Mali (2004) | Germany (2001) | |
Administrative divisions | 8 regions (regions, singular - region); Gao, Kayes, Kidal, Koulikoro, Mopti, Segou, Sikasso, Tombouctou | 16 states (Laender, singular - Land); Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thueringen |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 47.1% (male 2,835,378; female 2,801,578)
15-64 years: 49.9% (male 2,862,075; female 3,101,009) 65 years and over: 3% (male 163,927; female 192,821) (2004 est.) |
0-14 years:
15.57% (male 6,635,328; female 6,289,994) 15-64 years: 67.82% (male 28,619,237; female 27,691,698) 65 years and over: 16.61% (male 5,336,664; female 8,456,615) (2001 est.) |
Agriculture - products | cotton, millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; cattle, sheep, goats | potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbages; cattle, pigs, poultry |
Airports | 27 (2003 est.) | 613 (2000 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 9
2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2004 est.) |
total:
322 over 3,047 m: 13 2,438 to 3,047 m: 55 1,524 to 2,437 m: 67 914 to 1,523 m: 63 under 914 m: 124 (2000 est.) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 19
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 5 under 914 m: 8 (2004 est.) |
total:
291 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 53 under 914 m: 225 (2000 est.) |
Area | total: 1.24 million sq km
land: 1.22 million sq km water: 20,000 sq km |
total:
357,021 sq km land: 349,223 sq km water: 7,798 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly less than twice the size of Texas | slightly smaller than Montana |
Background | The Sudanese Republic and Senegal became independent of France in 1960 as the Mali Federation. When Senegal withdrew after only a few months, what formerly made up the Sudanese Republic was renamed Mali. Rule by dictatorship was brought to a close in 1991 with a transitional government and in 1992 when Mali's first democratic presidential election was held. After his reelection in 1997, President Alpha KONARE continued to push through political and economic reforms and to fight corruption. In keeping with Mali's two-term constitutional limit, he stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded by Amadou TOURE. | As Western Europe's richest and most populous nation, Germany remains a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed the country 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 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 formed a common European currency, the euro. |
Birth rate | 47.29 births/1,000 population (2004 est.) | 9.16 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $764 million
expenditures: $828 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2002 est.) |
revenues:
$996 billion expenditures: $1.036 trillion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.) |
Capital | Bamako | Berlin |
Climate | subtropical to arid; hot and dry February to June; rainy, humid, and mild June to November; cool and dry November to February | temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm foehn wind |
Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 2,389 km |
Constitution | adopted 12 January 1992 | 23 May 1949, known as Basic Law; became constitution of the united German people 3 October 1990 |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Mali
conventional short form: Mali local long form: Republique de Mali local short form: Mali former: French Sudan and Sudanese Republic |
conventional long form:
Federal Republic of Germany conventional short form: Germany local long form: Bundesrepublik Deutschland local short form: Deutschland former: German Empire, German Republic, German Reich |
Currency | Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States | deutsche mark (DEM); euro (EUR)
note: on 1 January 1999, the EU introduced the euro as a common currency that is now being used by financial institutions in Germany at a fixed rate of 1.95583 deutsche marks per euro and will replace the local currency for all transactions in 2002 |
Death rate | 19.12 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) | 10.42 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Debt - external | $3.3 billion (2000) | $NA |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Vicki HUDDLESTONE
embassy: Rue Rochester NY and Rue Mohamed V, Bamako mailing address: B. P. 34, Bamako telephone: [223] (2) 223-833 FAX: [223] (2) 223-712 |
chief of mission:
Ambassador John C. KORNBLUM (was due to resign on 20 January 2001) embassy: Neustaedtische Kirchstrasse 4-5, 10117 Berlin mailing address: PSC 120, Box 1000, APO AE 09265 telephone: [49] (30) 238-5174 FAX: [49] (30) 238-6290 consulate(s) general: Duesseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Abdoulaye DIOP
chancery: 2130 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 332-2249, 939-8950 FAX: [1] (202) 332-6603 |
chief of mission:
