The Black Mesa aren't scientists of Aperture Science Specimen Processors is a mammoth, safe nation, ruled by Cave Johnson with an even hand, and remarkable for its keen interest in outer space, national health service, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 8.662 billion Aperture Science Test Subjects are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Aperture Laboratories. The average income tax rate is 98.5%.

The frighteningly efficient Aperture Science Test Subject economy, worth a remarkable 1,533 trillion Moon Rocks a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 177,076 Moon Rocks, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.0 times as much as the poorest.

Ride-sharing often involves some passengers sitting on the roof rack, Cave Johnson has promised 'power to the puppies', wilderness-dwelling hermits are surprised to find railway stations on their front doorsteps, and quiet professionalism has returned to the nation's armed forces. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Aperture Science Specimen Processors's national animal is the Weighted Storage Cube, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Science.

Aperture Science Specimen Processors is ranked 329,630^th in the world and 18^th in Calefacta Aquas Piscinae for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -20.35 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.