The Happy Community of The Big Sad is a colossal, socially progressive nation, ruled by Happiness with an even hand, and notable for its compulsory military service, daily referendums, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate population of 9.501 billion Big Sadians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Education, and Environment. The average income tax rate is 77.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Big Sadian economy, worth 491 trillion bitsads a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Trout Farming industry. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 51,770 bitsads, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Prison officers are bribed not to take bribes, judicial robes are the country's hottest fashion trend, mandatory electronic currency is a boon for credit card companies and government surveillance, and voting is voluntary. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Big Sad's national animal is the polar bear, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Serotonin.

The Big Sad is ranked 221,126^th in the world and 3,516^th in The East Pacific for Nudest, with 95.25 cheeks per square mile.