Ambassador Juergen CHROBOG chancery: 4645 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 298-8141 FAX: [1] (202) 298-4249 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle consulate(s): Wellington (America Samoa) |
Disputes - international | none | none |
Economic aid - donor | - | ODA, $5.6 billion (1998) |
Economic aid - recipient | $596.4 million (2001) | - |
Economy - overview | Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with 65% of its land area desert or semidesert and with a highly unequal distribution of income. Economic activity is largely confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10% of the population is nomadic and some 80% of the labor force is engaged in farming and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities. Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export, along with gold. The government has continued its successful implementation of an IMF-recommended structural adjustment program that is helping the economy grow, diversify, and attract foreign investment. Mali's adherence to economic reform and the 50% devaluation of the African franc in January 1994 have pushed up economic growth to a sturdy 5% average in 1996-2002. Worker remittances and external trade routes have been jeopardized by continued unrest in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire. | Germany possesses the world's third most technologically powerful economy after the US and Japan, but structural market rigidities - including the substantial non-wage costs of hiring new workers - have made unemployment a long-term, not just a cyclical, problem. Germany's aging population, combined with high unemployment, has pushed social security outlays to a level exceeding contributions from workers. The modernization and integration of the eastern German economy remains a costly long-term problem, with annual transfers from western Germany amounting to roughly $70 billion. Growth picked up to 3% in 2000, largely due to recovering global demand; newly passed business and income tax cuts are expected to keep growth strong in 2001. Corporate restructuring and growing capital markets are transforming the German economy to meet the challenges of European economic integration and globalization in general. |
Electricity - consumption | 446.6 million kWh (2001) | 495.181 billion kWh (1999) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh; note - recent hydropower developments may be providing electricity to Senegal and Mauritania (2001) | 39.5 billion kWh (1999) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2001) | 40.5 billion kWh (1999) |
Electricity - production | 480.2 million kWh (2001) | 531.377 billion kWh (1999) |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel:
63.29% hydro: 3.59% nuclear: 30.3% other: 2.82% (1999) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Senegal River 23 m
highest point: Hombori Tondo 1,155 m |
lowest point:
Freepsum Lake -2 m highest point: Zugspitze 2,963 m |
Environment - current issues | deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching | emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulfur dioxide emissions, is damaging forests; pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany; hazardous waste disposal; government currently attempting to define mechanism for ending the use of nuclear power; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU's Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
party to:
Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol |
Ethnic groups | Mande 50% (Bambara, Malinke, Soninke), Peul 17%, Voltaic 12%, Songhai 6%, Tuareg and Moor 10%, other 5% | German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Serbo-Croatian, Italian, Russian, Greek, Polish, Spanish) |
Exchange rates | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 581.2 (2003), 696.988 (2002), 733.039 (2001), 711.976 (2000), 615.699 (1999) | euros per US dollar - 1.0659 (January 2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); deutsche marks per US dollar - 1.69 (January 1999), 1.7597 (1998), 1.7341 (1997), 1.5048 (1996) |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Amadou Toumani TOURE (since 8 June 2002)
head of government: Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi MAIGA (since 30 April 2004) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (two-term limit); election last held 12 May 2002 (next to be held NA May 2007); prime minister appointed by the president election results: Amadou Toumani TOURE elected president; percent of vote - Amadou Toumani TOURE 64.4%, Soumaila CISSE 35.6% |
chief of state:
President Johannes RAU (since 1 July 1999) head of government: Chancellor Gerhard SCHROEDER (since 27 October 1998) cabinet: Cabinet or Bundesminister (Federal Ministers) appointed by the president on the recommendation of the chancellor elections: president elected for a five-year term by a Federal Convention including all members of the Federal Assembly and an equal number of delegates elected by the state parliaments; election last held 23 May 1999 (next to be held 23 May 2004); chancellor elected by an absolute majority of the Federal Assembly for a four-year term; election last held 27 September 1998 (next to be held in the fall of 2002) election results: Johannes RAU elected president; percent of Federal Convention vote - 57.6%; Gerhard SCHROEDER elected chancellor; percent of Federal Assembly - 52.7% |
