Germany is a country in central Europe and a member of the European Union. Official Name: Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany). Language: German Capital: Berlin German States / Bundesländer: Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia Currency: Euro (since 2002-01-01, "book money" since 1999-01-01) (former currency: Deutsche Mark, 1 DM = 100 Pfennig, 1 EUR = 1.95583 DM)
Germany is one of the biggest countries in Europe. It goes from the high mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,962 m) in the south, to the North Sea and Baltic Sea in the north. Between the mountains and the sea are the large forests of the middle part of Germany, and the very low and flat parts of northern Germany (lowest point: Neuendorfer/ Wilstermarsch at -3.54 m). Germany also has parts of Europe's biggest and most important rivers, such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe.
Economy
Germany has the world's third most technologically powerful economy (only the United States and Japan are more powerful), but its economy is starting to have problems, because Germany pays a lot of money to many people who have no job. National product: Germany: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $1.3446 trillion (1994 est.) western: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $1.2363 trillion (1994 est.) eastern: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $108.3 billion (1994 est.)
Population
There are at least seven million people from other countries living in Germany. Some have political asylum, some are guest workers (Gastarbeiter), and some are their families. A lot of people from poor or dangerous countries go to Germany for safety, but today the number is smaller (about 50,000 in 2003).
Culture
Germany is where many people important in culture were born: composers such as Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, and Wagner; poets such as Goethe, Schiller, Heine and Lessing or Brecht; philosophers including Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche; and scientists including Einstein, Born, Heisenberg and Planck. It was also where the Bauhaus movement started.
Religion
Roman Catholicism was the biggest religion in Germany up to the 15th century, but a major religious change called the Reformation changed this. In 1517, Martin Luther said that the Catholic church was greedy and that it used religion to make money.