Profile
Background and figures as recorded in the CIA World Factbook.
As Europe's largest economy and second most-populous nation (after Russia), Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany 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).
- Capital
- Berlin
- Government
- federal parliamentary republic
- Population
- 84,012,284
- Area
- 357,022 sq km
- Location
- Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark
- Climate
- temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind
- Natural resources
- coal; lignite; natural gas; iron ore; copper; nickel…
- Languages
- German (official); note - Danish; Frisian; Sorbian…
- Religions
- Roman Catholic 24.8%; Protestant 22.6%; Muslim 3.7%; other 5.1%…
- Independence
- 18 January 1871 (establishment of the German Empire);
- Administrative divisions
- 16 states (Laender, singular - Land); Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bayern (Bavaria), Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen…
- Currency
- euros (EUR)
- Export partners
- USA 10%; France 8%; Netherlands 7%; China 7%…
- Import partners
- China 12%; Netherlands 7%; USA 7%; Poland 6%…
Source: CIA World Factbook — a work of the US government, in the public domain