Location: the South Pacific

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Meta-Humorously Labeled Isle of Hamudistan is a colossal, genial nation, ruled by Erhardt with a fair hand, and remarkable for its happy-go-lucky citizens. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 6.648 billion are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whoever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

There is no government in the normal sense of the word; however, a small group of community-minded, liberal, socially-minded individuals is effectively ruled by the Department of Social Welfare, with areas such as Religion & Spirituality and Defence receiving almost no funds by comparison. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Big Ham. Income tax is unheard of. The private sector is almost wholly made up of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out.

Leather-clad individuals can be seen walking their slaves in public parks, re-education centers are being added to most prisons, the police have been reduced to using duct tape instead of handcuffs following further cutbacks, and education and welfare spending are on the rise. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is crippling, and the police force struggles against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Hamudistan's national animal is the luminescent jellyfish, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its currency is the bottle cap.

Hamudistan is ranked 4,706th in the South Pacific and 101,225th in the world for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -13 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.

Preview

NationStates by Max Barry, author of and