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 (now 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 reunification 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.
land: 348,672 sq km
water: 8,350 sq km
border countries (9): Austria 801 km; Belgium 133 km; Czechia 704 km; Denmark 140 km; France 418 km; Luxembourg 128 km; Netherlands 575 km; Poland 447 km; Switzerland 348 km
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
lowest point: Neuendorf bei Wilster -3.5 m
mean elevation: 263 m
arable land: 34.1% (2018 est.)
permanent crops: 0.6% (2018 est.)
permanent pasture: 13.3% (2018 est.)
forest: 31.8% (2018 est.)
other: 20.2% (2018 est.)
salt water lake(s): Stettiner Haff/Zalew Szczecinski (shared with Poland) - 900 sq km
84,220,184 (2023 est.)
noun: German(s)
adjective: German
German 86.3%, Turkish 1.8%, Polish 1%, Syrian 1%, Romanian 1%, other/stateless/unspecified 8.9% (2020 est.)
note: data represent population by nationality
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 languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
major-language sample(s):
Das World Factbook, die unverzichtbare Quelle für grundlegende Informationen. (German)
The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.
Roman Catholic 26%, Protestant 23.7%, Muslim 3.6%, other 4.8%, none 41.9% (2021 est.)
0-14 years: 13.75% (male 5,905,124/female 5,673,727)
15-64 years: 62.97% (male 26,934,889/female 26,097,401)
65 years and over: 23.28% (2023 est.) (male 8,784,872/female 10,824,171)
total dependency ratio: 56.4
youth dependency ratio: 21.7
elderly dependency ratio: 34.7
potential support ratio: 2.9 (2021 est.)
total: 46.7 years (2023 est.)
male: 45.4 years
female: 48.2 years
-0.12% (2023 est.)
9 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
12 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
1.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
second most populous country in Europe; a fairly even distribution throughout most of the country, with urban areas attracting larger and denser populations, particularly in the far western part of the industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia
urban population: 77.8% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 0.13% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
3.574 million BERLIN (capital), 1.788 million Hamburg, 1.576 million Munich, 1.144 million Cologne, 796,000 Frankfurt (2023)
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
29.9 years (2020 est.)
4 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
total: 3.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
male: 3.5 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 2.8 deaths/1,000 live births
total population: 81.7 years (2023 est.)
male: 79.4 years
female: 84.2 years
1.58 children born/woman (2023 est.)
0.77 (2023 est.)
67% (2018)
note: percent of women aged 18-49
improved: urban: 100% of population
rural: 100% of population
total: 100% of population
unimproved: urban: 0% of population
rural: 0% of population
total: 0% of population (2020 est.)
12.8% of GDP (2020)
4.44 physicians/1,000 population (2020)
8 beds/1,000 population (2017)
improved: urban: 100% of population
rural: 100% of population
total: 100% of population
unimproved: urban: 0% of population
rural: 0% of population
total: 0% of population (2020 est.)
22.3% (2016)
total: 10.56 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 5.57 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 3.02 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 1.97 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
total: 22% (2020 est.)
male: 24.1% (2020 est.)
female: 19.9% (2020 est.)
0.5% (2014/17)
54.4% (2023 est.)
4.7% of GDP (2020 est.)
total population: NA
male: NA
female: NA
total: 17 years
male: 17 years
female: 17 years (2020)
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 by 2022; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU’s Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind
agricultural land: 48% (2018 est.)
arable land: 34.1% (2018 est.)
permanent crops: 0.6% (2018 est.)
permanent pasture: 13.3% (2018 est.)
forest: 31.8% (2018 est.)
other: 20.2% (2018 est.)
urban population: 77.8% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 0.13% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
0.03% of GDP (2018 est.)
0.02% of GDP (2018 est.)
particulate matter emissions: 10.73 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)
carbon dioxide emissions: 727.97 megatons (2016 est.)
methane emissions: 49.92 megatons (2020 est.)
municipal solid waste generated annually: 51.046 million tons (2015 est.)
municipal solid waste recycled annually: 24,415,302 tons (2015 est.)
percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 47.8% (2015 est.)
fresh water lake(s): Lake Constance (shared with Switzerland and Austria) - 540 sq km
salt water lake(s): Stettiner Haff/Zalew Szczecinski (shared with Poland) - 900 sq km
Donau (Danube) river source (shared with Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania [m]) - 2,888 km; Elbe river mouth (shared with Czechia [s]) - 1,252 km; Rhein (Rhine) (shared with Switzerland [s], France, and Netherlands [m]) - 1,233 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth
Atlantic Ocean drainage: Rhine-Maas (198,735 sq km), (Black Sea) Danube (795,656 sq km)
municipal: 10.4 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
industrial: 17.68 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
agricultural: 400 million cubic meters (2020 est.)
