MySQL Type for Storing a Year: Smallint or Varchar or Date?

Question

I will be storing a year in a MySQL table: Is it better to store this as a smallint or varchar? I figure that since it\'s not a full date, that the date format shouldn\'t

Answer 1

I'd go for small-int - as far as I know - varchar would take more space as well as date. second option would be the date.