Location: Scandinavia

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Holy Empire of Saint Bono is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Saint Bono with a fair hand, and remarkable for its complete lack of prisons. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 4.339 billion love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

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 Social Welfare, Religion & Spirituality, and Education. The average income tax rate is 70%, and even higher for the wealthy. 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.

Members of Parliament are often found living in cardboard boxes, research into 'designer babies' is banned, the religious lobby has the power of veto over health initiatives, and houses and businesses are bulldozed to make way for ever-expanding cemeteries. Crime is totally unknown. Saint Bono's national animal is the collie, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the pound.

Saint Bono is ranked 49th in Scandinavia and 79,245th in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring -17 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and