The Colony of International Buffer Zone is a tiny, genial nation, notable for its compulsory military service, ubiquitous missile silos, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate population of 10 million International Buffer Zoneans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Welfare, and Education. The average income tax rate is 53.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The fair International Buffer Zonean economy, worth 364 billion yuan a year, is quite specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Beef-Based Agriculture, Book Publishing, and Furniture Restoration. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 36,405 yuan, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The possibility of gain causes universal pain, there's nothing more gay than bleeding for your nation, foreign ambassadors closely guard their culinary secrets, and the government is cutting back on the number of political prisoners executed each year. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. International Buffer Zone's national animal is the orphan, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

International Buffer Zone is ranked 33,888^th in the world and 33^rd in Africa for Nicest Citizens, with 19.56 average smiles per day.