The Exceptionally Free People of Artigat is a titanic, cultured nation, remarkable for its national health service, multi-spousal wedding ceremonies, and state-planned economy. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful, devout population of 22.681 billion Artigatians love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, socially-minded, outspoken government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Environment, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 94.1%.

The large but stagnant Artigatian economy, worth 143 trillion marbles a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector is solely comprised of the Book Publishing industry. State-owned companies are the norm. Average income is 6,337 marbles, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Nude art is becoming wildly popular, government officials are held to the highest standard of morality, citizens select which government department gets their income tax marbles each year, and the mob and the police have recently had numerous clashes in the back alleys of Artigat's cities due to the government's steadfast anti-casino stance. Crime is totally unknown. Artigat's national animal is the swan, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is the Artigat Mysteries.

Artigat is ranked 314,886^th in the world and 8^th in The Supreme Union for Highest Average Incomes, with 6,337.5 Standard Monetary Units.