The Republic of Izenburg is a titanic, efficient nation, remarkable for its museums and concert halls, sprawling nuclear power plants, and absence of drug laws. The compassionate, democratic population of 12.277 billion Izenburgishes enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

The large, liberal, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ember. The average income tax rate is 86.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Izenburgian economy, worth a remarkable 1,516 trillion Euros a year, is dominated by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Tourism, and Beef-Based Agriculture. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 123,550 Euros, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Road signs are getting harder to read under layers of knitted woolen cardigans, fidgety cubicle workers play with their balls, ice-filled coffins are ominously positioned in the corner of every hospital ward, and students abandon classrooms for online education. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Izenburg's national animal is the Forest Cat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Izenburg is ranked 173,696^th in the world and 18^th in European Union for Largest Pizza Delivery Sector, scoring 434.39 on the Pepperoni Propulsion Productivity Index.