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Key Demographic Features of Germany*

Location: Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark
Map references: Europe

People

Population: 83,536,115 (July 1996 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 16.15% (male 6,928,750; female 6,563,026)
15-64 years: 68.52% (male 29,339,780; female 27,902,549)
65 years and over: 15.33% (male 4,658,014; female 8,143,996) (July 1996 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.67% (1996 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 6 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 75.95 years
male: 72.8 years
female: 79.27 years (1996 est.)
Ethnic divisions: German 95.1%, Turkish 2.3%, Italians 0.7%, Greeks 0.4%, Poles 0.4%, other 1.1% (made up largely of people fleeing the war in the former Yugoslavia)
Religions: Protestant 45%, Roman Catholic 37%, unaffiliated or other 18%
Languages: German
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1977 est.)
total population: 99%
male: NA%
female: NA%

Government

Country Abbreviation: GM
Type of government: federal republic
Independence:
National holiday: German Unity Day (Day of Unity), 3 October (1990)
Constitution: 23 May 1949, known as Basic Law; became constitution of the united German people 3 October 1990
Legal system: civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Economy

Economic overview:
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $1.4522 trillion (1995 est.)
western: purchasing power parity - $1.3318 trillion (1995 est.)
eastern: purchasing power parity - $120.4 billion (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate:
1.8% (1995 est.)
western: 1.5% (1995 est.)
eastern: 6.3% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita:
$17,900 (1995 est.)
western: $21,100 (1995 est.)
eastern: $6,600 (1995 est.)
Unemployment rate:
western: 8.7% (December 1995)
eastern: 14.9% (December 1995)

Communications

Telephones: 44 million
Radio broadcast stations:
western: AM 80, FM 470, shortwave 0
eastern: AM 23, FM 17, shortwave 0
Radios: 70 million (1991 est.)
Television broadcast stations:
Televisions: 44.8 million (1992 est.)

*Source: World Factbook 1996, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency

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