- Anti Joke

Germany From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the country. For other uses, see Germany (disambiguation). "Deutschland" redirects here. For other uses, see Deutschland (disambiguation). Page semi-protectedThis is a featured article. Click here for more information. Federal Republic of Germany Bundesrepublik Deutschland Flag Coat of arms Anthem: Deutschlandlied[1] (English: "Song of Germany")[a] Location of Germany (dark green)– in Europe (green & dark grey)– in the European Union (green) – [Legend] Location of Germany (dark green) – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in the European Union (green) – [Legend] Capital and largest city Berlin 52°31?N 13°23?E Official languages German[1] Demonym German Government Federal parliamentary constitutional republic - President Joachim Gauck - President of the Bundestag Norbert Lammert - Chancellor Angela Merkel - President of the Bundesrat Volker Bouffier - President of the Bundesverfassungsgericht Andreas Voßkuhle Legislature - Upper house Bundesrat - Lower house Bundestag Formation - Holy Roman Empire 2 February 962 - German Confederation 8 June 1815 - Unification 18 January 1871 - Federal Republic 23 May 1949 - Reunification 3 October 1990 Area - Total 357,168 km2 (63rd) 137,847 sq mi Population - 2014 estimate 80,716,000[2] (16th) - 2011 census 80,219,695[3] (16th) - Density 226/km2 (58th) 583/sq mi GDP (PPP) 2014 estimate - Total $3.621 trillion[4] (5th) - Per capita $44,741[4] (17th) GDP (nominal) 2014 estimate - Total $3.820 trillion[4] (4th) - Per capita $47,201[4] (16th) Gini (2011) 29.0[5] low HDI (2013) Steady 0.911[6] very high · 6th Currency Euro (€) [2] (EUR) Time zone CET (UTC+1) - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2) Drives on the right Calling code 49 ISO 3166 code DE Internet TLD .de [3] a. ^ Danish, Low German, Sorbian, Romany, and Frisian are officially recognised by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML). b. ^ Before 2002, the Deutschmark. c. ^ The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states. Germany (Listeni/?d??rm?ni/; German: Deutschland), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [?b?nd?s?epu?bli?k ?d??t?lant] ( listen)),[7] is a federal parliamentary republic in western-central Europe. It consists of 16 constituent states, which retain limited sovereignty, and covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi) with a largely temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Berlin. The seat of government is Berlin and Bonn. Germany is a great power and traditionally a leader in many cultural, theoretical and technical fields. With 80.7 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state in the European Union. After the United States, it is also the second most popular migration destination in the world.[8] Germany has the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the fifth-largest by PPP. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and third-largest importer of goods. It is a developed country with a very high standard of living, featuring comprehensive social security that includes the world's oldest universal health care system. Known for its rich cultural and political history, Germany has been the home of many influential philosophers, artists, musicians, cineasts, entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors. Germany was a founding member of the European Communities in 1957, which became the European Union in 1993. It is part of the Schengen Area, and has been a member of the Eurozone since 1999. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, the OECD and the Council of Europe. Various Germanic tribes have occupied what is now northern Germany and southern Scandinavia since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented by the Romans before AD 100. During the Migration Period that coincided with the decline of the Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes expanded southward and established kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire.[9] During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. The rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation, which had been occupied by France during the Napoleonic Wars, resulted in the unification of most of the German states in 1871 into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. As a result of the military defeat in World War I, and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic. The establishment of the Third Reich, or Nazi Germany, in 1933 eventually led to World War II and the Holocaust. In 1945, the remnants of the Nazi regime surrendered to the Allied Powers. Over the next few years, Germany lost more of its territory and was divided by the victors into Allied occupation zones, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. On 3 October 1990, the country was reunified, regaining full sovereignty about six months later. Contents [hide] 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Prehistory 2.2 Germanic tribes and Frankish Empire 2.3 Holy Roman Empire 2.4 German Confederation and Empire 2.5 Weimar Republic and the Third Reich 2.6 East and West Germany 2.7 German reunification and the EU 3 Geography 3.1 Climate 3.2 Biodiversity 4 Politics 4.1 Law 4.2 Constituent states 4.3 Foreign relations 4.4 Military 5 Economy 5.1 Infrastructure 5.2 Science and technology 5.3 Tourism 6 Demographics 6.1 National minorities 6.2 Immigrant population 6.3 Urbanization 6.4 Religion 6.5 Languages 6.6 Education 6.7 Health 7 Culture 7.1 Art 7.2 Music 7.3 Architecture 7.4 Literature and philosophy 7.5 Cinema 7.6 Media 7.7 Cuisine 7.8 Sports 7.9 Fashion and design 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External links Etymology Further information: Names of Germany The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine.[10] The German term Deutschland (originally diutisciu land, "the German lands") is derived from deutsch, descended from Old High German diutisc "popular" (i.e. belonging to the diot or diota "people"), originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz "popular" (see also the Latinised form Theodiscus), derived from *þeud?, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh?- "people".[11] History Main article: History of Germany Prehistory The Nebra sky disk is about 3,600 years old. The discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible in 1907 shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago.[12] The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a coal mine in Schöningen in 1995 where three 380,000 year old wooden javelins 6–7.5 feet long were unearthed.[13] The Neander Valley (German "Neanderthal") was the location where the first ever non-modern human fossil was discovered and recognised in 1856, the new species of human was named Neanderthal man. The Neanderthal 1 fossils are now known to be 40,000 years old. Evidence of modern humans, similarly dated, has been found in caves in the Swabian Jura near Ulm. The finds include 42,000 year old bird bone and mammoth ivory flutes which are the oldest musical instruments ever found,[14] the 40,000 year old Ice Age Lion Man which is the oldest uncontested figurative art ever discovered,[15] and the 35,000 year old Venus of Hohle Fels which is the oldest uncontested human figurative art ever discovered.[16] The Nebra sky disk is a bronze disk attributed to a site near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt. UNESCO's Memory of the World Register calls it "one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century."[17] Germanic tribes and Frankish Empire Main articles: Germania and Migration Period Second- to fifth-century migrations in Europe The Germanic tribes are thought to date from the Nordic Bronze Age or the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and north Germany, they expanded south, east and west from the 1st century BC, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well as Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes in Central and Eastern Europe.[18] Under Augustus, Rome began to invade Germania (an area extending roughly from the Rhine to the Ural Mountains). In AD 9, three Roman legions led by Varus were defeated by the Cheruscan leader Arminius. By AD 100, when Tacitus wrote Germania, Germanic tribes had settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of the area of modern Germany; Austria, southern Bavaria and the western Rhineland, however, were Roman provinces.[19] In the 3rd century a number of large West Germanic tribes emerged: Alemanni, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisii, Sicambri, and Thuringii. Around 260, the Germanic peoples broke into Roman-controlled lands.[20] After the invasion of the Huns in 375, and with the decline of Rome from 395, Germanic tribes moved further south-west. Simultaneously several large tribes formed in what is now Germany and displaced the smaller Germanic tribes. Large areas (known since the Merovingian period as Austrasia) were occupied by the Franks, and Northern Germany was ruled by the Saxons and Slavs.