Map of Germany | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background: As Western Europe's richest and most populous nation Germany remains a key member of the continent's economic political and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed the country in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US UK France and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations the EC and NATO while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then Germany has expended considerable funds to bring eastern productivity and wages up to western standards. In January 1999 Germany and 10 other EU countries formed a common European currency the euro.


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Location: Central Europe bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea between the Netherlands and Poland south of Denmark

Geographic coordinates: 51 00 N 9 00 E

Map reference: Europe

Area
Comparative: slightly smaller than Montana

Land boundaries

Coastline: 2,389 km

Maritime claims

Climate: temperate and marine; cool cloudy wet winters and summers; occasional warm foehn wind

Terrain: lowlands in north uplands in center Bavarian Alps in south

Elevation

Natural resources: iron ore coal potash timber lignite uranium copper natural gas salt nickel arable land

Land use

Irrigated land: 4,750 km² (1993 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: flooding

Geography
Note: strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea


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Population: 82,797,408 (July 2000 est.)
Growth rate: 0.29% (2000 est.)
Below poverty line: NA%

Nationality

Ethnic groups: German 91.5% Turkish 2.4% other 6.1% (made up largely of Serbo-Croatian Italian Russian Greek Polish Spanish)

Languages: German

Religions: Protestant 38% Roman Catholic 34% Muslim 1.7% unaffiliated or other 26.3%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 0.29% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 9.35 births/1000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 10.49 deaths/1000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 4.01 migrant(s)/1000 population (2000 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries contribute to air pollution; acid rain resulting from sulfur dioxide emissions is damaging forests; pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany; hazardous waste disposal; government currently attempting to define mechanism for ending the use of nuclear power; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU's Flora Fauna and Habitat directive

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 4.77 deaths/1000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate: 1.38 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name

Government type: federal republic

Capital: Berlin

Administrative divisions: 16 states (Laender singular - Land); Baden-Wuerttemberg Bayern Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hessen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Niedersachsen Nordrhein-Westfalen Rheinland-Pfalz Saarland Sachsen Sachsen-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein Thueringen

Dependent areas

Independence: 18 January 1871 (German Empire unification); divided into four zones of occupation (UK US USSR and later France) in 1945 following World War II; Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) proclaimed 23 May 1949 and included the former UK US and French zones; German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) proclaimed 7 October 1949 and included the former USSR zone; unification of West Germany and East Germany took place 3 October 1990; all four powers formally relinquished rights 15 March 1991

National holiday: German Unity Day (Day of Unity) 3 October (1990)

Constitution: 23 May 1949 known as Basic Law; became constitution of the united German people 3 October 1990

Legal system: civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Federal Assembly or Bundestag (656 seats usually but 669 for the 1998 term; elected by popular vote under a system combining direct and proportional representation; a party must win 5% of the national vote or three direct mandates to gain representation; members serve four-year terms) and the Federal Council or Bundesrat (69 votes; state governments are directly represented by votes; each has 3 to 6 votes depending on population and are required to vote as a block)

Judicial branch: Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat

Political parties and leaders: Alliance '90/Greens [Gunda ROESTEL and Antje RADCKE]; Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Angela MERKEL]; Christian Social Union or CSU [Edmund STOIBER chairman]; Free Democratic Party or FDP [Wolfgang GERHARDT chairman]; Party of Democratic Socialism or PDS [Lothar BISKY chairman]; Social Democratic Party or SPD [Gerhard SCHROEDER chairman]

International organization participation: AfDB AsDB Australia Group BDEAC BIS CBSS CCC CDB (non-regional) CE CERN EAPC EBRD ECE EIB EMU ESA EU FAO G- 5 G- 7 G-10 IADB IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICFTU ICRM IDA IEA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat Interpol IOC IOM ISO ITU MONUC NAM (guest) NATO NEA NSG OAS (observer) OECD OPCW OSCE PCA UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNIKOM UNITAR UNMIBH UNMIK UNOMIG UPU WADB (nonregional) WEU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO ZC

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of black (top) red and gold

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Germany possesses the world's third most technologically powerful economy after the US and Japan but its basic capitalistic economy has started to struggle under the burden of generous social benefits. Structural rigidities - like a high rate of social contributions on wages - have made unemployment a long-term not just cyclical problem while Germany's aging population has pushed social security outlays to exceed contributions from workers. The integration and upgrading of the eastern German economy remains a costly long-term problem with annual transfers from the west amounting to roughly $100 billion. Growth slowed to 1.5% in 1999 largely due to lower export demand and still-low business confidence. Recovering Asian demand a push for fiscal consolidation and newly proposed business and income tax cuts - if passed - are expected to boost growth back to trend rates around 2.5% in 2000 and beyond. The adoption of a common European currency and the general political and economic integration of Europe will bring major changes to the German economy in the early 21st century.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 1.5% (1999 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $22,700 (1999 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: potatoes wheat barley sugar beets fruit cabbages; cattle pigs poultry

Industries: among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of iron steel coal cement chemicals machinery vehicles machine tools electronics food and beverages; shipbuilding; textiles

Industrial production growth rate: 0.9% (1999)

Labor force: 40.5 million (1999 est.)
By occupation industry: 33.7%
By occupation agriculture: 2.7%
By occupation services: 63.6% (1998)

Unemployment rate: 10.5% (1999 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: NA%

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 0.8% (1999 est.)

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $610 billion (f.o.b. 1999 est.)
Commodities: machinery vehicles chemicals metals and manufactures foodstuffs textiles (1999)
Partners: EU 56.4% (France 11.1% UK 8.6% Italy 7.4% Netherlands 6.8% Benelux 5.7%) US 9.4% Japan 1.9% (1998)

Imports: $587 billion (f.o.b. 1999 est.)
Commodities: machinery vehicles chemicals foodstuffs textiles metals (1999)
Partners: EU 53.7% (France 11.1% Netherlands 7.7% Italy 7.8% UK 6.8% Benelux 5.6%) US 8.3% Japan 5.0% (1998)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $N/A

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: euros per US$1 -0.9867 (January 2000) 0.9386 (1999); deutsche marks (DM) per US$1 - 1.69 (January 1999) 1.7597 (1998) 1.7341 (1997) 1.5048 (1996) 1.4331 (1995)


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Electricity
Production: 525.356 billion kWh (1998)
Consumption: 488.041 billion kWh (1998)
Exports: 39.1 billion kWh (1998)
Imports: 38.56 billion kWh (1998)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: NA; 46.5 million main lines are installed (July 1999)
Mobile cellular: 15.318 million (April 1999)

Telephone system: Germany has one of the world's most technologically advanced telecommunications systems; as a result of intensive capital expenditures since reunification the formerly backward system of the eastern part of the country has been modernized and integrated with that of the western part

Broadcast media

Internet
Service providers isps: 625 (1999)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $32.8 billion (FY98)
Percent of gdp: 1.5% (FY98)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 615 (1999 est.)

Heliports: 59 (1999 est.)

Pipelines: crude oil 2,500 km (1998)

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 7,500 km (1999); major rivers include the Rhine and Elbe; Kiel Canal is an important connection between the Baltic Sea and North Sea

Merchant marine

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: remaining legal issues (restitution) arising from World War II and its aftermath

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine processors; transshipment point for and consumer of Southwest Asian heroin Latin American cocaine and European-produced synthetic drugs