The People's Republic of Balist is a titanic, cultured nation, ruled by Peter Ehrlinger with a fair hand, and notable for its multi-spousal wedding ceremonies, irreverence towards religion, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 22.21 billion Balistians are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The large, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Turica. The average income tax rate is 97.7%.

The frighteningly efficient Balistian economy, worth a remarkable 4,166 trillion Marks a year, is quite specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 187,575 Marks, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Sharing vacation pictures requires written consent from the entire beach resort, pranking is an art form, children's daycare starts at the crack of dawn, and cheese lovers have a case of the bleus. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Balist's national animal is the Tiger, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Balist is ranked 330,030^th in the world and 389^th in 10000 Islands for Highest Unexpected Death Rate, scoring 17.41 on the Bus Surprisal Index.