Deutschland ist ein in Europa gelegener Bundesstaat, der aus 16 Ländern besteht. Bundeshauptstadt ist Berlin. Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland ist Gründungsmitglied der Europäischen Union und mit über 82 Millionen Einwohnern deren bevölkerungsreichster Staat, ferner unter anderem Mitglied der Vereinten Nationen, der OECD, der NATO, der OSZE und der Gruppe der Acht (G8). Gemessen am Bruttoinlandsprodukt ist Deutschland die drittgrößte Volkswirtschaft der Welt.
Allgemeines
Die naturräumlichen Großregionen sind von Nord nach Süd Norddeutsches Tiefland, Mittelgebirgszone und Alpenvorland mit Alpen.
Deutschland hat insgesamt neun Nachbarstaaten: Dänemark, Polen, Tschechien, Österreich, die Schweiz, Frankreich, Luxemburg, Belgien und die Niederlande.
Während der wechselvollen Geschichte veränderte sich auch der Mittelpunkt Deutschlands.
Liste der Länder
Die Gliedstaaten (Bundesländer) der Bundesrepublik Deutschland werden auch als Länder bezeichnet.
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in West-central Europe. It is bordered on the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; on the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; on the south by Austria and Switzerland; and on the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Area
357,027 sq km (137,849 sq miles).
Population
82,536,680 (official estimate 2002).
Population Density
231.2 per sq km.
Capital
Berlin. Population: 3,392,000 (2002).
Geography
The Federal Republic of Germany shares frontiers with Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. The northwest of the country has a coastline on the North Sea with islands known for their health resorts, while the Baltic coastline in the northeast stretches from the Danish to the Polish border. The country is divided into 16 states (Bundeslnder), including the formerly divided city of Berlin. The landscape is exceedingly varied, with the Rhine, Bavaria and the Black Forest being probably the three most famous features of western Germany. In eastern Germany, the country is lake-studded with undulating lowlands which give way to the hills and mountains of the Lausitzer Bergland, the Saxon Hills in the Elbe Valley and the Erzgebirge, whilst the once divided areas of the Thuringian and Harz ranges in the central part of the country are now whole regions again. River basins extend over a large percentage of the eastern part of Germany, the most important being the Elbe, Saale, Havel, Spree and Oder. Northern Germany includes the states of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and the city states of Bremen and Hamburg. The western area of the country consists of the Rhineland, the industrial sprawl of the Ruhr, Westphalia (Westfalen), Hesse (Hessen), the Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) and the Saarland. In the southern area of the country are the two largest states, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria (Bayern), which contain the Black Forest (Schwarzwald), Lake Constance (Bodensee) and the Bavarian Alps. Munich (München), Stuttgart and Nuremberg (Nürnberg) are the major cities. The eastern part of the country is made up of the states of Thuringia, Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin. The major cities in eastern Germany are Dresden, Leipzig, Erfurt, Halle, Potsdam, Schwerin and Rostock. Apart from Leipzig and Rostock, these are also all recently reconstituted state capitals.