Communities do not have to unify across a whole country. As long as people have others they want to be with we can build communities. Countries are just a convenient way to group people, but the lack of metadata makes that hard to do. Hive is so small now that a few people can make a big difference.
We don't get rewarded directly for building communities, but it can pay off in various ways. I'm having fun and meeting up with fellow Brits is part of that. We've lost various people too, but some may come back.