The Most Serene Republic of Matriculate is a massive, efficient nation, ruled by Richard Matheson with an even hand, and notable for its ubiquitous missile silos, pith helmet sales, and spontaneously combusting cars. The hard-nosed, hard-working population of 3.832 billion Matriculateans are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

The tiny, corrupt, pro-business government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Matrixulated. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 5.7%.

The frighteningly efficient Matriculatean economy, worth 457 trillion Simulacrums a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is an impressive 119,365 Simulacrums, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 432,429 per year while the poor average 23,490, a ratio of 18.4 to 1.

Personal injury lawyers are demanding compensation from the government after recent reductions in manufacturer liability, the bonfire of the old paper records can be seen for miles around Matrixulated, gift baskets often contain working nukes, and shopping comes bagged and tagged. Crime, especially youth-related, is almost non-existent. Matriculate's national animal is the Space Porpoise, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is The Twilight Zone 1960.

Matriculate is ranked 137,114^th in the world and 4^th in Last Flight for Safest, scoring 66.04 on the Bubble-Rapp Safety Rating.