And I think you're missing that this is caps, not minimums. The actual selection process happens before these caps are applied, which is what leads to the waitl

And I think you're missing that this is caps, not minimums. The actual selection process happens before these caps are applied, which is what leads to the waitlists - people pass the selection process, and then get stuck in line due to the per-country cap hitting India but not Vatican City. (Or Germany, or Japan, or the UK...) The cap for Vatican City is far larger than the population. This does not change just because no one used it.