154 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
leading EU service-based export-driven economy; highly skilled and educated labor force; fairly fiscally conservative; energy-related economic disruptions due to Russian gas cessations; increased defense spending and rising debts
$4.424 trillion (2021 est.)
$4.311 trillion (2020 est.)
$4.477 trillion (2019 est.)
note: data are in 2017 dollars
2.63% (2021 est.)
-3.7% (2020 est.)
1.06% (2019 est.)
$53,200 (2021 est.)
$51,800 (2020 est.)
$53,900 (2019 est.)
note: data are in 2017 dollars
$3,860,923,000,000 (2019 est.)
3.14% (2021 est.)
0.51% (2020 est.)
1.45% (2019 est.)
Fitch rating: AAA (1994)
Moody’s rating: Aaa (1986)
Standard & Poors rating: AAA (1983)
note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained. Credit ratings prior to 1989 refer to West Germany.
agriculture: 0.7% (2017 est.)
industry: 30.7% (2017 est.)
services: 68.6% (2017 est.)comparison rankings:
household consumption: 53.1% (2017 est.)
government consumption: 19.5% (2017 est.)
investment in fixed capital: 20.4% (2017 est.)
investment in inventories: -0.5% (2017 est.)
exports of goods and services: 47.3% (2017 est.)
imports of goods and services: -39.7% (2017 est.)
milk, pork, wheat, beef, potatoes, barley, rapeseeds, chicken, eggs, sugar beets
automotive, mechanical engineering, chemicals, electrical and batteries, manufacturing, metals, finance and banking, telecommunications, healthcare, retail
3.61% (2021 est.)
43.968 million (2021 est.)
3.54% (2021 est.)
3.81% (2020 est.)
3.14% (2019 est.)
total: 7% (2021 est.)
male: 7.2%
female: 6.6%
14.8% (2018 est.)
31.7 (2018 est.)
on food: 10.7% of household expenditures (2018 est.)
on alcohol and tobacco: 3.2% of household expenditures (2018 est.)
lowest 10%: 3.6%
highest 10%: 24% (2000)
revenues: $1.785 trillion (2020 est.)
expenditures: $1.945 trillion (2020 est.)
1.3% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
63.9% of GDP (2017 est.)
67.9% of GDP (2016 est.)
note: general government gross debt is defined in the Maastricht Treaty as consolidated general government gross debt at nominal value, outstanding at the end of the year in the following categories of government liabilities (as defined in ESA95): currency and deposits (AF.2), securities other than shares excluding financial derivatives (AF.3, excluding AF.34), and loans (AF.4); the general government sector comprises the sub-sectors of central government, state government, local government and social security funds; the series are presented as a percentage of GDP and in millions of euros; GDP used as a denominator is the gross domestic product at current market prices; data expressed in national currency are converted into euro using end-of-year exchange rates provided by the European Central Bank
10.55% (of GDP) (2020 est.)
calendar year
$313.754 billion (2021 est.)
$274.2 billion (2020 est.)
$294.407 billion (2019 est.)
$2.004 trillion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$1.676 trillion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$1.816 trillion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
United States 9%, China 8%, France 8%, Netherlands 6%, Italy 6% (2021)
cars and vehicle parts, packaged medicines, medical cultures and vaccines, aircraft, industrial machinery, medical instruments (2021)
$1.775 trillion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$1.454 trillion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$1.595 trillion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
China 10%, Netherlands 10%, Poland 7%, Italy 6%, France 6% (2021)
cars and vehicle parts, medical cultures/vaccines, packaged medicines, crude petroleum, natural gas, computers (2021)
$295.736 billion (31 December 2021 est.)
$268.409 billion (31 December 2020 est.)
$224.028 billion (31 December 2019 est.)
$5,671,463,000,000 (2019 est.)
