The Federal Republic of Malyr and Haligovnia is a large, genial nation, notable for its flagrant waste-dumping, sprawling nuclear power plants, and irreverence towards religion. The compassionate, hard-working, democratic population of 56 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, Defense, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 13.1%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The Malyr and Haligovnian economy, worth 3.61 trillion Kromers a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Basket Weaving industry, with major contributions from Woodchip Exports, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. Average income is 64,525 Kromers, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.8 times as much as the poorest.

Visitors to Self-Sufficiency National Park who ask for trail maps are handed a pen and a blank sheet of paper, thousands of former welfare recipients are in a revolutionary uproar as the rest of society is enjoying a hefty tax break, a faint smell of body odour can be detected at several miles' distance from the National Science Park, and life expectancies inside correctional facilities vastly exceed the national average. 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 193,746^th in the world and 1,127^th in Europe for Most Beautiful Environments, with 476.8 pounds of wildlife per square mile.