xploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and
summers; occasional warm, tropical foehn wind; high relative humidity

Terrain: lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in
south

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Freepsum Lake -2 m
highest point: Zugspitze 2,962 m

Natural resources: iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite,
uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel

Land use:
arable land: 33%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 15%
forests and woodland: 31%
other: 20% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 4,750 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: flooding

Environment--current issues: emissions from coal-burning utilities
and industries and lead emissions from vehicle exhausts (the result
of continued use of leaded fuels) 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

Environment--international 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 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

Geography--note: strategic location on North European Plain and
along the entrance to the Baltic Sea

People

Population: 82,087,361 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 15% (male 6,495,882; female 6,172,359)
15-64 years: 69% (male 28,687,267; female 27,526,698)
65 years and over: 16% (male 4,990,090; female 8,215,065) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.01% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 8.68 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 10.76 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 2.12 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.61 male