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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 references: Europe
Area:
total: 356,910 sq km
land: 349,520 sq km
water: 7,390 sq km
note: includes the formerly separate Federal Republic of
Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and Berlin, following
formal unification on 3 October 1990
Area—comparative: slightly smaller
than Montana
Land boundaries:
total: 3,621 km
border countries: 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
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
Elevation extremes:
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: 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: NA
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; hazardous waste disposal
Environment—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, 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
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94
Geography—note: strategic location
on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea
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Population: 82,079,454 (July 1998
est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 16% (male 6,570,582; female 6,240,671)
15-64 years: 68% (male 28,688,052; female 27,532,099)
65 years and over: 16% (male 4,866,122; female 8,181,928)
(July 1998 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.02% (1998
est.)
Birth rate: 8.84 births/1,000
population (1998 est.)
Death rate: 10.77 deaths/1,000
population (1998 est.)
Net migration rate: 2.08 migrant(s)/1,000
population (1998 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.59 male(s)/female (1998 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 5.2
deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 76.99 years
male: 73.83 years
female: 80.33 years (1998 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.25 children
born/woman (1998 est.)
Nationality:
noun: German(s)
adjective: German
Ethnic groups: German 91.5%, Turkish
2.4%, Italians 0.7%, Greeks 0.4%, Poles 0.4%, other 4.6% (made up
largely of people fleeing the war in the former Yugoslavia)
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%
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Country name:
conventional long form: Federal Republic of Germany
conventional short form: Germany
local long form: Bundesrepublik Deutschland
local short form: Deutschland
Data code: GM
Government type: federal republic
National 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 even after parliament moves in 1999
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 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)
head of government: Chancellor Dr. Helmut KOHL (since 4
October 1982)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president upon the
proposal of the chancellor
elections: president elected by the Federal Convention
including members of the Federal Assembly and an equal number of
members elected by the Land Parliaments for a five-year term;
election last held 23 May 1994 (next to be held NA 1999);
chancellor elected by an absolute majority of the Federal Assembly
for a four-year term; election last held 16 October 1994 (next to
be held 27 September 1998)
election results: Roman HERZOG elected president; percent
of Federal Convention vote - NA; Dr. Helmut KOHL reelected
chancellor; percent of Federal Assembly—NA
Legislative branch: bicameral chamber
(no official name for the two chambers as a whole) consists of the
Federal Assembly or Bundestag (656 seats usually, but 672 for the
1994 term; elected by direct 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 (68 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; term is not fixed)
elections: Federal Assembly—last held 16 October 1994
(next to be held by 27 September 1998); Federal Council—last
held NA (next to be held NA)
election results: Federal Assembly—percent of vote by
party—CDU 34.2%, SPD 36.4%, Alliance 90/Greens 7.3%, CSU 7.3%,
FDP 6.9%, PDS 4.4%, Republicans 1.9%; seats by party—CDU 244,
SPD 252, Alliance 90/Greens 49, CSU 50, FDP 47, PDS 30; note—one
Greens member defected to the CDU making the seat count CDU 245,
Alliance 90/Greens 48; Federal Council—current
composition—votes by party - SPD-led states 41, CDU-led states
27
Judicial branch: Federal
Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht, half the judges
are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat
Political parties and leaders:
Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Helmut KOHL, chairman];
Christian Social Union or CSU [Theodor WAIGEL, chairman]; Free
Democratic Party or FDP [Wolfgang GERHARDT, chairman]; Social
Democratic Party or SPD [Oskar LAFONTAINE, chairman]; Alliance
'90/Greens [Christa NICKELS]; Party of Democratic Socialism or PDS
[Lothar BISKY, chairman]; Republikaner [Rolf SCHLIERER, chairman];
National Democratic Party or NPD [Gunter DECKERT]; Communist Party
or DKP [Rolf PRIEMER and Heinz STEHR, cochairpersons]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
employers' organizations, expellee, refugee, trade unions, and
veterans groups
International organization participation:
AfDB, AG (observer), AsDB, Australia Group, BDEAC, BIS, CBSS, CCC,
CDB (non-regional), CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EIB, 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, MINUGUA, MTCR, NAM (guest), NATO,
NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNOMIG, UPU, 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) 298-4000
FAX: [1] (202) 298-4249
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit,
Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador John C. KORNBLUM
embassy: Deichmanns Aue 29, 53170 Bonn
mailing address: APO AE 09080, PSC 117, Bonn
telephone: [49] (228) 3391
FAX: [49] (228) 339-2663
branch office: Berlin
consulate(s) general: Dusseldorf, Frankfurt am Main,
Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich
Flag description: three equal
horizontal bands of black (top), red, and gold
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Economy—overview: In 1997 the
German economy, the world's third most powerful, benefited from
robust exports, particularly to other members of the EU and the
US, as well as strengthening equipment investment. But anemic
private consumption and a contraction in the construction industry
limited the expansion. Unemployment continued to set post-war
monthly records through the end of 1997 and averaged 4.3 million
for the year. In preparation for the 1 January 1999 start of the
European Monetary Union, the government has made major efforts in
1996-97 to reduce the fiscal deficit. This effort has been
complicated by growing unemployment, an erosion of the tax base,
and the continuing transfer of roughly $100 billion a year to
eastern Germany to refurbish this ex-communist area. In recent
years business and political leaders have become increasingly
concerned about Germany's decline in attractiveness as an
investment target. They cite increasing preference by German
companies to locate new manufacturing facilities in foreign
countries, including the US, rather than in Germany, to be closer
to the markets and to avoid Germany's high tax rates, high wage
costs, rigid labor structures, and extensive regulations. For
similar reasons foreign investment in Germany has been lagging in
recent years.
