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). 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. In January 2011, Germany assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2011-12 term.

Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark

slightly smaller than Montana

temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind

lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south

coal, lignite, natural gas, iron ore, copper, nickel, uranium, potash, salt, construction materials, timber, arable land

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

strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea

German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish)

Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3%

81,305,856 (July 2012 est.)

8.33 births/1,000 population (2012 est.)

11.04 deaths/1,000 population (July 2012 est.)

0.71 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2012 est.)

BERLIN (capital) 3.438 million; Hamburg 1.786 million; Munich 1.349 million; Cologne 1.001 million (2009)

7 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)

1.41 children born/woman (2012 est.)

3.531 physicians/1,000 population (2008)

8.17 beds/1,000 population (2008)

fewer than 1,000 (2009 est.)

16 states (Laender, singular - Land); Baden-Wurttemberg, Bayern (Bavaria), Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen (Hesse), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia), Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate), Saarland, Sachsen (Saxony), Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt), Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringen (Thuringia); note - Bayern, Sachsen, and Thuringen refer to themselves as free states (Freistaaten, singular - Freistaat)

18 January 1871 (German Empire unification); divided into four zones of occupation (UK, US, USSR, and France) in 1945 following World War II; Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) proclaimed on 23 May 1949 and included the former UK, US, and French zones; German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) proclaimed on 7 October 1949 and included the former USSR zone; West Germany and East Germany unified on 3 October 1990; all four powers formally relinquished rights on 15 March 1991; notable earlier dates: 10 August 843 (Eastern Francia established from the division of the Carolingian Empire); 2 February 962 (crowning of OTTO I, recognized as the first Holy Roman Emperor)

Unity Day, 3 October (1990)

23 May 1949, known as Basic Law; became constitution of the united Germany 3 October 1990

accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

bicameral legislature consists of the Federal Council or Bundesrat (69 votes; state governments sit in the Council; each has three to six votes in proportion to population and is required to vote as a block) and the Federal Diet or Bundestag (622 seats; members elected by popular vote for a four-year term under a system of personalized proportional representation; a party must win 5% of the national vote or three direct mandates to gain proportional representation and caucus recognition)

Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht (half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat); Federal Court of Justice; Federal Administrative Court

Alliance '90/Greens [Claudia ROTH and Cem OZDEMIR]; Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Angela MERKEL]; Christian Social Union or CSU [Horst SEEHOFER]; Free Democratic Party or FDP [Philipp ROESLER]; Left Party or Die Linke [Klaus ERNST and Gesine LOETZSCH]; Social Democratic Party or SPD [Sigmar GABRIEL]

business associations and employers' organizations; trade unions; religious, immigrant, expellee, and veterans groups

ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CBSS, CDB, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, FATF, G-20, G-5, G-7, G-8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD (partners), IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, Schengen Convention, SELEC (observer), SICA (observer), UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMIL, UNMISS, UNRWA, UNSC (temporary), UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and gold; these colors have played an important role in German history and can be traced back to the medieval banner of the Holy Roman Emperor - a black eagle with red claws and beak on a gold field

The German economy - the fifth largest economy in the world in PPP terms and Europe's largest - is a leading exporter of machinery, vehicles, chemicals, and household equipment and benefits from a highly skilled labor force. Like its Western European neighbors, Germany faces significant demographic challenges to sustained long-term growth. Low fertility rates and declining net immigration are increasing pressure on the country's social welfare system and necessitate structural reforms. Reforms launched by the government of Chancellor Gerhard SCHROEDER (1998-2005), deemed necessary to address chronically high unemployment and low average growth, contributed to strong growth in 2006 and 2007 and falling unemployment. These advances, as well as a government subsidized, reduced working hour scheme, help explain the relatively modest increase in unemployment during the 2008-09 recession - the deepest since World War II - and its decrease to 6.0% in 2011. GDP contracted 5.1% in 2009 but grew by 3.6% in 2010, and 2.7% in 2011. The recovery was attributable primarily to rebounding manufacturing orders and exports - increasingly outside the Euro Zone. Germany's central bank projects that GDP will grow 0.6% in 2012, a reflection of the worsening euro-zone financial crisis and the financial burden it places on Germany as well as falling demand for German exports. Domestic demand is therefore becoming a more significant driver of Germany's economic expansion. Stimulus and stabilization efforts initiated in 2008 and 2009 and tax cuts introduced in Chancellor Angela MERKEL's second term increased Germany's budget deficit to 3.3% in 2010, but slower spending and higher tax revenues reduce the deficit to 1.7% in 2011, below the EU's 3% limit. A constitutional amendment approved in 2009 limits the federal government to structural deficits of no more than 0.35% of GDP per annum as of 2016. Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in May 2011 that eight of the country's 17 nuclear reactors would be shut down immediately and the remaining plants would close by 2022. Germany hopes to replace nuclear power with renewable energy. Before the shutdown of the eight reactors, Germany relied on nuclear power for 23% of its energy and 46% of its base-load electrical production.

