As Europe's largest economy and second most
populous nation, Germany remains 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). 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 1999,
Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European
exchange currency, the euro.
Location:
Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and
the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of
Denmark
Area:
357,021 sq 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
Climate:
temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet
winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind
Geography:
strategic location on North European Plain
and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea
Population:
82,422,299
Nationality:
German(s)
Ethnic groups:
German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made
up largely of Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian,
Spanish)
Religions:
Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim
3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3%
Languages:
German
Government type:
Federal republic
Capital:
Berlin
Time zone:
GMT/UTC +01:00
National holiday:
Unity Day, 3 October (1990)
Currency:
euro (EUR)
Communications:
Telephones - main lines in use: 55.046
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,
dating back to World War II, has been modernized and integrated
with that of the western part
Transportation:
Airports: 544, Railways: 47,201 km, Roadways:
231,581 km, Waterways: 7,467 km