The Federal Republic of Malyr and Haligovnia is a small, safe nation, renowned for its compulsory military service, pith helmet sales, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 45 million Malyr and Haligovnians enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The relatively small, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Defense. The average income tax rate is 16.8%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but inefficient Malyr and Haligovnian economy, worth 2.38 trillion Kromers a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Basket Weaving industry, with major contributions from Woodchip Exports, Book Publishing, and Arms Manufacturing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 52,783 Kromers, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.3 times as much as the poorest.

The easiest method of escaping from prison is to take singing lessons, the Grinder at Fat Sal's Deli and Recycling Center is a national institution, new safety regulations require all cars manufactured in Malyr and Haligovnia to be bombproof, and senior citizens can usually be found doing heavy manual labour. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Malyr and Haligovnia's national animal is the wolf, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

Malyr and Haligovnia is ranked 121,747^th in the world and 997^th in Europe for Most Advanced Public Education, scoring 1,590.03 on the Edu-tellignce® Test Score.