Burt's Eye View: San Marino

By Burt Ross · Mon Aug 03 2026

If you read my column last week, and if you did not, shame on you, then you will recall that I wrote about Spain’s soccer team's not singing their national anthem at the World Cup for the simple reason that their national anthem does not have any lyrics. I forgot to mention, because I did not know at the time, but I do now know, there are three other countries that also have national anthems without lyrics. They are Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (that is one country), and finally little San Marino, the subject of this column.

Now if you have not heard of San Marino, do not be hard on yourself since you are in good company. Almost nobody on the entire planet has ever heard of San Marino with very good reason. It’s a tiny, landlocked country somewhere in Italy. I say “somewhere” because it just covers 24 square miles, so it is easy to miss on a map.

San Marino, which sounds like it’s named after the Saint of Marinas, has a population of 34,000 people who have no airports, railways, or seaports. It does have a national anthem, but as I have pointed out, one without lyrics. The astonishing fact is that San Marino is a member of the United Nations. No, I am not making this stuff up.

Many Americans, especially those of us who live in a state with a large population like California, resent the fact that Wyoming, which has fewer than 600,000 residents, has the same number of U.S. senators (2) that California has with a population of almost 40 million.

Now imagine you live in India with a population of 1.45 billion people,  and you have the same vote in the United Nations that San Marino does. I would not spend much time worrying about this apparent injustice since the UN doesn’t seem to do a hell of a lot anyway.

If you think that San Marino is the world’s smallest country, then you need to think again. It is not even the smallest country in Europe. Vatican City takes the number one slot with a population of 800 people, presumably all Catholics.Tuvalu, Nauru, and Palau are all countries with smaller populations than San Marino, and like San Marino, they all have national anthems, but unlike San Marino, believe it or not, all their anthems have lyrics, although the Vatican’s anthem is in Latin.

I am sure you now know more about San Marino than you ever wanted to know, but all this trivia can be useful. If somebody unwanted approaches you at a cocktail party, just hit the person with any one of the following questions: “How many countries have national anthems without lyrics?” or “What are the world’s smallest countries by population?” You will get rid of the unwanted person quickly.

And never let it be said that this column is anything but a reservoir of knowledge, mostly not needed, nor wanted.