The Republic of Labutes is a huge, efficient nation, notable for its museums and concert halls, barren, inhospitable landscape, and public floggings. The hard-nosed, hard-working, devout population of 214 million Labutes are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

The tiny government juggles the competing demands of Education, Spirituality, and Industry. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 7.9%.

The powerhouse Labute economy, worth 15.8 trillion escudo-atlânticoes a year, is led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Uranium Mining, and Book Publishing. Average income is 73,777 escudo-atlânticoes, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 257,067 per year while the poor average 15,416, a ratio of 16.7 to 1.

Public footpaths are being slowly eroded by the burgeoning number of ramblers, the sidewalk is used as an overtaking lane by city drivers, prankster scientists legally change their names to silly pseudonyms before major discoveries, and children are often observed making 'sand angels' in bunkers. Crime is moderate, probably because of the absence of a police force. Labutes's national animal is the dolphin, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to heavy metals seepage into national waterways.

Labutes is ranked 26,682^nd in the world and 33^rd in Portugal for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 7,432.11 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.