Mother Earth Travel > Country Index > Germany > Map Economy History |
| Berlin Bonn Cologne Dresden Dusseldorf Flensburg Frankfurt Hamburg |
Hanover
Heidelberg Kiel Leipzig Lubeck Munich Nuremberg |
| ECEAT-Germany European Centre for Eco
Agro Tourism is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to stimulate
sustainable rural development by promoting small-scale tourism activities
at ecological and environmentally friendly farms. EuroParc - Germany Information about Germany's national parks, biosphere reserves and nature (regional) parks. WWF Germany The World Wide Fund For Nature in Germany. Germany Hotels Search for Flights to Germany |
|
| Background: As Europe's largest economy and most populous nation, Germany remains a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed the country 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, which
became 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 unification in 1990. Since then Germany has expended considerable funds to bring eastern productivity and wages up to western standards. In January 2002, Germany
and 11 other EU countries introduced a common European currency, the euro. Government type: federal republic Capital: Berlin Currency: deutsche mark (DEM); euro (EUR) Geography of GermanyLocation: Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between
the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark People of GermanyGermany is a prime destination for political and economic refugees from many developing countries. There are more than 7 million foreign residents, including those granted asylum, guest workers, and their dependents. An ethnic Danish minority lives in the north, and a small Slavic minority known as the Sorbs lives in eastern Germany. Germany has one of the world's highest levels of education, technological development, and economic productivity. Since the end of World War II, the number of youths entering universities has more than tripled, and the trade and technical schools of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG.) are among the world's best. With a per capita income level of about $25,000, Germany is a broadly middle class society. A generous social welfare system provides for universal medical care, unemployment compensation, and other social needs. Germans also are mobile; millions travel abroad each year. With unification on October 3, 1990, Germany began the major task of bringing the standard of living of Germans in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) up to that of western Germany. This will be a lengthy and difficult process due to the relative inefficiency of industrial enterprises in the former GDR, difficulties in resolving property ownership in eastern Germany, and the inadequate infrastructure and environmental damage that resulted from years of mismanagement under communist rule. Drastic changes in the socioeconomic landscape brought about by reunification have resulted in troubling social problems. Economic uncertainty in eastern Germany is often cited as one factor contributing to extremist violence, primarily from the political right. Confusion about the causes of the current hardships and a need to place blame have found expression in harassment and violence by some Germans directed toward foreigners, particularly non-Europeans. The vast majority of Germans condemn such violence. Population: 82,431,390 (July 2005 est.) SOURCES: The World Factbook, U.S. Department of State |
Mother Earth Travel > Country Index > Germany > Map Economy History