The People's Republic of Pugden is a large, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its ban on automobiles, compulsory military service, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic population of 125 million Pugdenians love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 69.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish Pugdenian economy, worth 3.15 trillion GUPS 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 mostly made up of the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 25,173 GUPS, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Fewer people are bathing as citizens must show ration stamps before they can turn on their faucets, interest in globalism never flags, the people elect the Supreme Court justices directly, and every microwave and toaster is being disassembled and probed by inspectors. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Pugden's national animal is the fierce and loyal Pug, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Pugden is ranked 299,772^nd in the world and 90^th in The Hole To Hide In for Most Developed, scoring 49.48 on the Human Development Index.