Location: Lazarus

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Yoke of Serious Problems is a gargantuan, genial nation, renowned for its anti-smoking policies. Its compassionate, hard-working, intelligent population of 19.091 billion have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Social Welfare, Education, and the Environment. The average income tax rate is 89%, and even higher for the wealthy. A healthy private sector is dominated by the Book Publishing industry.

The government extracts trade concessions from poor nations in exchange for humanitarian aid, citizens are expected to be proficient in at least five languages, drug distribution is tightly controlled by the government, and parents live in fear of governmental 'child protection' squads. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Serious Problems's national animal is the virus, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Bullion.

Serious Problems is ranked 3,309th in Lazarus and 97,367th in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring -30 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and