The Most Serene Republic of Balto is a huge, cultured nation, notable for its punitive income tax rates, restrictive gun laws, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate population of 629 million Yognaughts are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Seaportattleland. The average income tax rate is 69.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but inefficient Baltoan economy, worth 31.9 trillion Jaffa Cakes a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is dominated by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Basket Weaving, Information Technology, and Cheese Exports. Average income is 50,746 Jaffa Cakes, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Home renovation projects take decades to complete, the government mails weekly updates on the new anti-junk mail laws to every citizen, arbitration is mightier than the sword, and sex education has become an intricate maze of stick figures and complex metaphors. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Balto's national animal is the Crab People, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Balto is ranked 40,302^nd in the world and 1,288^th in The North Pacific for Most Advanced Public Education, scoring 5,183.39 on the Edu-tellignce® Test Score.