[19] Holy Roman Empire Main article: Holy Roman Empire Map of the Holy Roman Empire in 1648, after the Peace of Westphalia which ended the Thirty Years' War. On 25 December 800, the Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned emperor and founded the Carolingian Empire, which was divided in 843.[21] The Holy Roman Empire comprised the eastern portion of Charlemagne's original kingdom and emerged as the strongest. Its territory stretched from the Eider River in the north to the Mediterranean coast in the south.[21] Under the reign of the Ottonian emperors (919–1024), several major duchies were consolidated, and the German king Otto I was crowned Holy Roman Emperor of these regions in 962. In 996 Gregory V became the first German Pope, appointed by his cousin Otto III, whom he shortly after crowned Holy Roman Emperor.[22] The Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern Italy and Burgundy under the reign of the Salian emperors (1024–1125), although the emperors lost power through the Investiture Controversy.[23] Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation Under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254), the German princes increased their influence further south and east into territories inhabited by Slavs, preceding German settlement in these areas and further east (Ostsiedlung). Northern German towns grew prosperous as members of the Hanseatic League.[24] Starting with the Great Famine in 1315, then the Black Death of 1348–50, the population of Germany declined.[25] The edict of the Golden Bull in 1356 provided the basic constitution of the empire and codified the election of the emperor by seven prince-electors who ruled some of the most powerful principalities and archbishoprics.[26] Martin Luther publicised The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 in Wittenberg, challenging the Roman Catholic Church and initiating the Protestant Reformation. Lutheranism and the Reformed faith became the official religions in many German states after 1530 and 1648, respectively. Religious conflict led to the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which devastated German lands.[27] The population of the German states was reduced by about 30%.[28] The Peace of Westphalia (1648) ended religious warfare among the German states. Throughout its entire history, the empire was de facto divided into numerous independent principalities. In the 18th century, the Holy Roman Empire consisted of approximately 1,800 such territories.[29] From 1740 onwards, dualism between the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia dominated German history. In 1806 the Imperium was overrun and dissolved as a result of the Napoleonic Wars.[30] German Confederation and Empire Main articles: German Confederation, German Empire and Pan-Germanism Origin of the Black-Red-Gold: German Revolution of 1848 (Berlin, 19 March 1848) Foundation of the German Empire in Versailles, 1871. Bismarck is at the center in a white uniform. Following the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna convened in 1814 and founded the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund), a loose league of 39 sovereign states. Disagreement with restoration politics partly led to the rise of liberal movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman Metternich. The Zollverein, a tariff union, furthered economic unity in the German states.[31] National and liberal ideals of the French Revolution gained increasing support among many, especially young, Germans. The Hambach Festival in May 1832 was a main event in support of German unity, freedom and democracy. In the light of a series of revolutionary movements in Europe, which established a republic in France, intellectuals and commoners started the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was offered the title of Emperor, but with a loss of power; he rejected the crown and the proposed constitution, leading to a temporary setback for the movement.[32] The German Empire (1871–1918), with the dominant Kingdom of Prussia in blue King William I appointed Otto von Bismarck the new Minister President of Prussia in 1862. Bismarck successfully waged war on Denmark in 1864. Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the North German Confederation (Norddeutscher Bund) and to exclude Austria from the federation's affairs. After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire was proclaimed in 1871 in Versailles, uniting all scattered parts of Germany except Austria. Prussia was the dominating constituent of the new state; the Hohenzollern King of Prussia ruled as its concurrent Emperor, and Berlin became its capital.[32] In the Gründerzeit period following the unification of Germany, Bismarck's foreign policy as Chancellor of Germany under Emperor William I secured Germany's position as a great nation by forging alliances, isolating France by diplomatic means, and avoiding war. As a result of the Berlin Conference in 1884 Germany claimed several colonies including German East Africa, German South-West Africa, Togo, and Cameroon.[33] Under Wilhelm II, however, Germany, like other European powers, took an imperialistic course leading to friction with neighbouring countries. Most alliances in which Germany had previously been involved were not renewed, and new alliances excluded the country.[34] The assassination of Austria's crown prince on 28 June 1914 triggered World War I. Germany, as part of the Central Powers, suffered defeat against the Allies in one of the bloodiest conflicts of all time. In total, approximately two million German soldiers were killed in World War I.[35] The German Revolution broke out in November 1918, and Emperor Wilhelm II and all German ruling princes abdicated. An armistice ended the war on 11 November, and Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. Germans perceived the treaty as humiliating and unjust and it was later seen by historians as influential in the rise of Adolf Hitler.[36][37][38] Weimar Republic and the Third Reich Main articles: Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany At the beginning of the German Revolution in November 1918, Germany was declared a republic. However, the struggle for power continued, with radical-left Communists seizing power in Bavaria. The revolution came to an end on 11 August 1919, when the democratic Weimar Constitution was signed by President Friedrich Ebert.[39] After a tumultuous period seeing the occupation of the Ruhr by Belgian and French troops and the rise of inflation culminating in the hyperinflation of 1922–23, a debt restructuring plan (the Dawes Plan) and the creation of a new currency in 1924 ushered in the Golden Twenties, an era of increasing national confidence, artistic innovation, liberal cultural life and economic prosperity. However, the economic situation was still quite volatile and Germany remained politically tempestuous throughout. Historian David Williamson connotes the period between 1924 and 1929 in Germany as one of "Partial Stabilization."[40] Hitler was Chancellor and Führer of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. The Great Depression hit Germany in 1929. After the federal election of 1930, forming a coalition government proved impossible and Chancellor Heinrich Brüning's government asked President Paul von Hindenburg to grant him Article 48 powers so that he could enact emergency policies without parliamentary approval. Hindenburg approved the request and Brüning's government pursued a policy of fiscal austerity and deflation which caused higher unemployment and left Germans, especially the unemployed, with fewer social services. By 1932 nearly 30% of Germany's workforce was unemployed[41] and in the special federal election of 1932 the Nazi Party won 37% of the vote but could not form a coalition government. After a series of unsuccessful cabinets, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933.[42] On 27 February 1933 the Reichstag building went up in flames, the Reichstag Fire Decree was passed abrogating basic civil rights and within weeks Germany's first concentration camp, Dachau, was opened.[43] On 24 March 1933,the Enabling Act of 1933 gave Hitler unrestricted legislative power, his government established a centralised totalitarian state, in September 1933 Germans voted to withdraw from the League of Nations and Hitler began to pursue military rearmament.[44] Deportation of ethnic minorities inside Nazi Germany to concentration camps, action which foreshadowed the Holocaust, 22 May 1940 In 1935 the Nazi regime reintroduced compulsory military service, withdrew from the Treaty of Versailles and introduced the Nuremberg Laws which targeted Jews and other groups. Germany reacquired control of the Saar in 1935 and in 1936 sent troops into the Rhineland, which had been forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles.[45] Austria was annexed in 1938 and despite the Munich Agreement in September 1938, Germany occupied Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939. Hitler's government then prepared for the invasion of Poland by signing the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact and planning a fake Polish attack. On 1 September 1939 the German Wehrmacht launched their invasion, and swiftly occupied Poland along with the Soviet Red Army. The United Kingdom and France responded to the invasion by declaring war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II.