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Germany
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FactsBackground: 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, 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 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro. In January 2011, Germany assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2011-12 term. note: data are in 2010 US dollars GDP (official exchange rate): $3.306 trillion (2010 est.); GDP - real growth rate: 3.6% (2010 est.); -4.7% (2009 est.); 1% (2008 est.); GDP - per capita (PPP): $35,900 (2010 est.); $34,700 (2009 est.); $36,400 (2008 est.); note: data are in 2010 US dollars GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 0.8%; industry: 27.9%; services: 71.3% (2010 est.); Population below poverty line: 15.5% (2010 est.); Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.6%; highest 10%: 24% (2000); Labor force: 43.35 million (2010 est.); Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 2.4%; industry: 29.7%; services: 67.8% (2005); Unemployment rate: 7.4% (2010 est.); 7.5% (2009 est.); note: this is the International Labor Organization's estimated rate for international comparisons; Germany's Federal Employment Agency estimated a seasonally adjusted rate of 10.8% Budget: revenues: $1.396 trillion; expenditures: $1.516 trillion (2010 est.); Industries: among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food and beverages, shipbuilding, textiles; Industrial production growth rate: 9% (2010 est.); Electricity - production: 593.4 billion kWh (2007 est.); Electricity - consumption: 547.3 billion kWh (2007 est.); Electricity - exports: 61.7 billion kWh (2008 est.); Electricity - imports: 41.67 billion kWh (2008 est.); Statistics: CIA World Factbook. PressDisplaying 1 to 7 of 41 items. Abendzeitung(Centrist), Munich Allgemeine Zeitung(Independent, German-language daily), Mainz Berliner Morgenpost(Centrist), Berlin Berliner Zeitung(Liberal), Berlin Bild der Wissenschaft(Science monthly), Stuttgart Bild Zeitung(Conservative mass-circulation), Hamburg Capital(Business/financial magazine), Hamburg Germany in the NewsDisplaying 1 to 4 of 63 items. Germany's Energy Model for IndiaGermany has been acting as an international leader in reducing its carbon footprint, and India can learn a lot from the example Germany is setting. Germany's Eurozone WoesGermany faces some tough decisions that will largely determine the fate of not only the Eurozone, but of a geopolitical landscape that stretches beyond the region. Germany Sets Aside $130B for Renewable EnergyIn keeping its promise to shutter its nuclear power plants and move toward renewable energy, Germany is making huge investments in the clean technologies of the future. South-Eastern Europe's Natural Gas Pipeline CompetitionWith top energy producers in South-Eastern Europe vying for shares of the market, current pipeline competition will shape energy and political landscapes for the near future. |
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