The Socialist Federation of Balkanturistan is a colossal, safe nation, ruled by Council of the Four Municipalities with a fair hand, and renowned for its state-planned economy, devotion to social welfare, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 7.134 billion Balkanturisti are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Nathalion. The average income tax rate is 91.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Balkanturist economy, worth 732 trillion Marxes a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 102,612 Marxes, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Re-education centers are being added to most prisons, sex changes are routinely performed at Balkanturistan's hospitals, gossip magazines have pictures of Council of the Four Municipalities sunbathing on the beach with political rivals, and news headlines suggest that Council of the Four Municipalities has a sideline in guinea pig pimping. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Balkanturistan's national animal is the Boyko, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Backgammon.

Balkanturistan is ranked 268,963^rd in the world and 65^th in The Free Nations Region for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring -8.94 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.