WHERE IN THE WORLD IS—

San Marino

This country reportedly has the second oldest life expectancy in the world with folks living to an average age of 81.6 years. This tid-bit showed up in a recent email from Brad Crownover and I had no idea where it is.

Now I do—and it is a fascinating place.

It is a land-locked country within the Apennine Mountains of northeastern Italy and is the oldest constitutional republic in the world.

It was founded in 301; almost 1,200 years before Columbus discovered our neck of the woods. San Marino’s founder, named Marinus, was a Christian stonemason fleeing religious persecution of the Roman emperor of the time.

Its population was estimated to be 29,615 in 2007 and it is 23.5 square miles in size. By comparison, Ohio townships average 36 square miles in size.

It is the third-smallest country in Europe, with only Vatican City and Monaco being smaller.

Ed note: A Wikipedia chart varies somewhat with the source in Brad’s email and does not even list San Marino. Wikipedia has the US at 38th in world rank with an average life expectency of 78.2 years; 75.6 for men and 80.8 for women.