[46] On 22 July 1940, the French signed an armistice with the Germans after Nazi troops had occupied most of France. The British successfully repelled the German attacks of 1940, known as the Battle of Britain, and continued to fight against the Axis powers. On 22 June 1941, Germany broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact and invaded the Soviet Union. At that point, Germany and the other Axis powers controlled most of continental Europe and North Africa. In early 1943, the German troops begun to retreat from the Soviet Union after their defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad, which is considered a turning point in the war.[46] In September 1943 Germany's ally Italy surrendered, and additional German troops were needed to defend against Allied forces in Italy. The D-Day invasion of France opened a Western front in the war and despite a German counter offensive Allied forces had entered Germany by 1945. Following Hitler's suicide and the Battle of Berlin, the German armed forces surrendered on 8 May 1945.[47] The war was humanity's bloodiest conflict and caused the deaths of around 40 million people in Europe alone.[48] German army war casualties were between 3.25 million and 5.3 million soldiers,[49] and approximately 2 million German civilians were killed.[50] In what later became known as The Holocaust, the Nazi regime enacted policies which targeted minorities as well as political and religious opposition. Over 10 million civilians were executed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, including 6 million Jews, between 220,000 and 1,500,000 Romani people, 275,000 persons with mental and/or physical disabilities, thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses, thousands of homosexuals, and hundreds of thousands of members of the political and religious opposition.[51] 2.7 million Poles[52] and 1.3 million Ukrainians,[53] along with an estimated 2.8 million Soviet war prisoners were also killed by the Nazi regime. Berlin in ruins after World War II. View of the Brandenburg Gate and Unter den Linden boulevard, July 1945 Losing the war resulted in territorial losses for Germany, the expulsion of millions of ethnic Germans from the former eastern territories of Germany and formerly occupied countries. Germany, like many of the countries it had occupied,[54] suffered mass rape[55] and the destruction of numerous cities and cultural heritage due to bombing and fighting during the war. After World War II, some Nazis, former Nazis and others were tried for German war crimes, including crimes related to the Holocaust, at the Nuremberg trials.[56] East and West Germany Main article: History of Germany (1945–1990) Occupation zones in Germany, 1947. The territories east of the Oder-Neisse line, under Polish and Soviet de jure administration and de facto annexation, are shown as white, as is the detached Saar protectorate. After the surrender of Germany, the remaining German territory and Berlin were partitioned by the Allies into four military occupation zones. Together these zones accepted more than 6.5 million of the ethnic Germans expelled from eastern areas.[57] The western sectors, controlled by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, were merged on 23 May 1949 to form the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland or BRD); on 7 October 1949, the Soviet Zone became the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR). They were informally known as "West Germany" and "East Germany". East Germany selected East Berlin as its capital, while West Germany chose Bonn as a provisional capital, to emphasise its stance that the two-state solution was an artificial and temporary status quo.[58] West Germany was established as a federal parliamentary republic with a "social market economy". Starting in 1948 West Germany became a major recipient of reconstruction aid under the Marshall Plan and used this to rebuild its industry (especially coal).[59] Konrad Adenauer was elected the first Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler) of Germany in 1949 and remained in office until 1963. Under his and Ludwig Erhard's leadership, the country enjoyed prolonged economic growth beginning in the early 1950s, that became known as an "economic miracle" (Wirtschaftswunder).[60] West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957. East Germany was an Eastern Bloc state under political and military control by the USSR via the latter's occupation forces and the Warsaw Pact. Though East Germany claimed to be a democracy, political power was exercised solely by leading members (Politbüro) of the communist-controlled Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), supported by the Stasi, an immense secret service,[61] and a variety of sub-organisations controlling every aspect of society. A Soviet-style command economy was set up; the GDR later became a Comecon state (an economic organization under the leadership of the Soviet Union).[62] The Berlin Wall during its fall in 1989, with the Brandenburg Gate behind. Today the Gate is often regarded as Germany's main national landmark. While East German propaganda was based on the benefits of the GDR's social programmes and the alleged constant threat of a West German invasion, many of its citizens looked to the West for freedom and prosperity.[63] The Berlin Wall, built in 1961 to stop East Germans from escaping to West Germany, became a symbol of the Cold War,[32] hence its fall in 1989 became a symbol of the Fall of Communism, German Reunification and Die Wende. Tensions between East and West Germany were reduced in the early 1970s by Chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik. In summer 1989, Hungary decided to dismantle the Iron Curtain and open the borders, causing the emigration of thousands of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary. This had devastating effects on the GDR, where regular mass demonstrations received increasing support. The East German authorities unexpectedly eased the border restrictions, allowing East German citizens to travel to the West; originally intended to help retain East Germany as a state, the opening of the border actually led to an acceleration of the Wende reform process. This culminated in the Two Plus Four Treaty a year later on 12 September 1990, under which the four occupying powers renounced their rights under the Instrument of Surrender, and Germany regained full sovereignty. This permitted German reunification on 3 October 1990, with the accession of the five re-established states of the former GDR (new states or "neue Länder").[32] German reunification and the EU Main articles: German reunification and History of Germany since 1990 The German Unity Flag, raised outside the Reichstag building on 3 October 1990 as a national memorial to German reunification. Since its completed renovation in 1999, the Reichstag is the meeting place of the Bundestag, the German parliament. Based on the Berlin/Bonn Act, adopted on 10 March 1994, Berlin once again became the capital of the reunified Germany, while Bonn obtained the unique status of a Bundesstadt (federal city) retaining some federal ministries.[64] The relocation of the government was completed in 1999.[65] Following the 1998 elections, SPD politician Gerhard Schröder became the first Chancellor of a red–green coalition with the Alliance '90/The Greens party, lasting until the 2005 elections. Since reunification, Germany has taken a more active role in the European Union and NATO. Germany sent a peacekeeping force to secure stability in the Balkans and sent a force of German troops to Afghanistan as part of a NATO effort to provide security in that country after the ousting of the Taliban.[66] These deployments were controversial since, after the war, Germany was bound by domestic law only to deploy troops for defence roles.[67] In 2005, Angela Merkel became the first female Chancellor of Germany as the leader of a grand coalition ("Black-Red coalition").[32] In 2009, a liberal-conservative coalition under Merkel assumed leadership of the country. In 2013, another grand coalition was established in a Third Merkel cabinet, with the FDP Liberals not present in the Bundestag for the first time. Since 2014, the newly established conservative Alternative for Germany (AfD) party were elected for various Landtag mandates. Among the major German political projects of the early 21st century are the energy transition (Energiewende) for a sustainable energy supply, the "Debt Brake" (Schuldenbremse) for balanced budgets, the reform of German immigration laws, the legislation for a general minimum wage, and high-tech strategies for the informatization and future transition of the German economy, summarized as Industry 4.0.[68] Geography Main article: Geography of Germany Topographic map Germany is in Western and Central Europe, with Denmark bordering to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France and Luxembourg to the southwest, and Belgium and the Netherlands to the northwest. It lies mostly between latitudes 47° and 55° N (the tip of Sylt is just north of 55°), and longitudes 5° and 16° E. The territory covers 357,021 km2 (137,847 sq mi), consisting of 349,223 km2 (134,836 sq mi) of land and 7,798 km2 (3,011 sq mi) of water. It is the seventh largest country by area in Europe and the 62nd largest in the world.