The Free Democracy of Ballotonia is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by Ballo with a fair hand, and renowned for its rum-swilling pirates, national health service, and sprawling nuclear power plants. The hard-nosed, democratic, cheerful population of 42.605 billion Ballons enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The relatively small government is dominated by the Department of Education, although Industry, Administration, and Healthcare are also considered important, while Defense and Spirituality aren't funded at all. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Tulipolis. The average income tax rate is 43.4%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Ballotonian economy, worth an astonishing 13,982 trillion Levs a year, is broadly diversified and dominated by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Tourism, and Uranium Mining. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an amazing 328,183 Levs, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.0 times as much as the poorest.

Helicopter parenting is on the rise, the nation is renowned abroad for its love of blood and guts, tradesmen will knock 10% off their fees if customers pay cash, and foreign leaders are advising that Ballo's letters must have gotten lost in the mail. Crime is totally unknown. Ballotonia's national animal is the Penguin, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans, and its national religion is Atheism.

Ballotonia is ranked 137^th in the world and 1^st in Nederland for Most Rebellious Youth, scoring 274 on the Stark-Dean Displacement Index.