Germany

Society

Demographics {{main|Demographics of Germany}}

Germany has many large cities but only four with a population of one million or more: Berlin with 3.4 million, Hamburg with 1.8 million, Munich with 1.4 million, and Cologne with 1.0 million. Thus, the population is much less centralised and oriented towards a single large city than in most other European countries. The largest cities apart from those are Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Dortmund, Essen, Düsseldorf, Bremen, Duisburg and Hanover (Hannover). By far the largest urban conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region, including the Düsseldorf-Cologne district.

Related Topics:
Berlin - Hamburg - Munich - Cologne - Frankfurt am Main - Stuttgart - Dortmund - Essen - Düsseldorf - Bremen - Duisburg - Hanover - Rhine-Ruhr

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As of 2004, about 7 million non-citizen residents were living in Germany. By far the largest number came from Turkey, followed by Italy, Greece, Croatia, the Netherlands, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Portugal, Vietnam, Morocco, Poland, Macedonia, Lebanon and France. http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/bevoe/bevoetab10.htm Thanks to German citizenship reform, many of these immigrants are eligible for naturalization (http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/bevoe/bevoetab8.htm).

Related Topics:
2004 - Turkey - Italy - Greece - Croatia - Netherlands - Serbia and Montenegro - Spain - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Austria - Portugal - Vietnam - Morocco - Poland - Macedonia - Lebanon - France - German citizenship reform - Naturalization

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9% of the population is not ethnically German.

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Germany is still a primary destination for political and economic refugees from many developing countries, but the number of asylum seekers has been dropping in recent years, reaching about 50,000+ in 2003.

Related Topics:
Refugee - Developing countries

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An ethnic Danish minority of about 50,000 people lives in Schleswig, mostly close to the Danish border, in the north; a small number of Slavic people known as the Sorbs lives in the states of Saxony (about 40,000) and Brandenburg (about 20,000). The Frisian language is mother tongue to about 12,000 speakers in Germany. In rural areas of Northern Germany, Low Saxon is widely spoken.

Related Topics:
Ethnic Danish - Schleswig - Slavic - Sorbs - Saxony - Brandenburg - Frisian language - Mother tongue - Low Saxon

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There are also a large number of ethnic German immigrants from the former Soviet Union area (1.7 million), Poland (0.7 million) and Romania (0.3 million) (1980–1999 totals), who are automatically granted German citizenship, and thus do not show up in foreign resident statistics; unlike foreigners, they have been settled by the government almost evenly spread throughout Germany.

Related Topics:
Ethnic German - Soviet Union - Romania - 1980 - 1999

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Religion {{main|Religion in Germany}}

Germany is the home of the Reformation launched by Martin Luther in the early 16th century. Today, Protestants (particularly in the north and east) comprise about 33% of the population and Catholics (particularly in the south and west) also 33%. In total more than 55 million people officially belong to a Christian denomination. The third largest religious identity in Germany is that of non-religious people (including atheists and agnostics), who amount to a total of 28.5 % of the population (23.5 millions).

Related Topics:
Reformation - Martin Luther - Protestants - Catholics - Atheists - Agnostics

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Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Free churches (as Baptists, Methodists and other independent Protestants are usually called in Germany) exist in all larger towns and many smaller ones, but most such churches are small. The current pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, is German.

Related Topics:
Evangelical Church in Germany - Free church - Baptists - Methodists - Pope Benedict XVI

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Besides this there are several hundred thousand Orthodox Christians (mostly Greeks and Serbs), 400,000 New Apostolic Christians, more than 150,000 Jehovah's Witnesses, and numerous other small groups. The highest numbers of members of these denominations in Germany has the Greek Orthodox Church, the Serb Orthodox Church coming fourth.

Related Topics:
Orthodox Christians - Greeks - Serbs - New Apostolic Christians - Jehovah's Witnesses - Greek Orthodox Church - Serb Orthodox Church

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Approximately 3.7 million Muslims (mostly of Turkish descent) live in Germany.

Related Topics:
Approximately 3.7 million Muslims - Turkish

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Today's Germany has Western Europe's third-largest Jewish population. In 2004, twice as many Jews from former Soviet republics settled in Germany as in Israel, bringing the total influx to more than 200,000 since 1991. About half joined a settled Jewish community, of which there are now more than 100, with a total of 100,000 members—up from 30,000 before reunification. Some German cities have seen a revival of Jewish culture, particularly in Berlin, where there are also 3,000 Israelis. Jews have a voice in German public life through the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland. See also History of the Jews in Germany.

Related Topics:
Jewish - 2004 - Soviet - Israel - 1991 - Berlin - Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland - History of the Jews in Germany

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In the territory of the former East Germany, there is much less religious feeling than in the West. Only 5% attend a mass at least once per week, compared with 14% in the West according to a recent study. About 30% of the total population are officially religiously unaffiliated. In the East this number is considerably higher.