[1] Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,962 metres or 9,718 feet) in the south to the shores of the North Sea (Nordsee) in the northwest and the Baltic Sea (Ostsee) in the northeast. The forested uplands of central Germany and the lowlands of northern Germany (lowest point: Wilstermarsch at 3.54 metres or 11.6 feet below sea level) are traversed by such major rivers as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Glaciers are found in the Alpine region, but are experiencing deglaciation. Significant natural resources are iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land and water.[1] Climate Steep coast of Darß, Western Pomerania – typical of the Baltic coastal landscape in northern Germany Most of Germany has a temperate seasonal climate in which humid westerly winds predominate. The country is situated in between the oceanic Western European and the continental Eastern European climate. The climate is moderated by the North Atlantic Drift, the northern extension of the Gulf Stream. This warmer water affects the areas bordering the North Sea; consequently in the northwest and the north the climate is oceanic. Germany gets an average of 789 mm (31 in) precipitation per year. Rainfall occurs year-round, with no consistent dry season. Winters are mild and summers tend to be warm: temperatures can exceed 30 °C (86 °F).[69] The east has a more continental climate: winters can be very cold and summers very warm, and longer dry periods can occur. Central and southern Germany are transition regions which vary from moderately oceanic to continental. In addition to the maritime and continental climates that predominate over most of the country, the Alpine regions in the extreme south and, to a lesser degree, some areas of the Central German Uplands have a mountain climate, with lower temperatures and greater precipitation.[69] Biodiversity The golden eagle is a protected bird of prey. The territory of Germany can be subdivided into two ecoregions: European-Mediterranean montane mixed forests and Northeast-Atlantic shelf marine.[70] As of 2008 the majority of Germany is covered by either arable land (34%) or forest and woodland (30.1%); only 13.4% of the area consists of permanent pastures, 11.8% is covered by settlements and streets.[71] Plants and animals are those generally common to middle Europe. Beeches, oaks, and other deciduous trees constitute one-third of the forests; conifers are increasing as a result of reforestation. Spruce and fir trees predominate in the upper mountains, while pine and larch are found in sandy soil. There are many species of ferns, flowers, fungi, and mosses. Wild animals include deer, wild boar, mouflon, fox, badger, hare, and small numbers of beavers.[72] The blue cornflower was once a German national symbol.[73] The 14 national parks in Germany include the Jasmund National Park, the Vorpommern Lagoon Area National Park, the Müritz National Park, the Wadden Sea National Parks, the Harz National Park, the Hainich National Park, the Black Forest National Park, the Saxon Switzerland National Park, the Bavarian Forest National Park and the Berchtesgaden National Park. In addition, there are 14 Biosphere Reserves, as well as 98 nature parks. More than 400 registered zoos and animal parks operate in Germany, which is believed to be the largest number in any country.[74] The Berlin Zoo, opened in 1844, is the oldest zoo in Germany, and presents the most comprehensive collection of species in the world.[75] Politics Main article: Politics of Germany See also: Judiciary of Germany and Law enforcement in Germany The Reichstag building in Berlin is the site of the German parliament (Bundestag) Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. The German political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1949 constitutional document known as the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). Amendments generally require a two-thirds majority of both chambers of parliament; the fundamental principles of the constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law are valid in perpetuity.[76] The president, currently Joachim Gauck, is the head of state and invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers. He is elected by the Bundesversammlung (federal convention), an institution consisting of the members of the Bundestag and an equal number of state delegates. The second-highest official in the German order of precedence is the Bundestagspräsident (President of the Bundestag), who is elected by the Bundestag and responsible for overseeing the daily sessions of the body. The third-highest official and the head of government is the Chancellor, who is appointed by the Bundespräsident after being elected by the Bundestag.[32] 2011 Joachim Gauck-2.jpg Angela Merkel (August 2012) cropped.jpg Joachim Gauck President since 2012 Angela Merkel Chancellor since 2005 The chancellor, currently Angela Merkel, is the head of government and exercises executive power, similar to the role of a Prime Minister in other parliamentary democracies. Federal legislative power is vested in the parliament consisting of the Bundestag (Federal Diet) and Bundesrat (Federal Council), which together form the legislative body. The Bundestag is elected through direct elections, by proportional representation (mixed-member).[1] The members of the Bundesrat represent the governments of the sixteen federated states and are members of the state cabinets.[32] Since 1949, the party system has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. So far every chancellor has been a member of one of these parties. However, the smaller liberal Free Democratic Party (which had members in the Bundestag from 1949 to 2013) and the Alliance '90/The Greens (which has had seats in parliament since 1983) have also played important roles.[77] Law Main article: Law of Germany German state police officers, with a typical German police car Germany has a civil law system based on Roman law with some references to Germanic law. The Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review.[32][78] Germany's supreme court system, called Oberste Gerichtshöfe des Bundes, is specialised: for civil and criminal cases, the highest court of appeal is the inquisitorial Federal Court of Justice, and for other affairs the courts are the Federal Labour Court, the Federal Social Court, the Federal Finance Court and the Federal Administrative Court. The Völkerstrafgesetzbuch regulates the consequences of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes, and gives German courts universal jurisdiction in some circumstances.[79] Criminal and private laws are codified on the national level in the Strafgesetzbuch and the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch respectively. The German penal system is aimed towards rehabilitation of the criminal and the protection of the general public.[80] Except for petty crimes, which are tried before a single professional judge, and serious political crimes, all charges are tried before mixed tribunals on which lay judges (Schöffen) sit side by side with professional judges.[81][82] Many of the fundamental matters of administrative law remain in the jurisdiction of the states. Constituent states Main article: States of Germany Germany comprises sixteen states which are collectively referred to as Länder.[83] Each state has its own state constitution[84] and is largely autonomous in regard to its internal organisation. Because of differences in size and population the subdivisions of these states vary, especially as between city states (Stadtstaaten) and states with larger territories (Flächenländer). For regional administrative purposes five states, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, consist of a total of 22 Government Districts (Regierungsbezirke). As of 2013 Germany is divided into 402 districts (Kreise) at a municipal level; these consist of 295 rural districts and 107 urban districts.[85] Coat of arms of Lower Saxony.svg Lower SaxonyBremen Wappen.svg BremenCoat of arms of Hamburg.svg HamburgCoat of arms of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (great).svg Mecklenburg- VorpommernWappen Sachsen-Anhalt.svg Saxony- AnhaltCoat of arms of Saxony.svg SaxonyBrandenburg Wappen.svg BrandenburgInsigne Berolini.svg BerlinCoat of arms of Thuringia.svg ThuringiaCoat of arms of Hesse.svg HesseCoat of arms of North Rhine-Westfalia.svg North Rhine- WestphaliaCoat of arms of Rhineland-Palatinate.svg Rhineland-PalatinateLandessymbol Freistaat Bayern.svg BavariaCoat of arms of Baden-Württemberg (lesser).svg Baden- WürttembergWappen des Saarlands.svg SaarlandCoat of arms of Schleswig-Holstein.svg Schleswig-Holstein State Capital Area (km²) Population[86] Baden-Württemberg Stuttgart 35,752 10,569,100 Bavaria Munich 70,549 12,519,600 Berlin Berlin 892 3,375,200 Brandenburg Potsdam 29,477 2,449,500 Bremen Bremen 404 654,800 Hamburg Hamburg 755 1,734,300 Hesse Wiesbaden 21,115 6,016,500 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Schwerin 23,174 1,600,300 Lower Saxony Hanover 47,618 7,779,000 North Rhine-Westphalia Düsseldorf 34,043 17,554,300 Rhineland-Palatinate Mainz 19,847 3,990,300 Saarland Saarbrücken 2,569 994,300 Saxony Dresden 18,416 4,050,200 Saxony-Anhalt Magdeburg 20,445 2,259,400 Schleswig-Holstein Kiel 15,763 2,806,500 Thuringia Erfurt 16,172 2,170,500 Foreign relations Main article: Foreign relations of Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel hosting the G8 summit in Heiligendamm Germany has a network of 229 diplomatic missions abroad[87] and maintains relations with more than 190 countries.