The Republic of Certantel is a very large, socially progressive nation, remarkable for its state-planned economy, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate population of 475 million Certantelians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social and economic equality; they tend to view other countries as corrupted by the hollow pageantry of sham elections.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 74.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Certantelian economy, worth 10.9 trillion guilders 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 mostly made up of the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing and Information Technology. Average income is 22,920 guilders, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Years of counter-terrorism planning are foiled by small details, the government is financing an extremely costly war against malaria, noises louder than a whisper have been prohibited by law, and citizens with artificial limbs are forbidden to serve as beauty pageant judges. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Certantel's national animal is the unicorn, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Certantel is ranked 83,461^st in the world and 97^th in The UMNS for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 1,201.52 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.