The Federal Republic of Malyr and Haligovnia is a very large, genial nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, sprawling nuclear power plants, and compulsory military service. The compassionate, hard-working, democratic population of 127 million Malyrians 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 Defense, Education, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 21.9%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The Malyr and Haligovnian economy, worth 8.13 trillion Euros a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Basket Weaving industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Woodchip Exports, and Furniture Restoration. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 63,983 Euros, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.0 times as much as the poorest.

Drug distribution is tightly controlled by the government, children in school playgrounds can be heard chanting the hymns of the Order of Violet, evenings at university debating societies often end with everyone acknowledging both sides may well be right, and a newly discovered small mammal's name translates into Malyr and Haligovnian as 'your finger, you fool'. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Malyr and Haligovnia's national animal is the wolf, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Malyr and Haligovnia is ranked 146,624^th in the world and 1,015^th in Europe for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 66.97 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.