ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in San Marino. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in San Marino. San Marino's citizens can change their government democratically. The country has a long tradition of multiparty politics, with six parties represented in the council. San Marino has been governed by a long succession of coalition governments, which have dominated its modern multiparty democratic system. Most Sanmarinese belong to the Roman Catholic Church; however, Catholicism is not the state religion. The Catholic Church does receive direct benefits from the state through income tax revenues if a taxpayer requests that 0.3 percent be allocated to the Church.
