The Unexplained Phenomenon of Hurdergaryp is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, ruled by Staatshoofd with an even hand, and remarkable for its daily referendums, national health service, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 16.943 billion Hurdergarypians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Kjeld. The average income tax rate is 71.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Hurdergarypian economy, worth a remarkable 2,306 trillion florijns a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is fairly diversified, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is an impressive 136,129 florijns, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Dog owners proudly declare that their pups can predict when the mailman will arrive, hay has been added to school cafeteria menus, government fact-checkers use surprising amounts of high explosive, and the government defends a woman's right to choose. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Hurdergaryp's national animal is the koningspoedel, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Hurdergaryp is ranked 284,462^nd in the world and 286^th in Forest for Most Primitive, scoring -428.56 on the Scary Big Number Scale.