$3.139 trillion (2011 est.)

$3.046 trillion (2010 est.)

$2.941 trillion (2009 est.)

$3.577 trillion (2011 est.)

43.62 million (2011 est.)

18.2% of GDP (2011 est.)

43.4% of GDP (2011 est.)

-1% of GDP (2011 est.)

81.8% of GDP (2011 est.)

83.4% of GDP (2010 est.)

1.75% (31 December 2011)

1.75% (31 December 2010)

8.4% (31 December 2011 est.)

4.96% (31 December 2009 est.)

$1.777 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)

$1.747 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)

$4.278 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)

$4.173 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)

$4.689 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)

$5.2 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)

$1.184 trillion (31 December 2011)

$1.43 trillion (31 December 2010)

$1.298 trillion (31 December 2009)

potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbages; cattle, pigs, poultry

among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food and beverages, shipbuilding, textiles

$188.6 billion (2011 est.)

$187.9 billion (2010 est.)

$1.408 trillion (2011 est.)

$1.303 trillion (2010 est.)

motor vehicles, machinery, chemicals, computer and electronic products, electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals, metals, transport equipment, foodstuffs, textiles, rubber and plastic products

France 9.4%, US 6.8%, Netherlands 6.6%, UK 6.2%, Italy 6.2%, China 5.7%, Austria 5.5%, Belgium 4.7%, Switzerland 4.4% (2009 est.)

$1.198 trillion (2011 est.)

$1.099 trillion (2010 est.)

machinery, data processing equipment, vehicles, chemicals, oil and gas, metals, electric equipment, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, agricultural products

China 9.7%, Netherlands 8.4%, France 7.6%, US 5.7%, Italy 5.2%, UK 4.7%, Belgium 4.2%, Austria 4.1%, Switzerland 4.1% (2009 est.)

$238.9 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$5.624 trillion (30 June 2011)

$4.713 trillion (30 June 2010)

$940.1 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$910.4 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$1.465 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)

$1.406 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)

euros (EUR) per US dollar -

576.8 billion kWh (2010 est.)

509.5 billion kWh (2009 est.)

57.92 billion kWh (2010 est.)

42.96 billion kWh (2010 est.)

146.9 million kW (2009 est.)

50.5% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

13.9% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

2.7% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

28.3% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

100,300 bbl/day (2011 est.)

2,200 bbl/day (2009 est.)

1.961 million bbl/day (2009 est.)

276 million bbl (1 January 2012 est.)

2.348 million bbl/day (2009 est.)

2.4 million bbl/day (2011 est.)

467,900 bbl/day (2009 est.)

696,400 bbl/day (2009 est.)

11.9 billion cu m (2011 est.)

78.99 billion cu m (2011 est.)

19.74 billion cu m (2011 est.)

87.57 billion cu m (2011 est.)

175.6 billion cu m (1 January 2012 est.)

793.7 million Mt (2010 est.)

108.7 million (2011)

a mixture of publicly-operated and privately-owned TV and radio stations; national and regional public broadcasters compete with nearly 400 privately-owned national and regional TV stations; more than 90% of households have cable or satellite TV; hundreds of radio stations including multiple national radio networks, regional radio networks, and a large number of local radio stations (2008)

20.416 million (2010)

65.125 million (2009)

gas 24,688 km; oil 3,687 km; refined products 4,875 km (2010)

7,467 km (Rhine River carries most goods; Main-Danube Canal links North Sea and Black Sea) (2012)

Bremen, Bremerhaven, Duisburg, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Lubeck, Neuss-Dusseldorf, Rostock, Wilhemshaven

Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr): Army (Heer), Navy (Deutsche Marine, includes naval air arm), Air Force (Luftwaffe), Joint Support Services (Streitkraeftbasis), Central Medical Service (Zentraler Sanitaetsdienst) (2010)

17-23 years of age for male and female voluntary military service; conscription ended 1 July 2011; 1-2 year service obligation; women have been eligible for voluntary service in all military branches and positions since 2001 (2004)

1.5% of GDP (2005 est.)

source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine processors; transshipment point for and consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, Latin American cocaine, and European-produced synthetic drugs; major financial center