Exports | NA (2001) | $578 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Exports - commodities | cotton, gold, livestock | machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles |
Exports - partners | Thailand 14%, China 12.1%, India 7.9%, Italy 7.5%, Bangladesh 6.1%, UK 6.1% (2003) | EU 55.3% (France 11.3%, UK 8.3%, Italy 7.3%, Netherlands 6.3%, Belgium/Luxembourg 5.1%), US 10.1%, Japan 2.0% (1999) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), yellow, and red; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia | three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and gold |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $10.53 billion (2003 est.) | purchasing power parity - $1.936 trillion (2000 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 45%
industry: 17% services: 38% (2001 est.) |
agriculture:
1.2% industry: 30.4% services: 68.4% (1999) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $900 (2003 est.) | purchasing power parity - $23,400 (2000 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 0.5% (2003 est.) | 3% (2000 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 17 00 N, 4 00 W | 51 00 N, 9 00 E |
Geography - note | landlocked; divided into three natural zones: the southern, cultivated Sudanese; the central, semiarid Sahelian; and the northern, arid Saharan | strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea |
Heliports | - | 59 (2000 est.) |
Highways | total: 15,100 km
paved: 1,827 km unpaved: 13,273 km (1999 est.) |
total:
656,140 km paved: 650,891 km (including 11,400 km of expressways) unpaved: 5,249 km (all-weather) (1998 est.) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 1.8%
highest 10%: 40.4% (1994) |
- |
Illicit drugs | - | source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine processors; transshipment point for and consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, Latin American cocaine, and European-produced synthetic drugs |
Imports | NA (2001) | $505 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Imports - commodities | petroleum, machinery and equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs, textiles | machinery, vehicles, chemicals, foodstuffs, textiles, metals |
Imports - partners | France 15.4%, Senegal 7.7%, Cote d'Ivoire 7.1% (2003) | EU 52.2% (France 10.5%, Netherlands 7.6%, Italy 7.4%, UK 6.9%, Belgium/Luxembourg 5.6%), US 8.1%, Japan 4.9% (1999) |
Independence | 22 September 1960 (from France) | 18 January 1871 (German Empire unification); divided into four zones of occupation (UK, US, USSR, and later, France) in 1945 following World War II; Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) proclaimed 23 May 1949 and included the former UK, US, and French zones; German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) proclaimed 7 October 1949 and included the former USSR zone; unification of West Germany and East Germany took place 3 October 1990; all four powers formally relinquished rights 15 March 1991 |
Industrial production growth rate | NA (FY96/97) | 4.7% (2000) |
Industries | food processing; construction; phosphate and gold mining | 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 |
Infant mortality rate | total: 117.99 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 124.51 deaths/1,000 live births female: 111.27 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) |
4.71 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 4.5% (2002 est.) | 2% (2000 est.) |
International organization participation | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, ECOWAS, FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OIC, ONUB, OPCW, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIL, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO | AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BDEAC, BIS, CBSS, CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MONUC, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNOMIG, UPU, WADB (nonregional), WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 123 (2000) |
Irrigated land | 1,380 sq km (1998 est.) | 4,750 sq km (1993 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Cour Supreme | Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht (half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat) |
Labor force | 3.93 million (2001 est.) | 40.5 million (1999 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture and fishing 80% (2001 est.) | industry 33.4%, agriculture 2.8%, services 63.8% (1999) |
Land boundaries | total: 7,243 km
border countries: Algeria 1,376 km, Burkina Faso 1,000 km, Guinea 858 km, Cote d'Ivoire 532 km, Mauritania 2,237 km, Niger 821 km, Senegal 419 km |
total:
