Has it ever crossed your mind which country is the smallest in the world? Well, if it didn’t or you don’t know then, you will learn something new today.

Vatican City, the worldwide headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's smallest country. It is completely surrounded by walls and is enclave in the city of Rome, Italy. The Vatican City is also known as the Holy See.

Its Government
The Head of State is the pope who has full legal, executive, and judicial powers. Members of the College of Cardinals who are less than 80 years old elect the Pope for life. The College of Cardinals is the pope's chief advisory body, and they are the ones responsible to elect his successor for life upon his death. The administrative authority of Vatican city is delegated to a commission of cardinals appointed by him.

Social Structure
The City has its own bank, electrical generating plant, post office, commissary, railway station, publishing house, medical clinic, pharmacy, clothing store, supermarket, and gas stations, radio station and other such services. It provide a comprehensive health care and pension scheme for its employees and has its own security corps as well as, a voluntary military force-Swiss Guards. They also issue its own coins, stamps, and passports.

Vatican City has about 921citizens living inside Vatican’s walls. The Vatican citizenry includes Vatican government officials, Roman Catholic Church dignitaries, priests, nuns and the Swiss Guard. There are also about 3,000 lay workers who comprise the majority of the Vatican work force. These workers live outside the Vatican.

Quick Facts
Official Name: State of the Vatican City (Holy See)
Land Area: .44 sq km (.17 sq miles) or (108.7 acres)
Capital: Vatican City
Government: Independent papal state
Flag: click here
Map: click here
Population: 921(July 2004 est.)
Languages: Italian, Latin, others
Religion: Roman Catholic

Well, I hope you learnt something today.

Related Articles:
Mottos for countries around the world
Languages by Countries