Germany

Geography                 Economy                 Defense Forces
 

People                    Transportation          Government



Communications            History      	          Travel

GEOGRAPHY

Location

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

Area

Total area: 356,910 sq km
Land area: 349,520 sq km
Comparative area: slightly smaller than Montana

Note: Includes the formerly separate Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and Berlin following formal unification on 3 October 1990

Land Boundaries

Total 3,621 km, Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646 km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 138 km, Netherlands 577 km, Poland 456 km, Switzerland 334 km

Coastline

2,389 km

Maritime Claims

Continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

International Disputes

None

Climate

Temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm, tropical foehn wind; high relative humidity

Terrain

Lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south
lowest point: Freepsum Lake -2 m
highest point: Zugspitze 2,962 m

Natural Resources

Iron ore
Coal
Potash
Timber
Lignite
Uranium
Copper
Natural gas
Salt
Nickel

Land Use

Arable land: 34%
Permanent crops: 1%
Meadows and pastures: 16%
Forest and woodland: 30%
Other: 19%

Irrigated Land

4,800 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment

Current issues: emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries and lead emissions from vehicle exhausts (the result of continued use of leaded fuels) contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulfur dioxide emissions, is damaging forests; heavy pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany
Natural hazards: NA
International agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Tropical Timber 94

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

PEOPLE

Population

83,536,115 (July 1996 est.)
81,337,541 (July 1995 est.)

Age Structure

0-14 Years

16.15% (male 6,928,750; female 6,563,026) (July 1996 est.)
16% (male 6,857,577; female 6,518,108) (July 1995 est.)

15-64 Years

68.52% (male 29,339,780; female 27,902,549) (July 1996 est.)
68% (male 28,130,083; female 27,167,824) (July 1995 est.)

65 Years and Over

15.33% (male 4,658,014; female 8,143,996) (July 1996 est.)
16% (male 4,536,011; female 8,127,938) (July 1995 est.)

Population Growth Rate

0.67% (1996 est.)
0.26% (1995 est.)

Birth Rate

9.66 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)
10.98 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death Rate

12.21 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)
10.83 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net Migration Rate

8.25 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)
2.46 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.57 male(s)/female
all ages: 0.96 male(s)/female (1996 est.)

Infant Mortality Rate

6 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)
6.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth

Total population: 75.95 years (1996 est.), 76.62 years (1995 est.)
Male: 72.8 years (1996 est.), 73.5 years (1995 est.)
Female: 79.27 years (1996 est.), 79.92 years (1995 est.)

Total Fertility Rate

1.3 children born/woman (1996 est.)
1.5 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality

Noun: German(s)
Adjective: German

Ethnic Divisions

German 95.1%
Turkish 2.3%
Italians 0.7%
Greeks 0.4%
Poles 0.4%
Other 1.1% (made up largely of people fleeing the war in the former Yugoslavia)

Religions

Protestant 45%
Roman Catholic 37%
Unaffiliated or other 18%

Languages

German

Literacy

Age 15 and over that can read and write (1991 est.)

Total population: 99%

Labor Force

36.75 million

By occupation:

Industry 41%
Agriculture 6%
Other 53% (1987)

GOVERNMENT

Names

Conventional long form: Federal Republic of Germany
Conventional short form: Germany
Local long form: Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Local short form: Deutschland

Digraph

Type

Federal republic

Capital

Berlin

Note: The shift from Bonn to Berlin will take place over a period of years with Bonn retaining many administrative functions and several ministries

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

Independence

18 January 1871 (German Empire unification); divided into four zones of occupation (U.K., U.S., 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 U.K., U.S., 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 power rights formally relinquished 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

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal

Executive Branch

Chief of state: President Roman HERZOG (since 1 July 1994); elected by the Federal Convention including members of the Bundestag and an equal number of members elected by the Land Parliaments
Head of government: Chancellor Dr. Helmut KOHL (since 4 October 1982)
Cabinet: Cabinet; appointed by the president upon the proposal of the chancellor

Legislative Branch

Bicameral chamber (no official name for the two chambers as a whole)

Federal Assembly (Bundestag)

Last held 16 October 1994 (next to be held by NA 1998); results - CDU 34.2%, SPD 36.4%, Alliance 90/Greens 7.3%, CSU 7.3%, FDP 6.9%, PDS 4.4%, Republicans 1.9% ; seats - (662 total, but number can vary) CDU 244, SPD 252, Alliance 90/Greens 49, CSU 50, FDP 47, PDS 30; elected by direct popular vote under a system combining direct and proportional representation; a party must win 5% of the national vote or 3 direct mandates to gain representation

Federal Council (Bundesrat)

State governments are directly represented by votes; each has 3 to 6 votes depending on size and are required to vote as a block; current composition: votes - (68 total) SPD-led states 41, CDU-led states 27

