The United Republics of Normandy and Picardy is a titanic, cultured nation, ruled by Conseil des Républiques with an even hand, and notable for its daily referendums, keen interest in outer space, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, humorless population of 21.987 billion Normands are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Education, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Rouen. The average income tax rate is 97.3%.

The all-consuming Normand economy, worth a remarkable 2,386 trillion Normand Francs a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector, which is extremely specialized, is mostly made up of the Cheese Exports industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology. Average income is an impressive 108,533 Normand Francs, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

Televisions are often seized to pay for overdue television license fees, going on a diet invalidates your passport, the official Normand Phrase Book weighs as much as a small child, and weight loss clubs that guarantee losing a stone a month are talking about misplacing rocks. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Normandy and Picardy's national animal is the Lion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Normandy and Picardy is ranked 306,245^th in the world and 11,686^th in Lazarus for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -19.97 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.