Germany

federal parliamentary republic

name: Berlin geographic coordinates: 52 31 N, 13 24 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October etymology: the origin of the name is unclear but may be related to the Old Slavic (Polabian) word berl or birl , meaning "swamp" and referring to the original settlement site by the Spree River

chief of state: President Frank-Walter STEINMEIER (since 19 March 2017) head of government: Chancellor Friedrich MERZ (since 6 May 2025) cabinet: Cabinet or Bundesminister (Federal Ministers) recommended by the chancellor, appointed by the president election/appointment process: president indirectly elected by a Federal Convention consisting of all members of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and an equivalent number of delegates indirectly elected by the state parliaments; president serves a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); following the most recent Federal Parliament election, the party or coalition with the most representatives usually elects the chancellor, who is appointed by the president to serve a renewable 4-year term most recent election date: president: 13 February 2022 chancellor: 6 May 2025 election results: 2025: Friedrich MERZ (CDU) elected chancellor in second round; Federal Parliament vote - 325 to 289 2022: Frank-Walter STEINMEIER reelected president; Federal Convention vote count - Frank-Walter STEINMEIER (SPD) 1,045, Max OTTE (CDU) 140, Gerhard TRABERT (The Left) 96, Stefanie GEBAUER (Free Voters) 58, abstentions 86 expected date of next election: president: February 2027

legislative structure: bicameral note: due to Germany's recognition of the concepts of "overhang" (when a party's share of the nationwide votes would entitle it to fewer seats than the number of individual constituency seats won in an election under Germany's mixed member proportional system) and "leveling" (whereby additional seats are elected to supplement the members directly elected by each constituency in order to ensure that each party's share of the total seats is roughly proportional to the party's overall shares of votes at the national level), the 20th Bundestag is the largest to date

highest court(s): Federal Court of Justice (court consists of 127 judges, including the court president, vice presidents, presiding judges, other judges; organized into 25 Senates subdivided into 12 civil panels, 5 criminal panels, and 8 special panels); Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht (consists of 2 Senates each subdivided into 3 chambers, each with a chairman and 8 members) judge selection and term of office: Federal Court of Justice judges selected by the Judges Election Committee, which consists of the Secretaries of Justice from each of the 16 federated states and 16 members appointed by the Federal Parliament; judges appointed by the president; judges serve until mandatory retirement at age 65; half of Federal Constitutional Court judges are elected by the House of Representatives and half by the Senate; judges appointed for 12-year terms with mandatory retirement at age 68 subordinate courts: Federal Administrative Court; Federal Finance Court; Federal Labor Court; Federal Social Court; each of the 16 federated states or Land has its own constitutional court and a hierarchy of ordinary (civil, criminal, family) and specialized (administrative, finance, labor, social) courts; two English-speaking commercial courts opened in 2020 in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg -- the Stuttgart Commercial Court and the Mannheim Commercial Court

history: previous 1919 (Weimar Constitution); latest drafted 10-23 August 1948, approved 12 May 1949, promulgated 23 May 1949, entered into force 24 May 1949 amendment process: proposed by Parliament; passage and enactment into law require two-thirds majority vote by both the Bundesrat (upper house) and the Bundestag (lower house) of Parliament; articles including those on basic human rights and freedoms cannot be amended

ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CBSS, CD, CDB, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EITI (implementing country), EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, FATF, G-5, G-7, G-8, G-10, G-20, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD (partners), IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MINURSO, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Pacific Alliance (observer), Paris Club, PCA, Schengen Convention, SELEC (observer), SICA (observer), UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNHRC, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMISS, UNOOSA, UNRWA, UNSOM, UNWTO, UPU, Wassenaar Arrangement, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

2.4% of GDP (2025 est.) 2% of GDP (2024 est.) 1.6% of GDP (2023 est.) 1.5% of GDP (2022 est.) 1.4% of GDP (2021 est.)

Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr): German Army (Deutsche Heer), German Navy (Deutsche Marine, includes naval air arm), German Air Force (Deutsche Luftwaffe, includes air defense), Cyber and Information Space (Cyber und Informationsraum) (2025) note: responsibility for internal and border security is shared by the police forces of the 16 states, the Federal Criminal Police Office, and the Federal Police; the states police forces report to their respective interior ministries while the Federal Police forces report to the Federal Ministry of the Interior

17-23 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women (must have completed compulsory full-time education and have German citizenship); service obligation 7-23 months or 12 years (2025) note 1: conscription ended in 2011; in 2020, the German Government launched a new voluntary conscript initiative focused on homeland security tasks, with the volunteers serving for 7 months plus 5 months as reservists over a 6-year period note 2: in December 2025, Germany passed a law reforming military service; from 2026, the new regulations require German males residing in Germany who have reached the age of 18 to complete a questionnaire, including questions about their willingness to serve; participation will remain voluntary for women note 3: women have been eligible for voluntary service in all military branches and positions since 2001; in 2025, they accounted for more than 13% of the active-duty German military