Judicial Branch

Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat

Political Parties and Leaders

Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Helmut KOHL, chairman; Christian Social Union (CSU), Theo WAIGEL, chairman; Free Democratic Party (FDP), Wolfgang GERHARDT, chairman; Social Democratic Party (SPD), Oskar LA FONTAINE, chairman; Alliance '90/Greens, Krista SAGER, Juergen TRITTIN, cochairpersons; Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), Lothar BISKY, chairman; Republikaner, Rolf SCHLIERER, chairman; National Democratic Party (NPD), Ellen-Doris SCHERER; Communist Party (DKP), Rolf PRIEMER and Heinz STEHR, cochairpersons

Other Political or Pressure Groups

Expellee, refugee, and veterans groups

Member of

AfDB, AG (observer), AsDB, Australia Group, BDEAC, BIS, CBSS, CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CERN, EBRD, ECE, EIB, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MINURSO, MTCR, NACC, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OSCE, PCA, UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNAMIR, UNCRO, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNOMIG, UNPROFOR, UPU, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC

National Anthem

Flag

Three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and yellow

ECONOMY

Overview

Germany, the world's third-most powerful economy, faces its own unique problem of bringing its eastern area up to scratch after 45 years of communist rule. Despite substantial progress toward economic integration, the eastern states will continue to rely on subsidies from the federal government into the next century. Assistance to the east of about $100 billion annually has helped the region average nearly 8% annual economic growth since 1991, even though the overall German economy has averaged less than 2% growth. The economic recovery in the east has been led by the construction industries, with growth increasingly supported by the service sectors and light manufacturing industries. Western Germany, which accounts for 90% of overall German GDP and has three times the per capita income of eastern Germany, is perennially the first- or second-largest exporter, after the US, in the world. Nonetheless, business and political leaders have in recent years become increasingly concerned about Germany's apparent decline in attractiveness as a business location. They cite the increasing preference of German companies to locate manufacturing facilities - long the strength of the postwar economy - to foreign countries, including the US, rather than in Germany, so they can be closer to their markets and avoid Germany's high production costs. The conditions under which European economic integration - especially movement toward a single European currency - will proceed will be another key issue facing Germany in the next few years.

National Product

Germany

GDP - purchasing power parity - $1.4522 trillion (1995 est.), $1.3446 trillion (1994 est.)

Western: GDP - purchasing power parity - $1.3318 trillion (1995 est.), $1.2363 trillion (1994 est.)
Eastern: GDP - purchasing power parity - $120.4 billion (1995 est.), $108.3 billion (1994 est.)

National Product Real Growth Rate

Germany

1.8% (1995 est.)
2.9% (1994 est.)

Western: 1.5% (1995 est.), 2.3% (1994 est.)
Eastern: 6.3% (1995 est.), 9.2% (1994 est.)

National Product Per Capita

Germany

$17,900 (1995 est.)
$16,580 (1994 est.)

Western: $21,100 (1995 est.), $19,660 (1994 est.)
Eastern: $6,600 (1995 est.), $5,950 (1994 est.)

Inflation Rate (consumer Prices)

Western: 2% (1995 est.), 3% (1994)
Eastern: 2% (1995 est.), 3.2% (1994 est.)

Unemployment Rate

Western: 8.7% (December 1995), 8.2% (December 1994)
Eastern: 14.9% (December 1995), 13.5% (December 1994)

Budget

Revenues: $690 billion
Expenditures: $780 billion, including capital expenditures of $96.5 billion (1994)

Exports

$437 billion (f.o.b., 1994)

Commodities:

Manufactures 89.3% (including machines and machine tools
Chemicals
Motor vehicles
Iron and steel products)
Agricultural products 5.5%
Raw materials 2.7%
Fuels 1.3% (1993)

Partners:

EU 47.9% (France 11.7%
Netherlands 7.4%
Italy 7.5%
U.K. 7.7%
Belgium-Luxembourg 6.6%)
EFTA 15.5%
U.S. 7.7%
Eastern Europe 5.2%
OPEC 3.0% (1993)

Imports

$362 billion (f.o.b., 1994)

Commodities:

Manufactures 75.1%
Agricultural products 10.0%
Fuels 8.3%
Raw materials 5.0% (1993)

Partners:

EU 46.4% (France 11.3%
Netherlands 8.4%
Italy 8.1%
U.K. 6.0%
Belgium-Luxembourg 5.7%)
EFTA 14.3%
U.S. 7.3%
Japan 6.3%
Eastern Europe 5.1%
OPEC 2.6% (1993)

External Debt

Industrial Production

Western: growth rate 2.8% (1994)
Eastern: growth rate NA

Electricity

Capacity: 115,430,000 kW
Production: 493 billion kWh
Consumption per capita: 5,683 kWh (1993)