GDP: purchasing power parity—$1.74
trillion (western: purchasing power parity—$1.60 trillion;
eastern: purchasing power parity—$144 billion) (1997 est.)
GDP—real growth rate: 2.4% (western
2.5%, eastern 1.7%) (1997 est.)
GDP—per capita: purchasing power
parity—$20,800 (western: purchasing power parity - $23,600;
eastern: purchasing power parity—$9,100) (1997 est.)
GDP—composition by sector:
agriculture: 1.1%
industry: 34.5%
services: 64.4% (1995)
Inflation rate—consumer price index:
1.8% (1997)
Labor force:
total: 38.7 million
by occupation: industry 41%, agriculture 3%, services 56%
(1995)
Unemployment rate: 12% (1997 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $755 billion
expenditures: $832.1 billion, including capital
expenditures of $NA (1995)
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
Industrial production growth rate: 3%
(1997)
Electricity—capacity: 109.727
million kW (1995)
Electricity—production: 495.875
billion kWh (1995)
Electricity—consumption per capita:
6,154 kWh (1995 est.)
Agriculture—products: western:
potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbage; cattle,
pigs, poultry; eastern: wheat, rye, barley, potatoes, sugar beets,
fruit; pork, beef, chicken, milk, hides
Exports:
total value: $521.1 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: manufactures 88.2% (including machines and
machine tools, chemicals, motor vehicles, iron and steel
products), agricultural products 5.0%, raw materials 2.3%, fuels
1.0%, other 3.5% (1995)
partners: EU 57.7% (France 11.7%, UK 8.1%, Italy 7.6%,
Netherlands 7.5%, Belgium-Luxembourg 6.5%, Austria 5.5%), Eastern
Europe 8.0%, other West European countries 7.5%, US 7.3%, NICs
5.6%, Japan 2.5%, OPEC 2.2%, China 1.4% (1996 est.)
Imports:
total value: $455.7 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: manufactures 74.2%, agricultural products
9.9%, fuels 6.4%, raw materials 5.9%, other 3.6% (1995)
partners: EU 55.5% (France 10.8%, Netherlands 8.6%, Italy
8.4%, Belgium-Luxembourg 6.6%, UK 6.4%, Austria 3.9%), Eastern
Europe 8.7%, other West European countries 7.2%, US 6.8%, Japan
5.3%, NICs 5.3%, China 2.4%, OPEC 1.7%, other 7.1% (1995)
Debt—external: $NA
Economic aid:
donor: ODA, $9 billion (1996 est.)
Currency: 1 deutsche mark (DM) = 100
pfennige
Exchange rates: deutsche marks (DM)
per US$1—1.8167 (January 1998), 1.7341 (1997), 1.5048 (1996),
1.4331 (1995), 1.6228 (1994), 1.6533 (1993)
Fiscal year: calendar year
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Telephones: 44 million
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 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 broadcast stations:
western—AM 80, FM 470, shortwave 0; eastern—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.)
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Railways:
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: 633,000 km
paved: 627,303 km (including 11,300 km of expressways)
unpaved: 5,697 km all-weather (1996 est.)
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 and harbors: Berlin, Bonn,
Brake, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cologne, Dresden, Duisburg, Emden,
Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Lubeck, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Rostock,
Stuttgart
Merchant marine:
total: 515 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,448,105 GRT/7,940,824
DWT
ships by type: cargo 202, chemical tanker 10, combination
bulk 2, container 253, liquefied gas tanker 6, multifunction
large-load carrier 6, oil tanker 9, passenger 4, railcar carrier
2, refrigerated cargo 2, roll-on/roll-off cargo 12, short-sea
passenger 7
note: includes ships from the former East Germany and West
Germany; Germany owns 460 additional ships (1,000 GRT or over)
that operate under the registries of Antigua and Barbuda, The
Bahamas, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Liberia, Malta, Norway, Netherlands
Antilles, Panama, Marshall Islands, Singapore, and Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines (1997 est.)
Airports: 620 (1997 est.)
Airports—with paved runways:
total: 321
over 3,047 m: 14
2,438 to 3,047 m: 61
1,524 to 2,437 m: 70
914 to 1,523 m: 53
under 914 m: 123 (1997 est.)
Airports—with unpaved runways:
total: 299
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 6
1,524 to 2,437 m: 6
914 to 1,523 m: 57
under 914 m: 228 (1997 est.)
Heliports: 63 (1997 est.)
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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: 20,915,978 (1998 est.)
Military manpower—fit for military
service:
males: 17,888,396 (1998 est.)
Military manpower—reaching military age
annually:
males: 465,179 (1998 est.)
Military expenditures—dollar figure:
$42.8 billion (1995)
Military expenditures—percent of GDP:
1.5% (1995)
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Disputes—international: individual
Sudeten German claims for restitution of property confiscated in
connection with their expulsion after World War II
Illicit drugs: source of precursor
chemicals for South American cocaine processors; transshipment
point for and consumer of Southwest Asian heroin and hashish,
Latin American cocaine, and European-produced synthetic drugs
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Information on Germany