An Introduction to Germany
Western and central Europe's most populous nation and biggest economy, the Federal Republic of Germany and its predecessor states have dominated the history of the continent for the last hundred years. A wild northern frontier of the Roman world, the core of the medieval Holy Roman Empire and the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation, Germany was finally unified in something like its current form by the machinations of Otto Bismarck, Chancellor of its most powerful constituent state, Prussia, in 1871. Since then, it's been the principal player on the losing side of two world wars, briefly military centre of an Empire stretching from the Pyrenees to Moscow, split in two to form the frontline of the Cold War, and reunited to emerge as the strongest economy and the prime mover in a new European order. And they always seem to do well in the football. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Germany
GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary republic
AREA: 357,021 sq km
POPULATION: 81,799,600 (July 2010 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Official Language: German
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in Germany
Today Volkswagen is the second largest car maker in the world, ahead of Toyota and just behind GM - it sold 7.3m cars in 2010, a 9.4% share of the global market. Among its marques are Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Ducati, Seat, Suzuki, Skoda and Scania, and a planned merger with Porsche is likely to go ahead despite legal delays. VW owns 49.9% of Porsche; Porsche has 32% of VWs shares but effectively has 74% of the voting rights. Yes, complicated, a bit like two snakes each eating the other's tail - but more likely to end in a satisfactory union of the two [needs updating for 2013].
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Western and central Europe's most populous nation and biggest economy, the Federal Republic of Germany and its predecessor states have dominated the history of the continent for the last hundred years. A wild northern frontier of the Roman world, the core of the medieval Holy Roman Empire and the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation, Germany was finally unified in something like its current form by the machinations of Otto Bismarck, Chancellor of its most powerful constituent state, Prussia, in 1871. Since then, it's been the principal player on the losing side of two world wars, briefly military centre of an Empire stretching from the Pyrenees to Moscow, split in two to form the frontline of the Cold War, and reunited to emerge as the strongest economy and the prime mover in a new European order. And they always seem to do well in the football.
Despite its 82 million inhabitants, it's fair to say that the country's engineering sector and its export industry punch considerably above their weight. Germany was the world's leading exporter of goods from 2003 to 2008 and remains in second or third place, running it close with the far more populous US and China. Its scientists won more 20th century Nobel prizes than those of any other nation, and include Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Wilhelm Roentgen, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz among many others - and of course its achievements in other fields of human endeavour are no less impressive - it's the country of Goethe, Bach, Beethoven and Beckenbauer.Germany is changing - Angela Merkel is its first female Chancellor; 2009 stats revealed that 20% of the population had immigrant roots, the highest since 1945; and green ideas, which took root there earlier than in most other nations, developed or otherwise, are still transforming its industry and technology. But some things dont change: the current Euro crisis once again means that the world is watching for Germany's next move - whether it decides to gamble on further propping up the Euro and the Eurozone, or gamble on a new course, it will have to take risks.
GDP: $3.099 tn (2011 est.); $37,896 per capita
Religions Christianity (62.8%); Islam 4.6%; No Religion 34.1%
Currency: Euro
Telephone Code: + 49
MR Association(s):
Berufsverband Deutscher Markt-und Sozialforscher (BVM)
Germany is the 2nd largest research market in the world, and the largest in Europe. 80 percent of MR turnover comes from domestic clients and 20 percent from international. According to the ESOMAR Global Prices Study 2012 the country was the 7th most expensive for carrying out research.
Source: ESOMAR
Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe and the world's fourth or fifth largest economy, with a highly qualified labour force, a large capital stock, a low level of corruption and a high level of innovation. 37 of the companies in the Fortune Global 500 are German, with cars and engineering products prominent - but Germany also has a vast number of small and specialised enterprises, many in technology fields.
Integrating with the economy of the former East Germany after reunification caused some major problems in the 1990s but these have been put far behind, except for income inequality between the two regions, which remains significant - annual transfers from west to east amounting to roughly $80 billion are scheduled to continue until around 2019. Since the introduction of the Euro on 1st January 2002, Germany's economic room for manoeuvre is more constrained - just as its choices and actions are crucial to the future of the Eurozone, they are to some extent governed by the situation in the other states. At present, the German economy continues to thrive - real terms GDP fell by 5.1% in 2009 but has risen back past the 2008 level now with two years of healthy growth.
Exports total a whopping $1.408 trillion (2011 est.) with motor vehicles, machinery, chemicals, electronics and electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals, metals, foodstuffs, textiles, rubber and plastics all major items. France is the biggest recipient (9.4% in 2010), with the USA, the Netherlands, the UK and Italy all taking between 6 and 7 percent. Major imports include machinery, vehicles, chemicals, oil and gas, metals, foodstuffs and other agricultural products and come from partners including China (9.7% in 2010), the Netherlands (8.4%), France (7.6%) and the USA (5.7%). The total value of imports in 2011 was $1.198 trillion.
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laurence@mrweb.com
