Germany

Location

• Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark
• strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea; most major rivers in Germany -- the Rhine, Weser, Oder, Elbe -- flow northward; the Danube, which originates in the Black Forest, flows eastward

Population

Notable Population Centers

City	Population	Note
Berlin	3,426,354	Capital
Hamburg	1,845,229
Munich	1,260,391
Köln	963,395
Frankfurt am Main	650,000
Stuttgart	630,305
Düsseldorf	620,523
Essen	593,085
Dortmund	588,462
Dresden	556,227

Size

• 137,846 square miles
• 357,021 square kilometers
• three times the size of Pennsylvania; slightly smaller than Montana

History

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, including the EC (now the EU) and NATO, while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War allowed German reunification to occur 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.

Climate

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

Terrain

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

Languages

German (official); note - Danish, Frisian, Sorbian, and Romani are official minority languages; Low German, Danish, North Frisian, Sater Frisian, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian, and Romani are recognized as regional languagesmajor-language sample(s): Das World Factbook, die unverzichtbare Quelle für grundlegende Informationen. (German)The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

Religions

Roman Catholic 24.8%, Protestant 22.6%, Muslim 3.7%, other 5.1%, none 43.8% (2022 est.)

Government

federal parliamentary republic

• Constitution: history: previous 1919 (Weimar Constitution); latest drafted 10-23 August 1948, approved 12 May 1949, promulgated 23 May 1949, entered into force 24 May 1949amendment process: proposed by Parliament; passage and enactment into law require two-thirds majority vote by both the Bundesrat (upper house) and the Bundestag (lower house) of Parliament; articles including those on basic human rights and freedoms cannot be amended
• Political Parties and Leaders: n/a
• Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal; age 16 for some state and municipal elections
• Legal System: civil law system
• Executive Branch: chief of state: President Frank-Walter STEINMEIER (since 19 March 2017)head of government: Chancellor Friedrich MERZ (since 6 May 2025)cabinet: Cabinet or Bundesminister (Federal Ministers) recommended by the chancellor, appointed by the presidentelection/appointment process: president indirectly elected by a Federal Convention consisting of all members of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and an equivalent number of delegates indirectly elected by the state parliaments; president serves a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); following the most recent Federal Parliament election, the party or coalition with the most representatives usually elects the chancellor, who is appointed by the president to serve a renewable 4-year termmost recent election date: president: 13 February 2022chancellor: 6 May 2025election results: 2025: Friedrich MERZ (CDU) elected chancellor in second round; Federal Parliament vote - 325 to 2892022: Frank-Walter STEINMEIER reelected president; Federal Convention vote count - Frank-Walter STEINMEIER (SPD) 1,045, Max OTTE (CDU) 140, Gerhard TRABERT (The Left) 96, Stefanie GEBAUER (Free Voters) 58, abstentions 86expected date of next election: president: February 2027
• Judicial Branch: highest court(s): Federal Court of Justice (court consists of 127 judges, including the court president, vice presidents, presiding judges, other judges; organized into 25 Senates subdivided into 12 civil panels, 5 criminal panels, and 8 special panels); Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht (consists of 2 Senates each subdivided into 3 chambers, each with a chairman and 8 members)judge selection and term of office: Federal Court of Justice judges selected by the Judges Election Committee, which consists of the Secretaries of Justice from each of the 16 federated states and 16 members appointed by the Federal Parliament; judges appointed by the president; judges serve until mandatory retirement at age 65; half of Federal Constitutional Court judges are elected by the House of Representatives and half by the Senate; judges appointed for 12-year terms with mandatory retirement at age 68subordinate courts: Federal Administrative Court; Federal Finance Court; Federal Labor Court; Federal Social Court; each of the 16 federated states or Land has its own constitutional court and a hierarchy of ordinary (civil, criminal, family) and specialized (administrative, finance, labor, social) courts; two English-speaking commercial courts opened in 2020 in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg -- the Stuttgart Commercial Court and the Mannheim Commercial Court
• Legislative Branch: legislative structure: bicameralnote: due to Germany's recognition of the concepts of "overhang" (when a party's share of the nationwide votes would entitle it to fewer seats than the number of individual constituency seats won in an election under Germany's mixed member proportional system) and "leveling" (whereby additional seats are elected to supplement the members directly elected by each constituency in order to ensure that each party's share of the total seats is roughly proportional to the party's overall shares of votes at the national level), the 20th Bundestag is the largest to date

Demographic Profile

n/a

Economy

• leading export-driven, core EU and eurozone economy; key automotive, chemical, engineering, finance, and green energy industries; growth stalled by energy crisis and declining exports; tight labor market with falling working-age population; fiscal rebalancing with phaseout of energy price supports
• Budget: revenues: $1.279 trillion (2023 est.)expenditures: $1.369 trillion (2023 est.)note: central government revenues (excluding grants) and expenditures converted to US dollars at average official exchange rate for year indicated
• Credit Rating: n/a
• Natural Resources: coal, lignite, natural gas, iron ore, copper, nickel, uranium, potash, salt, construction materials, timber, arable land
• Industries: iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, automobiles, food and beverages, shipbuilding, textiles
• Agricultural Products: milk, sugar beets, wheat, potatoes, barley, maize, rapeseed, pork, rye, triticale (2023)note: top ten agricultural products based on tonnage
• Land Use: agricultural land: 47.5% (2022 est.)arable land: 33.4% (2022 est.)permanent crops: 0.6% (2022 est.)permanent pasture: 13.5% (2022 est.)forest: 32.7% (2022 est.)other: 19.8% (2022 est.)
• Labor Force by Occupation: n/a
• Imports
• Imported Commodities: cars, vehicle parts/accessories, garments, natural gas, vaccines (2023)note: top five import commodities based on value in dollars
• Import Partners: China 12%, Netherlands 7%, USA 7%, Poland 6%, France 5% (2023)note: top five import partners based on percentage share of imports
• Exports
• Exported Commodities: cars, vehicle parts/accessories, packaged medicine, plastic products, vaccines (2023)note: top five export commodities based on value in dollars
• Export Partners: USA 10%, France 8%, Netherlands 7%, China 7%, Italy 6% (2023)note: top five export partners based on percentage share of exports