| Germany |
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Germany | Introduction | Top of Page

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.

Germany | Geography | Top of Page

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 references: | Europe

Area: | total: 357,021 sq km land: 349,223 sq km water: 7,798 sq km

Area - comparative: | slightly smaller than Montana

Land boundaries: | total: 3,618 km border countries: Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646 km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 135 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

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 extremes: | lowest point: Freepsum Lake -2 m highest point: Zugspitze 2,963 m

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

Land use: | arable land: 33% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 15% forests and woodland: 31% other: 20% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: | 4,750 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: | flooding

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

Environment - international agreements: | party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note: | strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea

Germany | People | Top of Page

Population: | 83,029,536 (July 2001 est.)

Age structure: | 0-14 years: 15.57% (male 6,635,328; female 6,289,994) 15-64 years: 67.82% (male 28,619,237; female 27,691,698) 65 years and over: 16.61% (male 5,336,664; female 8,456,615) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate: | 0.27% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: | 9.16 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: | 10.42 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate: | 4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Sex ratio: | at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.63 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2001 est.)

Infant mortality rate: | 4.71 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: | total population: 77.61 years male: 74.47 years female: 80.92 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate: | 1.38 children born/woman (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: | 0.1% (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: | 37,000 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: | 600 (1999 est.)

Nationality: | noun: German(s) adjective: German

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

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

Languages: | German

Literacy: | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99% (1977 est.) male: NA% female: NA%

Germany | Government | Top of Page

Country name: | conventional long form: Federal Republic of Germany conventional short form: Germany local long form: Bundesrepublik Deutschland local short form: Deutschland former: German Empire, German Republic, German Reich

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

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: | Unity Day, 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 Johannes RAU (since 1 July 1999) head of government: Chancellor Gerhard SCHROEDER (since 27 October 1998) cabinet: Cabinet or Bundesminister (Federal Ministers) appointed by the president on the recommendation of the chancellor elections: president elected for a five-year term by a Federal Convention including all members of the Federal Assembly and an equal number of delegates elected by the state parliaments; election last held 23 May 1999 (next to be held 23 May 2004); chancellor elected by an absolute majority of the Federal Assembly for a four-year term; election last held 27 September 1998 (next to be held in the fall of 2002) election results: Johannes RAU elected president; percent of Federal Convention vote - 57.6%; Gerhard SCHROEDER elected chancellor; percent of Federal Assembly - 52.7%

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) elections: Federal Assembly - last held 27 September 1998 (next to be held by the fall of 2002); note - there are no elections for the Bundesrat; composition is determined by the composition of the state-level governments; the composition of the Bundesrat has the potential to change any time one of the 16 states holds an election election results: Federal Assembly - percent of vote by party - SPD 40.9%, Alliance '90/Greens 6.7%, CDU/CSU 35.1%, FDP 6.2%, PDS 5.1%; seats by party - SPD 298, Alliance '90/Greens 47, CDU/CSU 245, FDP 43, PDS 36; Federal Council - current composition - votes by party - SPD-led states 26, CDU-led states 28, grand coalitions 15

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 [Renate KUENAST and Fritz KUHN]; Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Angela MERKEL]; Christian Social Union or CSU [Edmund STOIBER, chairman]; Free Democratic Party or FDP [Wolfgang GERHARDT, chairman]; note - Wolfgang GERHARDT will probably be replaced by Guido WESTERWELLE in May 2001; Party of Democratic Socialism or PDS [Gabi ZIMMER]; Social Democratic Party or SPD [Gerhard SCHROEDER, chairman]

Political pressure groups and leaders: | employers' organizations; expellee, refugee, trade unions, and veterans groups

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, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNOMIG, UPU, WADB (nonregional), WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Juergen CHROBOG chancery: 4645 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 298-8141 FAX: [1] (202) 298-4249 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle consulate(s): Wellington (America Samoa)

Diplomatic representation from the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador John C. KORNBLUM (was due to resign on 20 January 2001) embassy: Neustaedtische Kirchstrasse 4-5, 10117 Berlin mailing address: PSC 120, Box 1000, APO AE 09265 telephone: [49] (30) 238-5174 FAX: [49] (30) 238-6290 consulate(s) general: Duesseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich

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

Germany | Economy | Top of Page

Economy - overview: | Germany possesses the world's third most technologically powerful economy after the US and Japan, but structural market rigidities - including the substantial non-wage costs of hiring new workers - have made unemployment a long-term, not just a cyclical, problem. Germany's aging population, combined with high unemployment, has pushed social security outlays to a level exceeding contributions from workers. The modernization and integration of the eastern German economy remains a costly long-term problem, with annual transfers from western Germany amounting to roughly $70 billion. Growth picked up to 3% in 2000, largely due to recovering global demand; newly passed business and income tax cuts are expected to keep growth strong in 2001. Corporate restructuring and growing capital markets are transforming the German economy to meet the challenges of European economic integration and globalization in general.