Industries

Western: among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics; food and beverages
Eastern: metal fabrication, chemicals, brown coal, shipbuilding, machine building, food and beverages, textiles, petroleum refining

Agriculture

Western: accounts for about 1% of GDP (including fishing and forestry); diversified crop and livestock farming; principal crops and livestock include potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbage, cattle, pigs, poultry; net importer of food
Eastern: accounts for about 10% of GDP (including fishing and forestry); principal crops - wheat, rye, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, fruit; livestock products include pork, beef, chicken, milk, hides and skins; net importer of food

Illicit Drugs

Source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine processors; transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and Latin American cocaine for West European markets

Economic Aid

Donor: ODA, $6.954 billion (1993), ODA and OOF commitments (1970-89), $75.5 billion
Note: eastern used to be donor: bilateral to non-Communist less developed countries (1956-89) $4 billion

Currency

1 deutsche mark (DM) = 100 pfennige

Exchange Rates

Deutsche marks (DM) per US$1 - 1.4617 (January 1996), 1.4331 (1995), 1.6228 (1994), 1.6533 (1993), 1.5617 (1992), 1.6595 (1991), 1.6157 (1990)

Fiscal Year

Calendar year

TRANSPORTATION

Railroads

Total: 43,966 km
Standard gauge: 43,531 km 1.435-m; 40,355 km are owned by Deutsche Bahn AG (DB); 17,015 km of the DB system are electrified and 16,941 km are double- or more-tracked
Narrow gauge: 389 km 1.000-m gauge (DB operates 146 km of 1.000-m gauge); 7 km 0.900-m gauge; 39 km 0.750-m gauge
Note: in addition to the DB system there are 54 privately-owned industrial or excursion railways, ranging in route length from 2 km to 632 km, with a total length of 3,465 km (1995)

Highways

Total: 636,282 km
Paved: 531,018 km (10,955 km of autobahn)
Unpaved: 105,264 km (1991 est.)

Inland Waterways

Western: 5,222 km, of which almost 70% are usable by craft of 1,000-metric-ton capacity or larger; major rivers include the Rhine and Elbe; Kiel Canal is an important connection between the Baltic Sea and North Sea
Eastern: 2,319 km (1988)

Pipelines

Crude oil 3,644 km; petroleum products 3,946 km; natural gas 97,564 km (1988)

Ports

Berlin, Bonn, Brake, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cologne, Dresden, Duisburg, Emden, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Lubeck, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Rostock, Stuttgart

Merchant Marine

Total: 452 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,054,327 GRT/6,367,036 DWT
Ships by type: bulk 6, cargo 193, chemical tanker 15, combination bulk 4, combination ore/oil 5, container 166, liquefied gas tanker 12, multifunction large-load carrier 6, oil tanker 11, passenger 3, railcar carrier 3, refrigerated cargo 7, roll-on/roll-off cargo 14, short-sea passenger 7 (1995 est.)

Airports

Total: 617
With paved runways over 3,047 m: 13
With paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 65
With paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 67
With paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 51
With paved runways under 914 m: 351
With unpaved runways over 3,047 m: 2
With unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6
With unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 7
With unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 55 (1995 est.)

Heliports

55 (1995 est.)

COMMUNICATIONS

Telephone System

44 million telephones; 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 is being rapidly modernized and integrated with that of the western part
Domestic: the region which was formerly West Germany is served by an extensive system of automatic telephone exchanges connected by modern networks of fiber-optic cable, coaxial cable, microwave radio relay, and a domestic satellite system; cellular telephone service is widely available and includes roaming service to many foreign countries; since the reunification of Germany, the telephone system of the eastern region has been upgraded and enjoys many of the advantages of the national system
International: satellite earth stations - 14 Intelsat (12 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean), 1 Eutelsat, 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region), 2 Intersputnik (1 Atlantic Ocean region and 1 Indian Ocean region); 6 submarine cable connections; 2 HF radiotelephone communication centers; tropospheric scatter links

Radio

Western: NA
Broadcast stations: AM 80, FM 470, shortwave 0
Eastern: NA
Broadcast stations: AM 23, FM 17, shortwave 0
Radios: 70 million (1991 est.)

Television

Broadcast stations: 246 (repeaters 6,000); note - there are 15 Russian repeaters in eastern Germany
Televisions: 44.8 million (1992 est.)

DEFENSE FORCES

Branches

Army, Navy (includes Naval Air Arm), Air Force, Border Police, Coast Guard

Manpower Availability

Males 15-49 21,540,919; males fit for military service 18,537,347; males reach military age (18) annually 449,292 (1996 est.)

Defense Expenditures

Exchange rate conversion - $42.8 billion, 1.5% of GDP (1995), $40 billion, 1.8% of GNP (1995)

History
World Atlas

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