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GERMANY
Map of GERMANY
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Location:
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Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark |
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Geographic coordinates:
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51 00 N, 9 00 E |
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Area:
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total: 357,021 sq km
land: 349,223 sq km
water: 7,798 sq km |
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Area - comparative:
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slightly smaller than Montana |
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Land boundaries:
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total: 3,621 km
border countries: Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646 km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 138 km, Netherlands 577 km, Poland 456 km, Switzerland 334 km |
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Coastline:
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2,389 km |
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Maritime claims:
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territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation |
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Climate:
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temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind |
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Terrain:
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lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south |
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Neuendorf bei Wilster -3.54 m
highest point: Zugspitze 2,963 m |
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Natural resources:
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coal, lignite, natural gas, iron ore, copper, nickel, uranium, potash, salt, construction materials, timber, arable land |
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Land use:
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arable land: 33.13%
permanent crops: 0.6%
other: 66.27% (2005) |
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Irrigated land:
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4,850 sq km (2003) |
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Total renewable water resources:
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188 cu km (2005) |
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
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total: 38.01 cu km/yr (12%/68%/20%)
per capita: 460 cu m/yr (2001) |
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Natural hazards:
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flooding |
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Environment - current issues:
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emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulfur dioxide emissions, is damaging forests; pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany; hazardous waste disposal; government established a mechanism for ending the use of nuclear power over the next 15 years; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU's Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive |
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Environment - international agreements:
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party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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Population:
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82,369,548 (July 2008 est.) |
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Age structure:
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0-14 years: 13.8% (male 5,826,066/female 5,524,568)
15-64 years: 66.2% (male 27,763,917/female 26,739,934)
65 years and over: 20% (male 6,892,743/female 9,622,320) (2008 est.) |
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Nationality:
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noun: German(s)
adjective: German |
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Ethnic groups:
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German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish) |
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Religions:
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Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3% |
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Languages:
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German |
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Literacy:
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definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.) |
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Country name:
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conventional long form: Federal Republic of Germany
conventional short form: Germany
local long form: Bundesrepublik Deutschland
local short form: Deutschland
former: German Empire, German Republic, German Reich |
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Government type:
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federal republic |
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Capital:
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name: Berlin
geographic coordinates: 52 31 N, 13 24 E
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October |
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Administrative divisions:
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16 states (Laender, singular - Land); Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bayern (Bavaria), Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia), Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate), Saarland, Sachsen (Saxony), Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt), Schleswig-Holstein, Thueringen (Thuringia); note - Bayern, Sachsen, and Thueringen refer to themselves as free states (Freistaaten, singular - Freistaat) |
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Independence:
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18 January 1871 (German Empire unification); divided into four zones of occupation (UK, US, USSR, and later, France) in 1945 following World War II; Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) proclaimed 23 May 1949 and included the former UK, US, and French zones; German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) proclaimed 7 October 1949 and included the former USSR zone; unification of West Germany and East Germany took place 3 October 1990; all four powers formally relinquished rights 15 March 1991 |
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National holiday:
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Unity Day, 3 October (1990)
Source: http://cia.gov
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