Some interesting and important facts about the Federal Republic of Germany

TEXT: 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 83 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 83.3 years old, men 78.5 – the average life expectancy is 81. According to the statistical average, each woman has 1.57 children. Accordingly, 13.1% of the population are aged between 0 and 13; 21.5% are older than 65. 28.6% of the people are Catholics, 26.6% Protestants, about 5.5% Muslims and 0.1% Jewish.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022