$5,751,408,000,000 (2018 est.)
euros (EUR) per US dollar -
Exchange rates:
0.845 (2021 est.)
0.876 (2020 est.)
0.893 (2019 est.)
0.847 (2018 est.)
0.885 (2017 est.)
electrification - total population: 100% (2021)
installed generating capacity: 248.265 million kW (2020 est.)
consumption: 500.35 billion kWh (2020 est.)
exports: 66.931 billion kWh (2020 est.)
imports: 48.047 billion kWh (2020 est.)
transmission/distribution losses: 25.97 billion kWh (2020 est.)comparison rankings:
fossil fuels: 40.5% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
nuclear: 11.1% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
solar: 9.2% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
wind: 23.9% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
hydroelectricity: 4.5% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
tide and wave: 0.2% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
geothermal: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
biomass and waste: 10.4% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
note: as of April 2023, Germany has closed its three remaining nuclear power plants
Number of operational nuclear reactors: 0
Number of nuclear reactors under construction: 0
Net capacity of operational nuclear reactors: 0GW
Percent of total electricity production: 0%
Percent of total energy produced: 0%
Number of nuclear reactors permanently shut down: 33
production: 114.86 million metric tons (2020 est.)
consumption: 145.379 million metric tons (2020 est.)
exports: 2.317 million metric tons (2020 est.)
imports: 31.503 million metric tons (2020 est.)
proven reserves: 35.9 billion metric tons (2019 est.)
total petroleum production: 135,000 bbl/day (2021 est.)
refined petroleum consumption: 2,346,500 bbl/day (2019 est.)
crude oil and lease condensate exports: 0 bbl/day (2018 est.)
crude oil and lease condensate imports: 1,720,600 bbl/day (2018 est.)
crude oil estimated reserves: 115.2 million barrels (2021 est.)
2.158 million bbl/day (2017 est.)
494,000 bbl/day (2017 est.)
883,800 bbl/day (2017 est.)
production: 5.129 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
consumption: 8.755 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
exports: 0 cubic meters (2020 est.)
imports: 83.12 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
proven reserves: 23.39 billion cubic meters (2021 est.)
726.881 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
from coal and metallurgical coke: 218.636 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
from petroleum and other liquids: 316.064 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
from consumed natural gas: 192.181 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
161.174 million Btu/person (2019 est.)
number of registered air carriers: 20 (2020)
inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 1,113
annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 109,796,202 (2018)
annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 7,969,860,000 (2018) mt-km
D
539 (2021)
318
civil airports: 49
military airports: 21
joint use (civil-military) airports: 6
other airports: 242
note: paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)
221
note: unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control
23 (2021)
37 km condensate, 26,985 km gas, 2,400 km oil, 4,479 km refined products, 8 km water (2013)
total: 39,379 km (2020) 20,942 km electrified
15 km 0.900-mm gauge, 24 km 0.750-mm gauge (2015)
total: 830,000 km (2022) 830,000 km
paved: 830,000 km (2022) (includes 13,155 km of expressways)
note: includes local roads
7,300 km (2022) (Rhine River carries most goods; Main-Danube Canal links North Sea and Black Sea)
total: 592 (2022)
by type: bulk carrier 1, container ship 72, general cargo 79, oil tanker 34, other 406
major seaport(s):
Baltic Sea: Kiel, Rostock
North Sea: Bremerhaven, Brunsbuttel, Emden, Hamburg, Wilhelmshaven
oil terminal(s): Brunsbuttel Canal terminals
container port(s) (TEUs): Bremen/Bremerhaven (5,018,900), Hamburg (8,715,000) (2021)
LNG terminal(s) (import): Hamburg; Brunsbuettel (FSRU); Lubmin (FSRU); Wilhelmshaven (FSRU)
river port(s): Bremen (Weser); Bremerhaven (Geeste); Duisburg, Karlsruhe, Neuss-Dusseldorf (Rhine); Lubeck (Wakenitz); Brunsbuttel, Hamburg (Elbe)
Germany operates one PC 5 or 6 class icebreaker based in the North Atlantic
note - PC indicates a Polar Class vessel: PC 5 - year-round operation in medium first-year ice which may include old ice inclusions (ice thickness up to 70-120 cm); PC 6 - summer/autumn operation in medium first-year ice which may include old ice inclusions (ice thickness up to 30-70 cm)
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