Background:
“As Europe's largest economy and most populous nation, Germany remains a key
member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations.
European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the
first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious
Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the
advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western
Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic
(GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security
organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the Communist GDR
was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and
the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then,
Germany has expended considerable funds to bring Eastern productivity and wages
up to Western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries
introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.”
- as seen on cia.gov
“Germany's affluent and technologically powerful economy - the fifth largest in the world - has become one of the slowest growing economies in the euro zone. A quick turnaround is not in the offing in the foreseeable future. Growth in 2001-03 fell short of 1%, rising to 1.7% in 2004. The modernization and integration of the eastern German economy continues to be a costly long-term process, with annual transfers from west to east amounting to roughly $70 billion. Germany's aging population, combined with high unemployment, has pushed social security outlays to a level exceeding contributions from workers. Structural rigidities in the labor market - including strict regulations on laying off workers and the setting of wages on a national basis - have made unemployment a chronic problem. Corporate restructuring and growing capital markets are setting the foundations that could allow Germany to meet the long-term challenges of European economic integration and globalization, particularly if labor market rigidities are further addressed. In the short run, however, the fall in government revenues and the rise in expenditures have raised the deficit above the EU's 3% debt limit.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $2.362 trillion (2004 est.)
GDP -
real growth rate:
1.7% (2004 est.)
GDP - per
capita:
purchasing power parity - $28,700 (2004 est.)
GDP -
composition by sector:
agriculture: 1%
industry: 31%
services: 68% (2002 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
17.6% of GDP (2004)
Household
income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.6%
highest 10%: 25.1% (1997)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
30 (1994)
Inflation
rate (consumer prices):
1.6% (2004 est.)
Labor
force:
42.63 million (2004 est.)
Labor
force - by occupation:
agriculture 2.8%, industry 33.4%, services 63.8% (1999)
Unemployment rate:
10.6% (2004 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $1.2 trillion
expenditures: $1.3 trillion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004
est.)
Public
debt:
65.8% of GDP (2004 est.)
Agriculture - products:
potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbages; cattle, pigs,
poultry
Industries:
among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers
of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools,
electronics, food and beverages; shipbuilding; textiles”
- as seen at cia.gov