[88] As of 2011 it is the largest contributor to the budget of the European Union (providing 20%)[89] and the third largest contributor to the UN (providing 8%).[90] Germany is a member of NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the G8, the G20, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It has played a leading role in the European Union since its inception and has maintained a strong alliance with France since the end of World War II. Germany seeks to advance the creation of a more unified European political, defence, and security apparatus.[91][92] The development policy of the Federal Republic of Germany is an independent area of German foreign policy. It is formulated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and carried out by the implementing organisations. The German government sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community.[93] It is the world's third biggest aid donor after the United States and France.[94][95] During the Cold War, Germany's partition by the Iron Curtain made it a symbol of East–West tensions and a political battleground in Europe. However, Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik was a key factor in the détente of the 1970s.[96] In 1999, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government defined a new basis for German foreign policy by taking part in the NATO decisions surrounding the Kosovo War and by sending German troops into combat for the first time since World War II.[97] The governments of Germany and the United States are close political allies.[32] The 1948 Marshall Plan and strong cultural ties have crafted a strong bond between the two countries, although Schröder's vocal opposition to the Iraq War suggested the end of Atlanticism and a relative cooling of German-American relations.[98] The two countries are also economically interdependent: 8.8% of German exports are US-bound and 6.6% of German imports originate from the US.[99] Military Main article: Bundeswehr File:Eurofighter 9803.ogg The Eurofighter Typhoon is part of the Luftwaffe Leopard 2 tanks of the German Army Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is organised into Heer (Army), Marine (Navy), Luftwaffe (Air Force), Bundeswehr Joint Medical Service and Streitkräftebasis (Joint Support Service) branches. The role of the Bundeswehr is described in the Constitution of Germany (Art. 87a) as absolutely defensive only. After a ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court in 1994 the term "defense" has been defined to not only include protection of the borders of Germany, but also crisis reaction and conflict prevention, or more broadly as guarding the security of Germany anywhere in the world. In 2011, military spending was an estimated 1.3% of the country's GDP, which is low in a ranking of all countries; in absolute terms, German military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world.[100] In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence. In state of defence, the Chancellor would become commander-in-chief of the Bundeswehr.[101] As of March 2012 the Bundeswehr employs 183,000 professional soldiers and 17,000 volunteers.[102] The German government plans to reduce the number of soldiers to 170,000 professionals and up to 15,000 short-term volunteers (voluntary military service).[103] Reservists are available to the Armed Forces and participate in defence exercises and deployments abroad.[103] As of January 2015, the German military has about 2,370 troops stationed in foreign countries as part of international peacekeeping forces, including about 850 Bundeswehr troops in the NATO-led ISAF force in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, 670 German soldiers in Kosovo, and 120 troops with UNIFIL in Lebanon.[104] In addition, according to SIPRI, Germany supplied major arms to 55 states in 2010-2014, although their exports of major weapons decreased by 43 per cent between 2005-2009 and 2010-14. Before 2014, Germany was the third largest exporter of major arms in the world. In 2014 the new German Government announced a more restrictive arms export policy, particularly in response to discussions about arms exports to the Middle East. However, notable orders in 2014 included 33 patrol boats for Saudi Arabia, 4 frigates for Israel, 2 Type?209 submarines for Egypt and 926 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) for Algeria.[105] Until 2011, military service was compulsory for men at age 18, and conscripts served six-month tours of duty; conscientious objectors could instead opt for an equal length of Zivildienst (civilian service), or a six-year commitment to (voluntary) emergency services like a fire department or the Red Cross. On 1 July 2011 conscription was officially suspended and replaced with a voluntary service.[106][107] Since 2001 women may serve in all functions of service without restriction, but they have not been subject to conscription. There are presently some 17,500 women on active duty and a number of female reservists.[108] Economy Main article: Economy of Germany See also: Mittelstand Frankfurt is Germany's financial capital (New ECB HQ pictured) Germany is part of a monetary union, the eurozone (dark blue), and of the EU single market. Germany has a social market economy with a highly skilled labour force, a large capital stock, a low level of corruption,[109] and a high level of innovation.[110] It has the largest and most powerful national economy in Europe, the fourth largest by nominal GDP in the world,[111] and the fifth largest by PPP.[112] The service sector contributes approximately 71% of the total GDP (including information technology), industry 28%, and agriculture 1%.[1] The official average national unemployment rate in April 2014 was 6.8%.[113] The harmonized unemployment rate of Germany published by the EU's statistical agency Eurostat amounts to 4.7% in January 2015.[114] This is the lowest rate of all 28 EU member states ahead of Austria (4.8%) and the United Kingdom (5.6%). Germany also has with 7.1% the lowest youth unemployment rate of all EU member states ahead of Austria (8.2%) and Denmark (10.8%).[114] Germany has one of the highest labour productivity levels in the world, according to OECD.[115] Germany is an advocate of closer European economic and political integration. Its commercial policies are increasingly determined by agreements among European Union (EU) members and by EU legislation. Germany introduced the common European currency, the Euro, on 1 January 2002.[116][117] Its monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank, which is headquartered in Frankfurt. Two decades after German reunification, standards of living and per capita incomes remain significantly higher in the states of the former West Germany than in the former East.[118] The modernisation and integration of the eastern German economy is a long-term process scheduled to last until the year 2019, with annual transfers from west to east amounting to roughly $80 billion.[119] In January 2009 the German government approved a €50 billion economic stimulus plan to protect several sectors from a downturn and a subsequent rise in unemployment rates.[120] Of the world's 500 largest stock-market-listed companies measured by revenue in 2010, the Fortune Global 500, 37 are headquartered in Germany. 30 Germany-based companies are included in the DAX, the German stock market index. Well-known global brands include Mercedes-Benz, BMW, SAP, Siemens, Volkswagen, Adidas, Audi, Allianz, Porsche, Bayer, Bosch, and Nivea.[121] Germany is recognised for its large portion of specialised small and medium enterprises, globally known and followed as the Mittelstand model. Around 1,000 of these companies are global market leaders in their segment and are labelled hidden champions.[122] The list includes the largest German companies by revenue in 2011: Rank[123] Name Headquarters Revenue (Mil. €) Profit (Mil. €) Employees (World) 1. Volkswagen AG Wolfsburg 159,000 15,800 502,000 2. E.ON SE Düsseldorf 113,000 ?1,900 79,000 3. Daimler AG Stuttgart 107,000 6,000 271,000 4. Siemens AG Berlin, München 74,000 6,300 360,000 5. BASF SE Ludwigshafen am Rhein 73,000 6,600 111,000 6. BMW AG München 69,000 4,900 100,000 7. Metro AG Düsseldorf 67,000 740 288,000 8. Schwarz Gruppe (Lidl/Kaufland) Neckarsulm 63,000 N/A 315,000 9. Deutsche Telekom AG Bonn 59,000 670 235,000 10. Deutsche Post AG Bonn 53,000 1,300 471,000 — Allianz SE München 104,000 2,800 141,000 — Deutsche Bank AG Frankfurt am Main 21,600 4,300 101,000 Infrastructure Main articles: Transport in Germany and Energy in Germany The ICE 3 in Cologne railway station With its central position in Europe, Germany is a transport hub for the continent.