NAVIGATION
|
HOME
• FLAG FINDER
• MAP FINDER
• SOURCES
• ADD YOURSELF TO THE ATLAS! COUNTRIES A-D • COUNTRIES E-K • COUNTRIES L-R • COUNTRIES S-Z |
NAVIGATION
Federal Republic of Germany
Bundesrepublik Deutschland
former: German Democratic Republic
INTRODUCTION
|
Background:
|
As Europe's largest economy 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, which became the EU, 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 2002, Germany and 11 other EU countries introduced a common European currency, the euro. |
GEOGRAPHY
|
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
water: 7,798 sq km land: 349,223 sq km |
|
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 foehn wind |
|
Terrain:
|
lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south |
|
Elevation extremes:
|
lowest point: Neuendorf bei Wilster -3.54 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: 33.88%
permanent crops: 0.65% other: 65.47% (1998 est.) |
|
Irrigated land:
|
4,850 sq km (1998 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 established a mechanism for ending the use of nuclear power over the next 15 years; 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 |
PEOPLE
|
Population:
|
83,251,851 (July 2002 est.) |
|
Age structure:
|
0-14 years: 15.4% (male 6,568,699; female 6,227,148)
15-64 years: 67.6% (male 28,606,964; female 27,695,539) 65 years and over: 17% (male 5,546,140; female 8,607,361) (2002 est.) |
|
Population growth rate:
|
0.26% (2002 est.) |
|
Birth rate:
|
8.99 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
|
Death rate:
|
10.36 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
|
Net migration rate:
|
3.99 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 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: 0.64 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
|
Infant mortality rate:
|
4.65 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
|
Life expectancy at birth:
|
total population: 77.78 years
female: 81.09 years (2002 est.) male: 74.64 years |
|
Total fertility rate:
|
1.39 children born/woman (2002 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 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3% |
|
Languages:
|
German |
|
Literacy:
|
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99% (1977 est.) male: NA% female: NA% |