GDP: | purchasing power parity - $1.936 trillion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: | 3% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: | purchasing power parity - $23,400 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 1.2% industry: 30.4% services: 68.4% (1999)

Population below poverty line: | NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 2% (2000 est.)

Labor force: | 40.5 million (1999 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: | industry 33.4%, agriculture 2.8%, services 63.8% (1999)

Unemployment rate: | 9.9% (2000 est.)

Budget: | revenues: $996 billion expenditures: $1.036 trillion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate: | 4.7% (2000)

Electricity - production: | 531.377 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source: | fossil fuel: 63.29% hydro: 3.59% nuclear: 30.3% other: 2.82% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: | 495.181 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: | 39.5 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: | 40.5 billion kWh (1999)

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

Exports: | $578 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Exports - commodities: | machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles

Exports - partners: | EU 55.3% (France 11.3%, UK 8.3%, Italy 7.3%, Netherlands 6.3%, Belgium/Luxembourg 5.1%), US 10.1%, Japan 2.0% (1999)

Imports: | $505 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Imports - commodities: | machinery, vehicles, chemicals, foodstuffs, textiles, metals

Imports - partners: | EU 52.2% (France 10.5%, Netherlands 7.6%, Italy 7.4%, UK 6.9%, Belgium/Luxembourg 5.6%), US 8.1%, Japan 4.9% (1999)

Debt - external: | $NA

Economic aid - donor: | ODA, $5.6 billion (1998)

Currency: | deutsche mark (DEM); euro (EUR) note: on 1 January 1999, the EU introduced the euro as a common currency that is now being used by financial institutions in Germany at a fixed rate of 1.95583 deutsche marks per euro and will replace the local currency for all transactions in 2002

Currency code: | DEM; EUR

Exchange rates: | euros per US dollar - 1.0659 (January 2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); deutsche marks per US dollar - 1.69 (January 1999), 1.7597 (1998), 1.7341 (1997), 1.5048 (1996)

Fiscal year: | calendar year

Germany | Communications | Top of Page

Telephones - main lines in use: | 45.2 million (1997) note: 46.5 million main lines were installed by yearend 1998

Telephones - mobile cellular: | 15.318 million (April 1999)

Telephone system: | general assessment: 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 domestic: 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 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); 7 submarine cable connections; 2 HF radiotelephone communication centers; tropospheric scatter links

Radio broadcast stations: | AM 51, FM 767, shortwave 4 (1998)

Radios: | 77.8 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: | 373 (plus 8,042 repeaters) (1995)

Televisions: | 51.4 million (1998)

Internet country code: | .de

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): | 123 (2000)

Internet users: | 18 million (2000)

Germany | Transportation | Top of Page

Railways: | total: 40,826 km including at least 14,253 km electrified and 14,768 km double- or multiple-tracked (1998) note: since privatization in 1994, Deutsche Bahn AG (DBAG) no longer publishes details of the tracks it owns; in addition to the DBAG system there are 102 privately owned railway companies which own an approximate 3,000 km to 4,000 km of the total tracks

Highways: | total: 656,140 km paved: 650,891 km (including 11,400 km of expressways) unpaved: 5,249 km (all-weather) (1998 est.)

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

Pipelines: | crude oil 2,500 km (1998)

Ports and harbors: | Berlin, Bonn, Brake, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cologne, Dresden, Duisburg, Emden, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Luebeck, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Rostock, Stuttgart

Merchant marine: | total: 457 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,414,724 GRT/7,952,776 DWT ships by type: cargo 169, chemical tanker 10, combination ore/oil 1, container 243, liquefied gas 2, passenger 3, petroleum tanker 7, railcar carrier 2, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 12, short-sea passenger 7 (2000 est.)

Airports: | 613 (2000 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: | total: 322 over 3,047 m: 13 2,438 to 3,047 m: 55 1,524 to 2,437 m: 67 914 to 1,523 m: 63 under 914 m: 124 (2000 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: | total: 291 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 53 under 914 m: 225 (2000 est.)

Heliports: | 59 (2000 est.)

Germany | Military | Top of Page

Military branches: | Army, Navy (includes Naval Air Arm), Air Force, Medical Corps, Border Police, Coast Guard

Military manpower - military age: | 18 years of age

Military manpower - availability: | males age 15-49: 20,851,022 (2001 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: | males age 15-49: 17,760,412 (2001 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually: | males: 482,318 (2001 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: | $32.8 billion (FY98)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: | 1.5% (FY98)

Germany | Transnational Issues | Top of Page

Disputes - international: | none

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