3,618 km border countries: Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646 km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 135 km, Netherlands 577 km, Poland 456 km, Switzerland 334 km |
Land use | arable land: 3.82%
permanent crops: 0.03% other: 96.15% (2001) |
arable land:
33% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 15% forests and woodland: 31% other: 20% (1993 est.) |
Languages | French (official), Bambara 80%, numerous African languages | German |
Legal system | based on French civil law system and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Court (which was formally established on 9 March 1994); has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Legislative branch | unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (147 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 14 July and 28 July 2002 (next to be held NA July 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - Hope 2002 coalition 66, ADEMA 51, other 30 |
bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Federal Assembly or Bundestag (656 seats usually, but 669 for the 1998 term; elected by popular vote under a system combining direct and proportional representation; a party must win 5% of the national vote or three direct mandates to gain representation; members serve four-year terms) and the Federal Council or Bundesrat (69 votes; state governments are directly represented by votes; each has 3 to 6 votes depending on population and are required to vote as a block)
elections: Federal Assembly - last held 27 September 1998 (next to be held by the fall of 2002); note - there are no elections for the Bundesrat; composition is determined by the composition of the state-level governments; the composition of the Bundesrat has the potential to change any time one of the 16 states holds an election election results: Federal Assembly - percent of vote by party - SPD 40.9%, Alliance '90/Greens 6.7%, CDU/CSU 35.1%, FDP 6.2%, PDS 5.1%; seats by party - SPD 298, Alliance '90/Greens 47, CDU/CSU 245, FDP 43, PDS 36; Federal Council - current composition - votes by party - SPD-led states 26, CDU-led states 28, grand coalitions 15 |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 45.28 years
male: 44.7 years female: 45.87 years (2004 est.) |
total population:
77.61 years male: 74.47 years female: 80.92 years (2001 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 46.4% male: 53.5% female: 39.6% (2003 est.) |
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99% (1977 est.) male: NA% female: NA% |
Location | Western Africa, southwest of Algeria | Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark |
Map references | Africa | Europe |
Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | continental shelf:
200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM |
Merchant marine | - | total:
457 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,414,724 GRT/7,952,776 DWT ships by type: cargo 169, chemical tanker 10, combination ore/oil 1, container 243, liquefied gas 2, passenger 3, petroleum tanker 7, railcar carrier 2, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 12, short-sea passenger 7 (2000 est.) |
Military branches | Army, Air Force, National Guard | Army, Navy (includes Naval Air Arm), Air Force, Medical Corps, Border Police, Coast Guard |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $51.1 million (2003) | $32.8 billion (FY98) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.3% (2003) | 1.5% (FY98) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49: 2,529,147 (2004 est.) | males age 15-49:
20,851,022 (2001 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49: 1,450,795 (2004 est.) | males age 15-49:
17,760,412 (2001 est.) |
Military manpower - military age | - | 18 years of age |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | - | males:
482,318 (2001 est.) |
National holiday | Independence Day, 22 September (1960) | Unity Day, 3 October (1990) |
Nationality | noun: Malian(s)
adjective: Malian |
noun:
German(s) adjective: German |
Natural hazards | hot, dust-laden harmattan haze common during dry seasons; recurring droughts; occasional Niger River flooding | flooding |
Natural resources | gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, hydropower
note: bauxite, iron ore, manganese, tin, and copper deposits are known but not exploited |
iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land |
Net migration rate | -0.33 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.) | 4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Pipelines | - | crude oil 2,500 km (1998) |
