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How Old Is the Average Country?

Daniel_Stuckey writes with a snippet from his piece at Vice: "I did some calculations in Excel, using independence dates provided on About.com, and found the average age of a country is about 158.78 years old. Now, before anyone throws a tizzy about what makes a country a country, about nations, tribes, civilizations, ethnic categories, or about my makeshift methodology, keep in mind, I simply assessed 195 countries based on their political sovereignty. That is the occasion we're celebrating today, right?"

8 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. Egypt in 1922? by Voyager529 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A cursory look at the Wikipedia article indicates that Egypt has spent time under the rule of a few empires here and there over history, but it and Greece have both been their own societies for several thousand years in spite of this. I figure that both countries are closer to the age of China than they're listed...but that's just me.

  2. Re: If it makes you sleep well at night.... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "England" may be 1000+ years old but 1) it's far from certain that it's the same "England" as today, and 2) it was a subsidiary of Normandy, Inc. for quite some time, pardon my Middle French.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  3. Re:If it makes you sleep well at night.... by ebno-10db · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm happy here in the UK, enjoying the thousands of years of history.

    Speaking of history, you obviously didn't pay attention in class. The UK is only 306 years old (Acts of Union in 1706 and 1707). And you folks complain about Americans not understanding the difference between England/Scotland/Wales, Britain and the UK.

    P.S. If you see the queen, say happy Independence Day for me.

  4. Re:If it makes you sleep well at night.... by cheesybagel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah. If a country merged with some other country, or was temporaly invaded by another, then for these guys its as if this country did not exist beforehand. I mean just look at the Iberian Peninsula or France. The borders have been mostly stable for yonks and look at the claimed age. Just pathetic.

    So dear US readers... Please explain to me why the UK is as old as the Act of Union while you did not measure the age of your country starting with the annexation of Texas or some other quaint date like that.

  5. Re: If it makes you sleep well at night.... by KiloByte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    On the other hand, this site lists Austria as 1037 years old, Hungary as 1012. Please remind me, what country did that guy named Franz Joseph rule?

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  6. Re:So much for "New Republic" by Livius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Adolescence is actually an excellent metaphor for the US. A mix of overconfidence and insecurity, for the wrong reasons in both cases.

  7. Re: If it makes you sleep well at night.... by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Aren't they forgetting the Anschluss in 1938? Do we the independence date for France to 1944, when the Germans were kicked out and they got control of their coutnry back? When do you set a date for Italy? Unification in 1870, or with the establishment of the Roman Empire 2000 years earlier? How old is China? Was it established in 1949, 1919, 216BC or 2100 BC? How old is Egypt? 3 days, two years or 5000 years?

  8. Re:If it makes you sleep well at night.... by mjwx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm happy here in the UK, enjoying the thousands of years of history.

    Speaking of history, you obviously didn't pay attention in class. The UK is only 306 years old (Acts of Union in 1706 and 1707). And you folks complain about Americans not understanding the difference between England/Scotland/Wales, Britain and the UK.

    You also didn't pay attention in that class. The UK is not a country rather it's an amalgamation of individual countries. The name is not the "United Kingdom" it's the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". It consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland whom each have their own parliaments. It's like saying the US is only as old as NATO because it's a member of NATO.

    I would have pointed this out nicely, but you acted like such an pompous arse (yes, propper spelling, there is an R in there, an ass is a donkey) I couldn't help myself.

    P.S. The Queen, her majesty Elizabeth the second, being a polite, proper and fair person would wish you and you nation well on this day of celebration, despite your ignorance and disrespectful attitude.

    --
    Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.