Interesting and important facts about the Federal Republic of Germany
The German state, the German government, the German economy – find out the important facts here
Form of government and population
The Federal Republic of Germany is a parliamentary democracy; Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been head of state since 2017, and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz head of government since 2021. In the Bundestag, 736 MPs currently represent the 84 million citizens; in the Bundesrat, the second chamber, 69 delegates represent the 16 federal states or Länder.
Cities and country
The capital of Germany is Berlin with 3.7 million inhabitants. Berlin is also the country's largest city and simultaneously a federal state in its own right: the third smallest of the 16 federal states in terms of area, but the eighth largest in terms of population. Germany has 11,054 municipalities; these are the smallest units with their own administration. 2,061 of these are cities, which usually have to have more than 2,000 inhabitants. There are some exceptions for historical reasons. The smallest city in Germany is Arnis in Schleswig-Holstein with 284 inhabitants.
Young and old
On average, women live to be 83.4 years old, men 78.6 – the average life expectancy is 81. According to the statistical average, each woman has 1.53 children. Accordingly, 12,9% of the population are aged between 0 and 13; 22% are older than 65. 26% of the people are Catholics, 23,7% Protestants, about 6.6% Muslims and 0.1% Jewish.
Trade and production
In 2022, Germany imported goods and services worth 1,495 billion euros; the value of exports in 2022 was approx. 1,575 billion euros. The most important imports in 2022 were computer equipment, electrical and optical equipment (148 billion euros), chemical products (137), motor vehicles and parts (130), machinery (103), and crude oil and natural gas (131). These goods also played a major role in exports: cars and car parts (244 billion euros), machinery (208), chemical products (163), computer equipment, electrical and optical equipment (132), electrical equipment (108). The most important trading partners for imports are China (191,1), the Netherlands (123), the USA (91.7), Poland (77.4) and Italy (72.3); for exports, they are the USA (156.1), France (116.1), the Netherlands (110.6) and China (106.8). The GDP in 2022 was 3,870.37 billion euros, which corresponds to 46.020 euros per capita.
