Information on Germany
(Source: CIA - The
World Factbook 2003)
Country name
(long form):
Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland).
Government type:
Federal republic.
Capital:
Berlin.
Currency:
euro.
GDP
(purchasing power parity): US$ 2.16 trillions (2002 est.).
GDP per capita
(purchasing power parity): US$ 26,200 (2002 est.).
Total area:
357,021 kmē.
Coastline:
2,389 km.
Highest point:
Zugspitze 2,963 m.
Population:
82,398,000 (July 2003).
Population growth
rate:
0.04% (2003).
Life expectancy at
birth: 78.4 years.
Religions:
Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3% .
Language:
German.
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.
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.
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.
Economy - overview
Germany's affluent and technologically powerful economy has turned in a weak
performance throughout much of the 1990s and early 2000s. The modernization and
integration of the eastern German economy continues to be a costly long-term
problem, with annual transfers from west to east amounting to roughly $70
billion. Germany's ageing population, combined with high unemployment, has
pushed social security outlays to a level exceeding contributions from workers.
Structural rigidities in the labor market - including strict regulations on
laying off workers and the setting of wages on a national basis - have made
unemployment a chronic problem. Growth in 2002 and 2003 fell short of 1%.
Corporate restructuring and growing capital markets are setting the foundations
that could allow Germany to meet the long-term challenges of European economic
integration and globalization, particularly if labor market rigidities are
further addressed. In the short run, however, the fall in government revenues
and the rise in expenditures have raised the deficit above the EU's 3% debt
limit.
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