[124] Like its neighbours in Western Europe, Germany's road network is amongst the densest in the world.[125] The motorway (Autobahn) network ranks as the third-largest worldwide in length and is known for its lack of a general speed limit.[126] Germany has established a polycentric network of high-speed trains. The InterCityExpress or ICE network of the Deutsche Bahn serves major German cities as well as destinations in neighbouring countries with speeds up to 300 kph (186 mph).[127] The largest German airports are Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport, both hubs of Lufthansa, while Air Berlin has hubs at Berlin Tegel and Düsseldorf. Other major airports include Berlin Schönefeld, Hamburg, Cologne/Bonn and Leipzig/Halle. Both airports in Berlin will be consolidated at a site adjacent to Berlin Schönefeld, which will become Berlin Brandenburg Airport.[128] The Port of Hamburg is one of the top twenty largest container ports in the world.[129] In 2008, Germany was the world's sixth-largest consumer of energy,[130] and 60% of its primary energy was imported.[131] Government policy promotes energy conservation and renewable energy commercialisation. Energy efficiency has been improving since the early 1970s; the government aims to meet the country's electricity demands using 40% renewable sources by 2020 and 100% by 2050.[132] In 2014, energy sources were: oil (35.0%); coal, including lignite (24.6%); natural gas (20.5%); nuclear (8.1%); hydro-electric and renewable sources (11.1%).[133] In 2000, the government and the nuclear power industry agreed to phase out all nuclear power plants by 2021.[134] Germany is committed to the Kyoto protocol and several other treaties promoting biodiversity, low emission standards, recycling, and the use of renewable energy, and supports sustainable development at a global level.[135] The German government has initiated wide-ranging emission reduction activities and the country's overall emissions are falling.[136] Nevertheless the country's greenhouse gas emissions were the highest in the EU in 2010, while it is also the largest country by population and economical output.[137] The German energy transition (German: Energiewende) is the globally recognised move to a sustainable economy by means of renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable development. The final goal is the abolition of coal and other non-renewable energy sources.[138] Science and technology Main articles: Science and technology in Germany and List of German inventors and discoverers Albert Einstein was born in what is today the German city of Ulm. Germany's achievements in the sciences have been significant, and research and development efforts form an integral part of the economy.[139] The Nobel Prize has been awarded to 104 German laureates.[140] For most of the 20th century, German laureates had more awards than those of any other nation, especially in the sciences (physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine).[141][142] Notable German physicists before the 20th century include Hermann von Helmholtz, Joseph von Fraunhofer and Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, among others. Albert Einstein introduced the relativity theories for light and gravity in 1905 and 1915 respectively, which remain mainstream theories in physics to this day. Along with Max Planck, he was instrumental in the introduction of quantum mechanics, in which Werner Heisenberg and Max Born later made major contributions.[143] Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays and was the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.[144] Otto Hahn was a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry and discovered nuclear fission,[145] while Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch were founders of microbiology. Numerous mathematicians were born in Germany, including Carl Friedrich Gauss, David Hilbert, Bernhard Riemann, Gottfried Leibniz, Karl Weierstrass, Hermann Weyl and Felix Klein. Research institutions in Germany include the Max Planck Society, the Helmholtz Association and the Fraunhofer Society. The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is granted to ten scientists and academics every year. With a maximum of €2.5 million per award it is one of highest endowed research prizes in the world.[146] Germany has been the home of many famous inventors and engineers, such as Johannes Gutenberg, credited with the invention of movable type printing in Europe; Hans Geiger, the creator of the Geiger counter; and Konrad Zuse, who built the first fully automatic digital computer.[147] German inventors, engineers and industrialists such as Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, Otto Lilienthal, Gottlieb Daimler, Rudolf Diesel, Hugo Junkers and Karl Benz helped shape modern automotive and air transportation technology.[148] German institutions like the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are the largest contributor to ESA. Aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun developed the first space rocket and later on was a prominent member of NASA and developed the Saturn V Moon rocket, which paved the way for the success of the US Apollo programme. Heinrich Rudolf Hertz's work in the domain of electromagnetic radiation was pivotal to the development of modern telecommunication.[149] Germany is one of the leading countries in developing and using green technologies. Companies specialising in green technology have an estimated turnover of €200 billion. Key sectors of Germany's green technology industry are power generation, sustainable mobility, material efficiency, energy efficiency, waste management and recycling, and sustainable water management.[150] With Wendelstein 7-X in Greifswald, Germany also hosts a leading facility in the research of fusion power.[151] Tourism Main article: Tourism in Germany See also: List of museums in Germany and List of spa towns in Germany A church in the Berchtesgaden region of Bavaria. Bavaria is the most popular German state for international tourism. Germany is the seventh most visited country in the world,[152][153] with a total of 407.26 million overnights during 2012.[154] This number includes 68.83 million nights by foreign visitors. In 2012, over 30.4 million international tourists arrived in Germany, bringing over US$38 billion in international tourism receipts to the country.[155] Additionally, more than 30% of Germans spend their holiday in their own country, with the biggest share going to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. According to Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Reports, Germany is rated as one of the safest travel destinations worldwide. The official body for tourism in Germany is the German National Tourist Board (GNTB). Domestic and international travel and tourism combined directly contribute over EUR43.2 billion to German GDP. Including indirect and induced impacts, the industry contributes 4.5% of German GDP and supports 2 million jobs (4.8% of total employment).[156] Germany is well known for its diverse tourist routes, such as the Romantic Road, the Wine Route, the Castle Road, the Timber-Frame Road and the Avenue Road. There are 39 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany, including the old town cores of Regensburg, Bamberg, Lübeck, Quedlinburg, Weimar, Stralsund and Wismar. Germany's most-visited landmarks include i. e. Neuschwanstein Castle, Cologne Cathedral, Berlin Bundestag, Hofbräuhaus Munich, Heidelberg Castle, Dresden Zwinger, Fernsehturm Berlin and Aachen Cathedral. The Europa-Park near Freiburg is Europe's second most popular theme park resort, following Disneyland Paris.[157] Its nature-protected national parks, biosphere reserves and other nature parks are popular destinations for ecotourism. Demographics Main articles: Demographics of Germany, Germans, Social issues in Germany and List of cities in Germany by population With a population of 80.2 million according to the May 2011 census,[3] Germany is the most populous country in the European Union, the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and ranks as the 16th most populous country in the world.[158] Its population density stands at 225 inhabitants per square kilometre. The overall life expectancy in Germany at birth is 80.19 years (77.93 years for males and 82.58 years for females).[1] The fertility rate of 1.41 children born per woman (2011 estimates), or 8.33 births per 1000 inhabitants, is one of the lowest in the world.[1] Since the 1970s, Germany's death rate has continuously exceeded its birth rate.[159] The Federal Statistical Office of Germany has forecast that the population could shrink to between 65 and 70 million by 2060 (depending on the level of net migration).[160] However, Germany is currently witnessing increased birth rates[161] and migration rates since the beginning of the 2010s. It is notably experiencing a strong increase in the number of well-educated migrants.