Germany

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Germany

General Information
Geography
Government
Economy
Population
Health
Communications and media
Chronology


GENERAL INFORMATION

National name Bundesrepublik Deutschland/Federal Republic of Germany Area 357,041 sq km/137,853 sq mi Capital Berlin Language German (official) Religion Protestant (mainly Lutheran) 38%, Roman Catholic 34% Time difference GMT +1 Major holidays 1, 6 January, 1 May, 3 October, 1 November, 25–26 December; variable: Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension Thursday, Whit Monday, Corpus Christi, Assumption


GEOGRAPHY

Major towns/cities Cologne, Hamburg, Munich, Essen, Frankfurt am Main, Dortmund, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden, Hannover Major ports Hamburg, Kiel, Bremerhaven, Rostock Physical features flat in north, mountainous in south with Alps; rivers Rhine, Weser, Elbe flow north, Danube flows southeast, Oder and Neisse flow north along Polish frontier; many lakes, including Müritz; Black Forest, Harz Mountains, Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), Bavarian Alps, Fichtelgebirge, Thüringer Forest Airports 11 international airports and over 600 other smaller airports; total passengers carried: 72.7 million (2003 est) Railways total length: 44,823 km/27,853 mi; total passenger journeys: 2.02 billion (2003) Roads total road network: 231,581 km/143,897 mi, of which 100% paved (2003 est); passenger cars: 577.8 per 1,000 people (2003 est)


GOVERNMENT

Head of state Horst Köhler from 2004 Head of government Angela Merkel from 2005 Political system liberal democracy Political executive parliamentary Administrative divisions 16 states Political parties Christian Democratic Union (CDU), right of centre, ‘social market’; Christian Social Union (CSU), right of centre; Social Democratic Party (SPD), left of centre; Free Democratic Party (FDP), liberal; Greens, environmentalist; Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), reform-socialist (formerly Socialist Unity Party: SED); German People's Union (DVU), far-right; German Communist Party (DKP) Death penalty abolished in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 and in the German Democratic Republic in 1987 Armed forces 284,500; plus 358,700 reservists (2006 est) Conscription 10–23 months (mainly voluntary) Defence spend (% GDP) 1.3 (2005 est) Education spend (% GDP) 4.8 (2003 est) Health spend (% GDP) 8.7 (2004)


ECONOMY

Currency euro (Deutschmark until 2002) GDP (US$) 2,781.9 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 2 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 2,852.3 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 29,210 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 2% (2006 est) Unemployment 8% (2006 est) Labour force 2.4% agriculture, 29.7% industry, 67.8% services (2005) Major trading partners France, the Netherlands, UK, China, USA, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Spain Resources lignite, hard coal, potash salts, crude oil, natural gas, iron ore, copper, timber, nickel, uranium Industries mining, road vehicles, chemical products, transport equipment, nonelectrical machinery, metals and metal products, electrical machinery, electronic goods, cement, food and beverages Exports road vehicles, electrical machinery, metals and metal products, textiles, chemicals. Principal market: France 10.2% (2005) Imports road vehicles, electrical machinery, food and live animals, clothing and accessories, crude petroleum and petroleum products, computers. Principal source: France 9% (2005) Arable land 33.1% (2006 est) Agricultural products potatoes, sugar beet, barley, wheat, maize, rapeseed, vine fruits; livestock (cattle, pigs, and poultry) and fishing


POPULATION

Population 82,715,600 (2006 est) Population growth rate 0.0% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 232 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 89 (2005 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 14%, 15–59 61%, 60+ 25% (2005 est) Ethnic groups predominantly Germanic (92%; notable Danish and Slavonic ethnic minorities in the north; significant population of foreigners (92%), numbering about 7.4 million (1998). The largest community is Turkish (2 million), followed by nationals of the former Yugoslavia (1.4 million) Life expectancy 76 (men); 82 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 5 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 13 Literacy rate 99% (men); 99% (women) (2004 est)


HEALTH

Physicians (per 10,000 people) 36.2 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 8.9 (2003 est) HIV infection (% of population aged 15–49) 0.1 (2005 est) AIDS deaths <1,000 (2005 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 100 (urban); 100 (rural) (2002)


COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Landline telephones (per 100 people) 66.6 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 95.8 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 570 (2001 est) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 675 (2004 est) Personal computer users (per 100 people) 54.5 (2005 est) Internet users (per 100 people) 45.4 (2005 est)


