Germany

Germany--first united in 1871?suffered defeats in successive world wars and was occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the beginning of the Cold War and increasing tension between the US and

• temperate and marine;
• cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers;
• occasional warm, tropical foehn wind;
• high relative humidity

• emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries and lead emissions from vehicle exhausts (the result of continued use of leaded fuels) 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

0-14 years:

15% (male 6,495,882; female 6,172,359)

15-64 years:

69% (male 28,687,267; female 27,526,698)

65 years and over:

16% (male 4,990,090; female 8,215,065) (1999 est.)

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.61 male(s)/female

total population:

0.96 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

total population:

77.17 years

male:

74.01 years

female:

80.5 years (1999 est.)

noun:

German(s)

adjective:

German

conventional long form:

Federal Republic of Germany

conventional short form:

Germany

local long form:

Bundesrepublik Deutschland

local short form:

Deutschland

• 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

• civil law system with indigenous concepts;
• judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court;
• has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

chief of state:

President Roman HERZOG (since 1 July 1994)

head of government:

Chancellor Gerhard SCHROEDER (since 27 October 1998)

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by the president upon the proposal of the chancellor

elections:

• president elected for a five-year term by a Federal Convention including all members of the Federal Assembly and an equal number of delegates elected by the Land Parliaments;
• election last held 23 May 1994 (next to be held 23 May 1999);
• chancellor elected by an absolute majority of the Federal Assembly for a four-year term;
• election last held 27 September 1998 (next to be held in the fall of 2002)

election results:

• Roman HERZOG elected president;
• percent of Federal Convention vote--52.6%;
• Gerhard SCHROEDER elected chancellor;
• percent of Federal Assembly--52.8%

AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BDEAC, BIS, CBSS, CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MTCR, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIBH, UNOMIG, UPU, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC

chief of mission:

Ambassador Juergen CHROBOG

chancery:

4645 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007

consulate(s) general:

Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle

chief of mission:

Ambassador John C. KORNBLUM

embassy:

Deichmanns Aue 29, 53170 Bonn

mailing address:

PSC 117, APO AE 09080

branch office:

Berlin; mailing address: Neustaedtische Kirchstrasse

consulate(s) general:

Dusseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich

western:

among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food and beverages;

eastern:

metal fabrication, chemicals, brown coal, shipbuilding, machine building, food and beverages, textiles, petroleum refining

• western?potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbages;
• cattle, pigs, poultry;
• eastern--wheat, rye, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, fruit;
• pork, beef, chickens, milk, hides

• Germany has one of the world's most technologically advanced telecommunications systems;
• as a result of intensive capital expenditures since reunification, the formerly backward system of the eastern part of the country has been modernized and integrated with that of the western part

domestic:

• the region which was formerly West Germany is served by an extensive system of automatic telephone exchanges connected by modern networks of fiber-optic cable, coaxial cable, microwave radio relay, and a domestic satellite system;
• cellular telephone service is widely available and includes roaming service to many foreign countries;
• since the reunification of Germany, the telephone system of the eastern region has been upgraded and enjoys all of the advantages of the national system

international:

• satellite earth stations--14 Intelsat (12 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean), 1 Eutelsat, 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region), 2 Intersputnik (1 Atlantic Ocean region and 1 Indian Ocean region);
• 7 submarine cable connections;
• 2 HF radiotelephone communication centers;
• tropospheric scatter links

total:

46,300 km including 18,866 km electrified and 14,768 km double- or multiple-tracked (1996)

note: since privatization in 1994, Deutsche Bahn AG (DBAG) no longer publishes details of the tracks it owns; in addition to the DBAG system there are 102 privately owned railway companies which own an approximate 3,000 km to 4,000 km of the total tracks

total:

656,074 km

paved:

650,169 km (including 11,309 km of expressways)

unpaved:

5,905 km all-weather (1997 est.)

• 7,467 km (1997);
• major rivers include the Rhine and Elbe;
• Kiel Canal is an important connection between the Baltic Sea and North Sea

• source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine processors;
• transshipment point for and consumer of Southwest Asian heroin and hashish, Latin American cocaine, and European-produced synthetic drugs