The Most Serene Republic of Pangurstan is a colossal, efficient nation, ruled by President Arnold Brent with a fair hand, and remarkable for its state-planned economy, devotion to social welfare, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful, devout population of 8.153 billion Pangurs are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Alkapol. The average income tax rate is 98.8%.

The frighteningly efficient Pangur economy, worth a remarkable 1,569 trillion dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 192,467 dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

A girl's success in life is often linked to her performance in beauty pageants, teenage girls in knee-length surfer shorts have become a cultural icon of Pangurstan, the government supplies ragtag bands of resistance fighters in exchange for vague promises of future payment, and children are raised bilingual from an early age. Crime is totally unknown. Pangurstan's national animal is the eagle, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Pangurstan is ranked 2,949^th in the world and 5^th in Aros Elyium for Smartest Citizens, with 157.81 quips per hour.