The Democratic People's Republic of Hyphen is a mammoth, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its fear of technology, zero percent divorce rate, and rampant corporate plagiarism. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 9.619 billion Hyphenis are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The enormous, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Law & Order, and Industry. The average income tax rate is 91.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Hypheni economy, worth a remarkable 1,687 trillion dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is an enormous, deeply entrenched, highly specialized black market in Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Tourism. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 175,421 dollars, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.6 times as much as the poorest.

Legislators work 24/7 due to an influx of single-issue bills, the saying "when pigs fly" has been changed to "when the lights work", emigrants arrive on foreign shores with nothing but pocket sand, and the nation's athletes must all cross the finish line together while holding hands. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hyphen's national animal is the partridge, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Hyphen is ranked 309,751^st in the world and 4,574^th in The North Pacific for Nicest Citizens, with 0.2 average smiles per day.