Location: Balder

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Overpopulated Hemisphere of Last Hope is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by Charles with a fair hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, intelligent population of 18.438 billion live in a state of perpetual fear, as a complete breakdown of social order has led to the rise of order through biker gangs.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of the Environment, Education, and Healthcare. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Bastion. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 61%. 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.

An increasing percentage of the population's youth have homosexual parents, tourists from around the world come to visit the country's famous rainforests, same-sex marriages are increasingly common, and the government seizes private property for the 'good of the people'. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Last Hope's national animal is the pink-eared bunny, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the IOU.

Last Hope is ranked 2,501st in Balder and 95,287th in the world for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -5 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.

Preview

NationStates by Max Barry, author of and