The Commonwealth of Hippogriffia is a huge, genial nation, ruled by Michael with an even hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, anti-smoking policies, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate population of 903 million Hippogriffians are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Newcastle. The average income tax rate is 74.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The thriving Hippogriffian economy, worth 72.4 trillion Napoleons a year, is quite specialized and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Trout Farming, and Information Technology. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 80,162 Napoleons, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Getting your license is a rite of passage for young adults, rugby players that knock each other over always stop to make sure the other fellow is okay, the new one Napoleon coin also makes a handy throwing-star, and libraries are refusing to stock A Midsummer Night's Dream because it has an ass in it. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hippogriffia's national animal is the Hippogriff, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Hippogriffia is ranked 12,468^th in the world and 718^th in The North Pacific for Healthiest Citizens, with 13.35 bananas ingested per day.