[162][163] In 2012 the country's population increased in part due to 300,000 more immigrants than emigrants, with most immigrants coming from the crisis effected countries of southern and eastern Europe and settling in urban but not rural areas.[164] National minorities Four sizable groups of people are referred to as "national minorities" (nationale Minderheiten) because they have lived in their respective regions for centuries: Danes, Frisians, Roma and Sinti, and Sorbs.[165] There is a Danish minority (about 50,000, according to government sources) in the northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein.[165] Eastern and Northern Frisians live on Schleswig-Holstein's western coast, and in the north-western part of Lower Saxony. They are part of a wider community (Frisia) stretching from Germany to the northern Netherlands. The Sorbs, a Slavic population of about 60,000 (according to government sources), are in the Lusatia region of Saxony and Brandenburg.[165] Immigrant population Main article: Immigration to Germany See also: Blue Card (European Union) Germans by nationality make up 92.3% of the population of Germany as of 9 May 2011.[3] As of 2011, about six million foreign citizens (7.7% of the population) were registered in Germany.[3] Regarding ethnic background, 20%[166] of the country's residents, or more than 16 million people, were of foreign or partially foreign descent in 2009 (including persons descending or partially descending from ethnic German repatriates), 96% of whom lived in the former West Germany or Berlin.[167] In 2010, 2.3 million families with children under 18 years were living in Germany, in which at least one parent had foreign roots. They represented 29% of the total of 8.1 million families with minor children. Compared with 2005 – the year when the microcensus started to collect detailed information on the population with a migrant background – the proportion of migrant families has risen by 2 percentage points.[168] Most of the families with a migrant background live in the western part of Germany. In 2010, the proportion of migrant families in all families was 32% in the pre-unification territory of the Federal Republic. This figure was more than double that in the new Länder (including Berlin) where it stood at 15%.[168] Families with a migrant background more often have three or more minor children in the household than families without a migrant background. In 2010, about 15% of the families with a migrant background contained three or more minor children, as compared with just 9% of the families without a migrant background.[168] The United Nations Population Fund lists Germany as host to the third-highest number of international migrants worldwide, about 5% or 10 million of all 191 million migrants.[169] As a consequence of restrictions to Germany's formerly rather unrestricted laws on asylum and immigration, the number of immigrants seeking asylum or claiming German ethnicity (mostly from the former Soviet Union) has been declining steadily since 2000.[170] In 2009, 20% of the population had immigrant roots, the highest since 1945.[171] As of 2008, the largest national group was from Turkey (2.5 million), followed by Italy (776,000), Poland (687,000), and Albania (550,000).[172] Since 1987, around 3 million ethnic Germans, mostly from the former eastern bloc, have taken advantage of their right of return and emigrated to Germany.[173] Urbanization See also: List of cities and towns in Germany and List of cities in Germany by population Germany has a number of large cities. There are 11 officially recognised metropolitan regions in Germany – and since 2006, 34 cities have been identified which can be called a regiopolis (metropolitan area). The largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region (11.7 million in 2008), including Düsseldorf (the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia), Cologne, Bonn, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, and Bochum.[174] v t e Largest cities or towns in Germany List of statistical offices in Germany 24 December 2010 Rank Name State Pop. Rank Name State Pop. Berlin Berlin Hamburg Hamburg 1 Berlin Berlin 3,471,756 11 Dresden Saxony 523,058 Munich Munich Cologne Cologne 2 Hamburg Hamburg 1,786,448 12 Leipzig Saxony 522,883 3 Munich Bavaria 1,353,186 13 Hannover Lower Saxony 522,686 4 Cologne North Rhine-Westphalia 1,007,119 14 Nuremberg Bavaria 505,664 5 Frankfurt Hesse 688,664 15 Duisburg North Rhine-Westphalia 489,599 6 Stuttgart Baden-Württemberg 606,588 16 Bochum North Rhine-Westphalia 374,737 7 Düsseldorf North Rhine-Westphalia 598,786 17 Wuppertal North Rhine-Westphalia 349,721 8 Dortmund North Rhine-Westphalia 580,444 18 Bonn North Rhine-Westphalia 324,899 9 Essen North Rhine-Westphalia 574,635 19 Bielefeld North Rhine-Westphalia 323,270 10 Bremen Bremen (state) 547,340 20 Mannheim Baden-Württemberg 313,174 Religion Main article: Religion in Germany The Catholic Cologne Cathedral at the Rhine river is a UNESCO World Heritage Site Berlin Cathedral, one of the main Evangelical cathedrals in Germany According to the latest official nationwide census of 2011, Christianity is the largest religion in Germany, claiming 66.8% of the total population.[175] The census provided detailed statistics on religion in the Federal Republic. Results for the total population of Germany were as follows: 30.8% declared themselves as Roman Catholics; 30.3% as Protestants as represented by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD); 5.7% were reported to be other Christians (including Protestants outside the EKD).[176] Newer statistics indicate that the proportion of Christians in Germany has decreased to 62%.[177] Geographically, Protestantism is concentrated in the northern, central and eastern parts of the country, mostly within the Evangelical Church, while Roman Catholicism is concentrated in the south and west. People with no or other religions are concentrated in the former East Germany and major metropolitan areas.[178] Islam is the second largest religion in the country. In the 2011 census only 1.9% declared themselves to be Muslims,[176] however other sources estimate 3.8 to 4.3 million adherents (4.6% to 5.2%).[179] Of these roughly 4 million Muslims, most are Sunnis and Alevites from Turkey, but there are a small number of Shi'ites, Ahmadiyyas and other denominations.[179] German Muslims, a large portion of whom are of Turkish origin, lack full official state recognition of their religious community.[178] Other religions comprising less than 1% of Germany's population[176] are Buddhism with 250,000 and Judaism with around 200,000 adherents (both roughly 0.3%). Hinduism has some 100,000 adherents (0.1%). All other religious communities in Germany have fewer than 50,000 adherents each.[180] Germany has Europe's third largest Jewish population (after France and the United Kingdom).[181] Approximately 50% of the Buddhists in Germany are Asian immigrants.[182] The remaining 32%–35% are not members of any religious body-a proportion that has grown steadily over recent decades. German reunification in 1990 greatly increased the country's non-religious population, a legacy of the state atheism of the previously Soviet-controlled East. The Christian population has decreased in recent decades, particularly among Protestants.[178] Languages Main article: Languages of Germany Knowledge of German in the European Union German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany.[183] It is one of 24 official and working languages of the European Union,[184] and one of the three working languages of the European Commission. The German language is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union, with around 100 million native speakers.[185] Recognized native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Low German, Sorbian, Romany, and Frisian; they are officially protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Kurdish, Polish, the Balkan languages, and Russian. 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language and 27% in at least two languages other than their own.[183] Standard German is a West Germanic language and is closely related to and classified alongside English, Low German, Dutch, and the Frisian languages. To a lesser extent, it is also related to the East (extinct) and North Germanic languages. Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family.[186] Significant minorities of words are derived from Latin and Greek, with a smaller amount from French and most recently English (known as Denglisch). German is written using the Latin alphabet. German dialects, traditional local varieties traced back to the Germanic tribes, are distinguished from varieties of standard German by their lexicon, phonology, and syntax.[187] Education Main articles: Education in Germany and List of universities in Germany Heidelberg University is the oldest of Germany's universities and among its best ranked.[188] It was established in 1386. Over 99% of Germans aged 15 and above are estimated to be able to read and write.[1] Responsibility for educational supervision in Germany is primarily organised within the individual federal states. A system of apprenticeship called Duale Ausbildung ("dual education") allows students in vocational traini

