally for being the capital of the French pro-Nazi government during the Occupation. Only 25'000 inhabitants.

Chornobyl, Ukraine. "50 thousand people used to live here, now it's a ghost town"

There are many more ghost towns now, due to the war. Adviivka, Bakhmut and many others, some small, some relatively big. Everyone has heard of those small cities.

Nokia, Finland, population 36,000. Cellphones, tyres, rubber boots, ...

I guess the one that pretty much everyone knows in Germany is Buxtehude. It is being used as the poster child for a backwards town, far away from cities. Which is funny because neither is it backwards, remote or even very small. With a population of 40k it’s relatively large, compared to many other places in Germany, even just right next to Buxtehude. It is not far from Hamburg and its historic core is worth a visit. I think the name itself is the reason why it is being made fun of so much. Though there are so many other, much quirkier named towns in Germany but it somehow became Buxtehude.

How about: name a country and name the smallest city you recognize from there. Like New Zealand you could say Rotarua

Lajitas, Texas, which once elected as their mayor a goat that drank beer, has a population of 75.

Terlingua, Texas, as made famous by Jerry Jeff Walker and home of the Terlingua International Chili Cook-off, has a population of 78.

Luckenbach, Texas, as made famous by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, has a population of 3.

Selma

What do you consider small? A lot of people know Cupertino California because Apple are based there, but it's only got a population of 57k. It's arguably more recognizable than the closest major city (San Jose), which has a population of nearly 1 million.

Vulcan, Alberta.

Famous because of a spaceship that landed there once, I think.

Some people with pointed ears may have also been involved, but I would replicate that with a grain of salt. I haven't really looked into it.