Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)
Government Germany
Country name:
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
Government type:
federal republic
Capital:
name: Berlin
geographic coordinates: 52 31 N, 13 24 E
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during
Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last
Sunday in October
Administrative divisions:
16 states (Laender, singular - Land); Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bayern
(Bavaria), Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen,
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania),
Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Nordrhein-Westfalen (North
Rhine-Westphalia), Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate), Saarland,
Sachsen (Saxony), Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt),
Schleswig-Holstein, Thueringen (Thuringia); note - Bayern, Sachsen,
and Thueringen refer to themselves as free states (Freistaaten,
singular - Freistaat)
Independence:
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
National holiday:
Unity Day, 3 October (1990)
Constitution:
23 May 1949, known as Basic Law; became constitution of the united
Germany 3 October 1990
Legal system:
civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial review of
legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court; has not
accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction