Location: the South Pacific

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Surprising Existence of Klaatu is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its devotion to social welfare. Its hard-nosed population of 2.894 billion are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, socially-minded government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Defence, the Environment, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 55%, and even higher for the wealthy. Private enterprise is illegal, but for those in the know there is a slick and highly efficient black market in Automobile Manufacturing.

The government funds private schools for intellectually gifted children, 'unconventional' weaponry has been banned, immigrant Maxtopians are routinely sold on popular internet auction sites, and the government has cut taxes in the face of widespread tax evasion. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is well under control, thanks to a well-funded police force. Klaatu's national animal is the ibex, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the non.

Klaatu is ranked 40,220th in the world for Largest Public Sector, scoring 13 on the Bureaucratic Comprehensiveness Rating Scale Index.

NationStates by Max Barry, author of and