The Republic of Hard Worker 5 is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its public floggings, restrictive gun laws, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 990 million Hard Worker 5ians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Education. The average income tax rate is 37.9%.

The Hard Worker 5ian economy, worth 59.7 trillion florins a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Black market activity is notable. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 60,284 florins, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.1 times as much as the poorest.

The most common doctor's prescription is "get out of my consulting room", space shuttles are lying silent on the runway till the Space Agency can work out how to fit a creche and a meditation room into their next spacecraft, friendly fire incidents usually result in severe burns, and the nation is weighing the price of victory following a nuclear strike. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hard Worker 5's national animal is the tiger, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Hard Worker 5 is ranked 89,729^th in the world and 67^th in Fallen Star for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring 3,118.92 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.