the Bundeswehr s core mission is the defense of Germany and its NATO partners; it has a wide range of peacetime duties, including crisis management, cyber security, deterrence, homeland security, humanitarian and disaster relief, and international peacekeeping and stability operations; as a key member of NATO and the EU, the Bundeswehr typically operates in a coalition environment, and its capabilities are largely based on NATO and EU planning goals and needs; it has participated in a range of NATO and EU missions in Europe, Africa, and Asia, as well as global maritime operations; the Bundeswehr has close bilateral defense ties with a number of EU countries, including the Czechia, France, the Netherlands, and Romania, as well as the UK and the US; it also contributes forces to UN peacekeeping missions the Bundeswehr was established in 1955; at the height of the Cold War in the 1980s, it had nearly 600,000 personnel, over 7,000 tanks, and 1,000 combat aircraft; in addition, over 400,000 soldiers from other NATO countries including about 200,000 US military personnel were stationed in West Germany; in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the Bundeswehr shrank by more than 60% in size (over 90% in tanks and about 80% in aircraft), while funding fell from nearly 3% of GDP and over 4% of government spending in the mid-1980s to 1.2% and 1.6% respectively; by the 2010s, the Bundeswehr s ability to fulfill its regional security commitments had deteriorated; the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and full-scale assault on Ukraine in 2022 led to renewed emphasis on Germany s leadership role in European defense and NATO and efforts to boost funding for the Bundeswehr to improve readiness, modernize, and expand (2025)

up to 500 Iraq (NATO); 300 Kosovo (NATO/KFOR), Lebanon 170 (UNIFIL); up to 1,700 Lithuania (NATO) (2025) note: the German military also has air and naval contingents deployed to support NATO missions

$5.247 trillion (2024 est.) $5.26 trillion (2023 est.) $5.274 trillion (2022 est.) note: data in 2021 dollars

$62,800 (2024 est.) $62,700 (2023 est.) $62,900 (2022 est.) note: data in 2021 dollars

-0.2% (2024 est.) -0.3% (2023 est.) 1.4% (2022 est.) note: annual GDP % growth based on constant local currency

2.3% (2024 est.) 5.9% (2023 est.) 6.9% (2022 est.) note: annual % change based on consumer prices

63.9% of GDP (2017 est.) note: general government gross debt is defined in the Maastricht Treaty as consolidated general government gross debt at nominal value, outstanding at the end of the year in the following categories of government liabilities (as defined in ESA95): currency and deposits (AF.2), securities other than shares excluding financial derivatives (AF.3, excluding AF.34), and loans (AF.4); the general government sector comprises the sub-sectors of central government, state government, local government and social security funds; the series are presented as a percentage of GDP and in millions of euros; GDP used as a denominator is the gross domestic product at current market prices; data expressed in national currency are converted into euro using end-of-year exchange rates provided by the European Central Bank

$1.949 trillion (2024 est.) $1.958 trillion (2023 est.) $1.917 trillion (2022 est.) note: balance of payments - exports of goods and services in current dollars

$1.774 trillion (2024 est.) $1.781 trillion (2023 est.) $1.808 trillion (2022 est.) note: balance of payments - imports of goods and services in current dollars

3.5% (2024 est.) 3.1% (2023 est.) 3.2% (2022 est.) note: % of labor force seeking employment

revenues: $1.279 trillion (2023 est.) expenditures: $1.369 trillion (2023 est.) note: central government revenues (excluding grants) and expenditures converted to US dollars at average official exchange rate for year indicated

iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, automobiles, food and beverages, shipbuilding, textiles

milk, sugar beets, wheat, potatoes, barley, maize, rapeseed, pork, rye, triticale (2023) note: top ten agricultural products based on tonnage

total: 84,012,284 (2025 est.) male: 41,517,301 female: 42,494,983

-0.13% (2025 est.)

0-14 years: 13.8% (male 5,925,800/female 5,688,603) 15-64 years: 62.5% (male 26,705,657/female 25,875,865) 65 years and over: 23.7% (2024 est.) (male 8,941,245/female 10,981,930)

8.87 births/1,000 population (2025 est.)

11.96 deaths/1,000 population (2025 est.)

1.79 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2025 est.)

total population: 81.9 years (2024 est.) male: 79.6 years female: 84.4 years

urban population: 77.8% of total population (2023) rate of urbanization: 0.13% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

German 85.4%, Turkish 1.8%, Ukrainian 1.4%, Syrian 1.1%, Romanian 1%, Poland 1%, other/stateless/unspecified 8.3% (2022 est.) note: data represent population by nationality

German (official); note - Danish, Frisian, Sorbian, and Romani are official minority languages; Low German, Danish, North Frisian, Sater Frisian, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian, and Romani are recognized as regional languages major-language sample(s): Das World Factbook, die unverzichtbare Quelle f r grundlegende Informationen. (German) The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

Roman Catholic 24.8%, Protestant 22.6%, Muslim 3.7%, other 5.1%, none 43.8% (2022 est.)

coal, lignite, natural gas, iron ore, copper, nickel, uranium, potash, salt, construction materials, timber, arable land

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps/Qods Force; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS); al-Qa'ida note: details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in the Terrorism reference guide

USG identification: major precursor-chemical producer (2025)

refugees: 3,098,169 (2024 est.) IDPs: 100 (2023 est.) stateless persons: 28,813 (2024 est.)

840 (2025)

total: 39,379 km (2020) 20,942 km electrified 15 km 0.900-mm gauge, 24 km 0.750-mm gauge (2015)

total: 595 (2023) by type: bulk carrier 1, container ship 69, general cargo 82, oil tanker 32, other 411

total subscriptions: 109 million (2024 est.) subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 129 (2024 est.)

percent of population: 94% (2024 est.)