The United Socialist States of Upeffa is a small, cultured nation, renowned for its irreverence towards religion, absence of drug laws, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 20 million Upeffans 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 enormous, liberal, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 64.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The weak Upeffan economy, worth 480 billion florins a year, is dominated by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Automobile Manufacturing, Basket Weaving, and Woodchip Exports. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 24,036 florins, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.5 times as much as the poorest.

Gambling is outlawed, residents of houses built on a foundation of wishful thinking are prone to an odd sinking feeling, the words guilty and evidence have left the Upeffan lexicon, and lifeguards are more concerned with watching for sharks than struggling swimmers. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Upeffa's national animal is the fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Upeffa is ranked 275,767^th in the world and 67^th in The Middle Pacific for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring -5.66 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.