Political parties and leaders | Alliance for Democracy or ADEMA [Diounconda TRAORE, party chairman]; Block of Alternative for the Renewal of Africa or BARA [Yoro DIAKITE]; Democratic and Social Convention or CDS [Mamadou Bakary SANGARE, chairman]; Hope 2002 [leader NA]; Movement for the Independence, Renaissance and Integration of Africa or MIRIA [Mohamed Lamine TRAORE, Mouhamedou DICKO]; National Congress for Democratic Initiative or CNID [Mountaga TALL, chairman]; Party for Democracy and Progress or PDP [Me Idrissa TRAORE]; Party for National Renewal or PARENA [Yoro DIAKITE, chairman; Tiebile DRAME, secretary general]; Rally for Democracy and Labor or RDT [Ali GNANGADO]; Rally for Democracy and Progress or RDP [Almamy SYLLA, chairman]; Rally for Mali or RPM [Ibrahim Bonbasor KEITA, chairman]; Sudanese Union/African Democratic Rally or US/RDA [Mamadou Bamou TOURE, secretary general]; Union of Democratic Forces for Progress or UFDP [Youssouf TOURE, secretary general]; Union for Democracy and Development or UDD [Moussa Balla COULIBALY] | Alliance '90/Greens [Renate KUENAST and Fritz KUHN]; Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Angela MERKEL]; Christian Social Union or CSU [Edmund STOIBER, chairman]; Free Democratic Party or FDP [Wolfgang GERHARDT, chairman]; note - Wolfgang GERHARDT will probably be replaced by Guido WESTERWELLE in May 2001; Party of Democratic Socialism or PDS [Gabi ZIMMER]; Social Democratic Party or SPD [Gerhard SCHROEDER, chairman] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Patriotic Movement of the Ghanda Koye or MPGK; United Movement and Fronts of Azawad or MFUA | employers' organizations; expellee, refugee, trade unions, and veterans groups |
Population | 11,956,788 (July 2004 est.) | 83,029,536 (July 2001 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 64% average; 30% of the total population living in urban areas; 70% of the total population living in rural areas) (2001 est.) | NA% |
Population growth rate | 2.78% (2004 est.) | 0.27% (2001 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Koulikoro | Berlin, Bonn, Brake, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cologne, Dresden, Duisburg, Emden, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Luebeck, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Rostock, Stuttgart |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 28, shortwave 1
note: the shortwave station in Bamako has seven frequencies and five transmitters and relays broadcasts for China Radio International (2001) |
AM 51, FM 767, shortwave 4 (1998) |
Radios | - | 77.8 million (1997) |
Railways | total: 729 km
narrow gauge: 729 km 1.000-m gauge (2003) |
total:
40,826 km including at least 14,253 km electrified and 14,768 km double- or multiple-tracked (1998) note: since privatization in 1994, Deutsche Bahn AG (DBAG) no longer publishes details of the tracks it owns; in addition to the DBAG system there are 102 privately owned railway companies which own an approximate 3,000 km to 4,000 km of the total tracks |
Religions | Muslim 90%, indigenous beliefs 9%, Christian 1% | Protestant 38%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 1.7%, unaffiliated or other 26.3% |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
at birth:
1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.63 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: domestic system unreliable but improving; provides only minimal service
domestic: network consists of microwave radio relay, open-wire, and radiotelephone communications stations; expansion of microwave radio relay in progress international: country code - 223; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) |
general assessment:
Germany has one of the world's most technologically advanced telecommunications systems; as a result of intensive capital expenditures since reunification, the formerly backward system of the eastern part of the country has been modernized and integrated with that of the western part domestic: Germany is served by an extensive system of automatic telephone exchanges connected by modern networks of fiber-optic cable, coaxial cable, microwave radio relay, and a domestic satellite system; cellular telephone service is widely available and includes roaming service to many foreign countries international: satellite earth stations - 14 Intelsat (12 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean), 1 Eutelsat, 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region), 2 Intersputnik (1 Atlantic Ocean region and 1 Indian Ocean region); 7 submarine cable connections; 2 HF radiotelephone communication centers; tropospheric scatter links |
Telephones - main lines in use | 56,600 (2002) | 45.2 million (1997)
note: 46.5 million main lines were installed by yearend 1998 |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 250,000 (2003) | 15.318 million (April 1999) |
Television broadcast stations | 1 (plus repeaters) (2001) | 373 (plus 8,042 repeaters) (1995) |
Terrain | mostly flat to rolling northern plains covered by sand; savanna in south, rugged hills in northeast | lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south |
Total fertility rate | 6.58 children born/woman (2004 est.) | 1.38 children born/woman (2001 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 14.6% urban areas; 5.3% rural areas (2001 est.) | 9.9% (2000 est.) |
Waterways | 1,815 km (2004) | 7,500 km
note: major rivers include the Rhine and Elbe; Kiel Canal is an important connection between the Baltic Sea and North Sea (1999) |