Germany in Brief

Geography
Area: 357,114 sq. km. (137,846 sq. mi.); about the size of Montana.
Cities (2007): Capital--Berlin (population about 3.41 million). Other cities--Hamburg (1.77 million), Munich (1.31 million), Cologne (1 million), Frankfurt (671,000), Essen (567,000), Dortmund (581,000), Stuttgart (602,000), Dusseldorf (586,000), Bremen (548,000), Hanover (521,000).
Terrain: Low plain in the north; high plains, hills, and basins in the center and east; mountainous alpine region in the south.
Climate: Temperate; cooler and rainier than much of the United States.

People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--German(s).
Population (January 1, 2010 estimate): 82,329,758.
Population growth rate (% per annum, 2010 est.): -0.053%.
Urban population (2008): 74%.
Ethnic groups (2010): German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish); Danish minority in the north, Sorbian (Slavic) minority in the east.
Religions: Protestant 34%; Roman Catholic 34%; Muslim 3.7%; unaffiliated or other 28.3%.
Language: German.
Education: Years compulsory--10; attendance--100%; literacy--99%.
Health: Infant mortality rate (2010)--3.99/1,000; life expectancy (2010)--women 82.42 years, men 76.26 years.
Persons employed (second quarter 2010): 40.3 million.

Government
Type: Federal republic.
Founded: 1949 (Basic Law, i.e., Constitution, promulgated on May 23, 1949). On October 3, 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic unified in accordance with Article 23 of the F.R.G. Basic Law.
Branches: Executive--president (titular chief of state), chancellor (executive head of government); legislative--bicameral parliament; judicial--independent, Federal Constitutional Court.
Administrative divisions: States in the Federal Republic: 16
Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia

Major political parties: Social Democratic Party (SPD); Christian Democratic Union (CDU); Christian Social Union (CSU); Alliance 90/Greens; Free Democratic Party (FDP); Left Party (LP).
Suffrage: Universal at 18.

The make-up of this website: 
German is divided into 16 separate states as shown on the maps below.  Each of those states are divided in separate administrative areas and then into smaller areas called districts (Landkreis) We have only given all the district on this site for Bayern as most of our time has been spent in this area.

 

To visit any of the states of Germany
simply click on area on the map below.