What is the difference between Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers? One's name is Jason, and the other's name is Michael.

Never go into your parents room with a blacklight.. -Ryan Vallee

Q: 1 out of every 44 presidents can dunk, who is it? A: How the hell am i suppost to know

What did the boy with no arms or legs get for Christmas many gift card to stores he liked

What do Justin Bieber and corn have in common? They are both fruits. Except for the corn.

How do two blondes stay alive at the bottom of a pool for 30 minutes? They don't and they died

what is big, white, and can't climb a tree? a fridge

A Haiku It Is This One Is Kind Of Boring Now It's Time For Bed

How did the chicken cross the road? It didn't. On its way there, he got hit by a bus.

What did the White guy say to the Black Guy? Nothing... he looked him up and down and spat at him instead.

Here comes the bride, all dressed in white. Here comes the groom, carrying a broom, because somebody spilled something on the floor.

How many dead babies can you fit in a bathtub? It's dependent on many factors, like the size of the babies and the tub. It would be a horrific endeavor, and you should probably stop thinking about such things.

If you eat a brussel sprouts-and-ketchup sundae, your tastebuds will likely turn purple and move to France, where people don't eat brussel sprouts-and-ketchup sundaes.

A lady with alzheimers walks up to her friend and says" my nefew died today" and her friend replied.. " no he died three years ago."

A black man and a white man were on an island. They lived in England.

i know you talk the talk but can you talk the talk

What do you say to the man break dancing?? You don't, call an ambulance he is having an epileptic fit.

Me and a pig had sex, beastieality.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side Why did the duck cross the road? I don't know. I only know why the chicken crossed the road.

why was the boy sad? he had a frog stapled to his face

Why did the chicken cross the road? Because the Light turned green, indicating that it was a safe and appropriate time to cross

Why was the Magic: The Gathering player a virgin? Because he was underage and it would have been immoral for him to have had sex.

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