The official name is the Federal Republic of Germany, Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland; Federal Republic of Germany). Located in Central Europe. The area is 357.02 thousand km2. The population is 82.5 million people. (October 2002). The official language is German. The capital is Berlin (3.395 million people, November 2002). Public holiday – German Unity Day October 3 (since 1990). The monetary unit is the euro (since 2002, in 1948-2001 the German mark).
Member ok. 70 international organizations, incl. UN (since 1973), EU (since 1957), NATO (since 1955), as well as the IMF, OECD, WTO, the “big seven”, etc.
Population of Germany
According to Countryaah, 79% of the population lives in the western federal states of Germany, and 21% in the eastern federal states. In terms of population density (231 people / km2), Germany is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe (4th place). However, the population is distributed very unevenly throughout the country. So, in the industrial agglomerations of the Rhine and Ruhr, the population density is approx. 1100 people/km2, while in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – 76 people/km2. The eastern lands are not as densely populated as the western ones; they contain only two large cities with a population of more than 300 thousand people. (excluding Berlin).
The majority of the country’s population lives in villages and small towns, and only a third of the population lives in large cities with a population of more than 100,000 people.
There is practically no natural increase in the population in Germany: in 1991-2002, more people died each year than were born. Thus, in 2001 the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 94 thousand people. At the same time, both births and deaths decreased in Germany until 2002: in 2001, 734.5 thousand were born (8.9‰ against 9.4‰ in 1999), and 828.5 thousand died (10.1‰ against 10.3‰). In 2002, 725,000 children were born and 845,000 people died, which is almost 3% higher than the level of the previous year. The negative difference between births and deaths has grown to 120 thousand people.
Child mortality in Germany is low – 3.9 people. Per 1000 live births – and continues to decline.
However, the population of the country does not decrease and even grows slightly due to the excess of immigration over emigration: in 2001 this difference was 275 thousand people, while in 2000 it was only 167 thousand. The influx occurs at the expense of both foreigners and immigrants of German nationality, but the first category prevails. Average life expectancy is 74.5 years for men and 80.8 years for women (2000).
Of the 82.44 million people. in con. In 2001, there were 40.27 million men and 42.17 women. The age structure of the population is characterized by a narrowing of the base (children and adolescents) and a growing number of residents aged 65 and over (there is a sharp decrease in the population aged 55-60, which is explained by the fall in the birth rate during World War II). The proportion of residents under the age of 15 in 2001 was 15.3%, 15-24 years old – 11.4%, 25-44 years old – 30.4%, 45-64 years old – 25.9%, 65 years and older – 17.1%. The share of the last age group increased by 1% compared to 1999, while the share of the first decreased by 0.4%.
The national composition of Germany is homogeneous, the overwhelming majority of the population are Germans (not counting temporary immigrants). The country has small integrated ethnic groups of Lusatian Sorbs (descendants of Slavic tribes, 60 thousand people), Frisians (12 thousand people), the Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein (more than 50 thousand people).
According to national (state) affiliation, 75.1 million inhabitants of the country are Germans (end of 2001). The number of foreigners is 7.3 million people. (8.9%), including citizens of Turkey – 1.95, Serbia and Montenegro – 0.63, Italy – 0.62, Greece – 0.36, Poland – 0.31 million people. The number of citizens of the former USSR (excluding German settlers) is just over 50 thousand people. More than half of all foreigners have lived in Germany for 10 years or more.
The total number of foreigners has remained relatively stable in recent years, but below the peak reached in 1997 (7.37 million). If in 1980-89 the number of foreigners increased by only 393 thousand people, then in 1989-93 it increased by more than 2 million people.
The official language is German. However, there are many dialects in the country (Frisian, Swabian, Bavarian, Franconian, Mecklenburg, etc.).
55 million people consider themselves Christians, of which approximately 26.6 million are Protestants (mostly Lutherans) and 26.8 million are Catholics. The Evangelical Church unites Lutheran, Uniate and Reformed churches. Compared to ser. 1990s the number of both Protestants and Catholics decreased by about 1 million, with Protestants losing their slim majority. More than 1 million people They profess the Orthodox religion.
In addition, there are 2.6 million Muslims and 88,000 adherents of Judaism (united in Jewish communities) in Germany, and unlike the two leading churches, where there is a noticeable decrease in membership, in the latter there is a certain increase.