CHRONOLOGY

c. 1000 BC Germanic tribes from Scandinavia began to settle the region between the rivers Rhine, Elbe, and Danube. AD 9 Romans tried and failed to conquer Germanic tribes. 5th century Germanic tribes plundered Rome, overran Western Europe, and divided it into tribal kingdoms. 496 Clovis, King of the Franks, conquered the Alemanni tribe of western Germany. 772–804 After series of fierce wars, Charlemagne extended Frankish authority over Germany, subjugated Saxons, imposed Christianity, and took title of Holy Roman Emperor. 843 Treaty of Verdun divided Holy Roman Empire into three, with eastern portion corresponding to modern Germany; local princes became virtually independent. 919 Henry the Fowler restored central authority and founded Saxon dynasty. 962 Otto the Great enlarged kingdom and revived title of Holy Roman Emperor. 1024–1254 Emperors of Salian and Hohenstaufen dynasties came into conflict with popes; frequent civil wars allowed German princes to regain independence. 12th century German expansion eastwards into lands between rivers Elbe and Oder. 13th–14th centuries Hanseatic League of Allied German cities became commercial and naval power. 1438 Title of Holy Roman Emperor became virtually hereditary in Habsburg family of Austria. 1517 Martin Luther began the Reformation; Emperor Charles V tried to suppress Protestantism; civil war ensued. 1555 Peace of Augsburg: Charles V forced to accept that each German prince could choose the religion of his own lands. 1618–48 Thirty Years' War: bitter conflict, partly religious, between certain German princes and emperor, with foreign intervention; war wrecked German economy and reduced Holy Roman Empire to a name. 1701 Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg, promoted to King of Prussia. 1740 Frederick the Great of Prussia seized Silesia from Austria and retained it through war of Austrian Succession (1740–48) and Seven Years' War (1756–63). 1772–95 Prussia joined Russia and Austria in partition of Poland. 1792 Start of French Revolutionary Wars, involving many German states, with much fighting on German soil. 1806 Holy Roman Empire abolished; France formed puppet Confederation of the Rhine in western Germany and defeated Prussia at Battle of Jena. 1813–15 National revival enabled Prussia to take part in defeat of Napoleon at Battles of Leipzig and Waterloo. 1814–15 Congress of Vienna rewarded Prussia with Rhineland, Westphalia, and much of Saxony; loose German Confederation formed by 39 independent states. 1848–49 Liberal revolutions in many German states; Frankfurt Assembly sought German unity; revolutions suppressed. 1862 Otto von Bismarck became prime minister of Prussia. 1866 Seven Weeks' War: Prussia defeated Austria, dissolved German Confederation, and established North German Confederation under Prussian leadership. 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War; southern German states agreed to German unification; German Empire proclaimed, with King of Prussia as emperor and Bismarck as chancellor. 1890 Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck and sought to make Germany a leading power in world politics. 1914 Germany encouraged Austrian attack on Serbia that started World War I; Germany invaded Belgium and France. 1918 Germany defeated; revolution overthrew the monarchy. 1919 Treaty of Versailles: Germany lost land to France, Denmark, and Poland; demilitarization and reparations imposed; Weimar Republic proclaimed. 1922–23 Hyperinflation. 1929 Start of economic slump caused mass unemployment and brought Germany close to revolution. 1933 Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Party, became chancellor. 1934 Hitler took title of Führer (leader), murdered rivals, and created one-party state with militaristic and racist ideology; rearmament reduced unemployment. 1938 Germany annexed Austria and Sudeten; occupied remainder of Czechoslovakia in 1939. 1939–45 German invasion of Poland started World War II; Germany defeated France in 1940 and attacked USSR in 1941; extermination of Jews. 1945 Germany defeated and deprived of its conquests; eastern lands transferred to Poland; USA, USSR, UK, and France established zones of occupation. 1948–49 Disputes between Western allies and USSR led to Soviet blockade of West Berlin. 1949 Partition of Germany: US, French, and British zones in West Germany became Federal Republic of Germany with Konrad Adenauer as chancellor; Soviet zone in East Germany became communist German Democratic Republic led by Walter Ulbricht. 1953 Uprising in East Berlin suppressed by Soviet troops. 1955 West Germany became member of NATO; East Germany joined Warsaw Pact. 1957 West Germany was founding member of European Community. 1960s Rapid growth and great prosperity. 1961 East Germany constructed Berlin Wall to prevent emigration to West Berlin (part of West Germany). 1969 Willy Brandt, Social Democratic Party (SDP) chancellor of West Germany, sought better relations with USSR and East Germany. 1971 Erich Honecker succeeded Ulbricht as Communist Party leader, and became head of state in 1976. 1972 Basic Treaty established relations between West Germany and East Germany as between foreign states. 1982 Helmut Kohl of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) became chancellor. 1989 Mass exodus of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary; East Germany opened its frontiers, including Berlin Wall. 1990 Communist regime in East Germany collapsed; Germany reunified with Kohl as chancellor. 1991 Germany took lead in pressing for closer European integration in the Maastricht Treaty. mid-1990s Deteriorating economic situation; high unemployment. 1998 Centre-right CDU-led coalition defeated in general election; new government formed by SPD and Greens with Gerhard Schroeder as chancellor; Kohl replaced as CDU leader by Wolfgang Schäuble. 1999 Social Democrat Johannes Rau elected president. 2000 Former chancellor Kohl admitted accepting illegal donations to CDU; Schäuble replaced as party leader by Angela Merkel. First cases of BSE discovered in German cattle. 2001 Kohl fined over illegal party donations but spared criminal trial. 2002 Chancellor Schroeder re-elected narrowly in general elections; euro replaced mark as currency; massive flood damage in Dresden. 2004 CDU candidate Horst Koehler elected president. 2005 Hung parliament following parliamentary elections; CDU and SDP formed grand coalition government with Angela Merkel (CDU) as first female chancellor.


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