Germany country profile
17 September 2018
Germany is Europe's most industrialised and populous country.
Famed for its technological achievements, it has also produced
some of Europe's most celebrated composers, philosophers and
poets.
Achieving national unity later than other European nations, Germany
World Wars left it shattered, facing the difficult legacy of Nazism, and
divided between Europe's Cold War blocs.
Germany rebounded to become the continent's economic giant, and a
prime mover of European cooperation. With the end of the Cold War, the
two parts of the country were once again united, although the economy of
the former east continues to lag behind the rest of the country.
FACTS
Federal Republic of Germany
Capital: Berlin
Population 82 million
Area 357,027 sq km (137,849 sq miles)
Major language German
Major religion Christianity
Life expectancy 78 years (men), 83 years (women)
Currency euro
UN, World Bank
LEADERS
Chancellor: Angela Merkel
The Christian Democrat Angela Merkel, Germany's first female
chancellor, has governed since 2005 in coalition with either the liberal
Free Democrats or centre-left Social Democrats, but suffered a setback at
the 2017 elections as the populist anti-immigrant Alliance for Germany
(AfD) surged into third place.
The AfD exploited social tensions over the arrival of more than a million
people from the Middle East, West Asia and Africa after Mrs Merkel
offered asylum to refugees fleeing turmoil in Syria in the autumn of 2015.
After attempts to build a government with the Free Democrats and leftleaning
Greens failed, Mrs Merkel reassembled a "Grand Coalition" with
the much-weakened Social Democrats.
Angela Merkel became leader of the Christian Democratic Union in 2000
after a party funding scandal that tainted her long-time mentor, former
Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
She was born in Hamburg in 1954 but grew up in communist East
Germany, where her father was a Protestant clergyman.
President: Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected federal
president in February 2017, succeeding Joachim Gauck.
A Social Democrat, Mr Steinmeier enjoyed the support of Chancellor
Angela Merkel's "grand coalition" of centre-right and centre-left parties.
In his acceptance speech, he pledged to stand up to the rising trend of
xenophobic populism, and promote inter-communal dialogue and
democracy.
This became all the more topical in September, when the anti-migrant
Alternative for Germany broke through to become the first hard-right party
to win seats in parliament since the Second World War.
Germany's competitive television market is the largest in Europe, with
some 34 million TV households.
The many regional and national public broadcasters - organised in line
with the federal political structure - vie for audiences with powerful
commercial operators. Each of the 16 regions regulates its own private
and public broadcasting.
Around 90% of German households have cable or satellite TV, and
viewers enjoy a comprehensive mix of free-to-view public and commercial
channels. This has acted as a brake on the development of pay-TV.
Germany is home to some of the world's largest media conglomerates,
including Bertelsmann and the publisher Axel Springer. Some of
Germany's top free-to-air commercial TV networks are owned by
ProSiebenSat1.