The Principality of Tessurum is a small, efficient nation, renowned for its compulsory military service, irreverence towards religion, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 36 million Tessurumians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The medium-sized, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Industry. The average income tax rate is 26.2%.

The thriving Tessurumian economy, worth 2.19 trillion drachmas a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Uranium Mining industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Basket Weaving, and Woodchip Exports. Average income is 60,877 drachmas, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.5 times as much as the poorest.

Homeowners on prime real estate have been seen dodging giant bulldozers with cartoon characters painted on them, nudity is frowned upon, copies of the constitution are used as toilet paper, and the statue in the Sisko Plaza has a solar panel for a hat. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force. Tessurum's national animal is the crocodile, which can occasionally be seen avoiding garbage in the nation's murky oceans.

Tessurum is ranked 228,890^th in the world and 4,844^th in The North Pacific for Most Cultured, scoring 64 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.