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Church and state are separate, but there is cooperation in many fields, most importantly in the social sector. Churches and religious communities, if they are large, stable and loyal to the constitution, can get special status from the state as a corporate body under public law which allows the churches to levy taxes called Kirchensteuer (church tax) on their members on the basis of laws of the Länder, and to apply laws of public service to their ministers. In most cases, the revenue is collected by the state in return for a collection fee, while some smaller-sized religious bodies chose to administer the collection of the taxes themselves (such as the Jewish Community of Berlin). See Status of religious freedom in Germany and Separation of church and state in Germany.

Related Topics:
Church tax - Berlin - Status of religious freedom in Germany - Separation of church and state in Germany

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Education {{main|Education in Germany}}

Germany has one of the world's highest levels of education. The most important foreign languages taught at school are English, Latin and French. Russian, Ancient Greek, and Spanish are not taught everywhere. Since the end of World War II, the number of youths entering universities has more than tripled, but university attendance still lags behind many other European nations. In the annual league of top-ranking universities compiled by Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2004, Germany came 4th overall, but with only 7 universities in the top 100 (to compare, the United States had 51). The highest ranking university, at #45, was the TU Munich.

Related Topics:
English - Latin - French - Russian - Ancient Greek - Spanish - World War II - Universities - Shanghai Jiaotong University - 2004 - United States - TU Munich

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For Germany, the results of the PISA student assessments were a nationwide shock. The comparatively low scores brought on heated debate about how the school system should be changed. Furthermore it was revealed that more than in other countries students with higher-earning parents are better-educated and tend to achieve higher results. There is also some diversity between the schools of the various states that determine their respective school system independently.

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In addition to academic education, Germany also has a elaborate system of vocational education, called the dual system, which combines apprenticeship in enterprises with theoretical teaching in vocational schools.

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Germany prohibits home-schooling, however, this is still practised by a number of people; there has been some publicity to government prosecution of this practice.

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Social issues {{main|Social issues in Germany}}

The German social market economy (German: soziale Marktwirtschaft) helped bring about the "economic miracle" (the german "Wirtschaftswunder") that rebuilt Germany from ashes after World War II to one of the most impressive economies in Europe.

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Germany continues to struggle with a number of social issues although problems created by the German Reunification of 1990 have begun to decline. The standard of living is higher in the western half of the country, but easterners now share a reasonably high standard of living. Germans continue to be concerned about a relatively high level of unemployment. They are generally not willing to concede to labour concessions such as longer working hours.

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For centuries, a woman's role in German society was summed up by the three words: Kinder (children), Kirche (church), and Küche (kitchen). Throughout the twentieth century, however, women have gradually won victories in their quest for equal rights.

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Since World War II, Germany has experienced intermittent turmoil from various extremist groups. In the 1970s the terrorist Red Army Faction engaged in a string of assassinations and kidnappings against political and business figures and there has been a recent surge in right-wing extremist crimes. According to Interior Minister Otto Schily, the number of these crimes rose 8.4% to 12,553 cases in 2004, which the minister attributed to such crimes as the display of illegal Nazi symbols being reported more frequently. The majority of these cases are not violent crimes, although these do exist as well.

Related Topics:
1970s - Red Army Faction - Otto Schily - 2004 - Nazi

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Recent immigrants to Germany face integration issues and other difficulties. In addition to the challenges of adapting to a new language and culture, they may be subject to security-related police inquiries and violence from right-wing extremist groups. The government has attempted to improve immigrant integration by mandating courses on language, culture, politics, and society for some immigrants. Some German states have banned Muslim teachers from wearing headscarves in class, generally by prohibiting the use of all religious symbols by teachers. Unlike France, Germany has not extended this ban to pupils.

Related Topics:
Headscarves - France

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Culture {{main|Culture of Germany}}

Germany's contributions to the world's cultural heritage are numerous, and the country is often known as das Land der Dichter und Denker (the land of poets and thinkers). German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages, in particular to such authors as Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach, considered some of the most important poets of mediæval Europe. The Nibelungenlied, whose author is not known, is also a major contribution to German literature. Theologian Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for modern "High German" language. The mostly admired German poets and authors are without doubt Goethe and Schiller. Other poets include Heine, and authors of the 20th century includes Nobel prize winners Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, and Günter Grass. Other authors include Brecht and Enzensberger. Germany's influence on world philosophy was major as well, as exemplified by Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Engels, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Heidegger.

Related Topics:
Walther von der Vogelweide - Wolfram von Eschenbach - Nibelungenlied - Luther - Goethe - Schiller - Heine - Nobel prize - Thomas Mann - Hermann Hesse - Heinrich Böll - Günter Grass - Brecht - Enzensberger - Leibniz - Kant - Hegel - Marx - Engels - Schopenhauer - Nietzsche - Heidegger

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In the field of music, Germany's influence is noted through the works of, among others,

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Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Orff and Wagner.

Related Topics:
Bach - Beethoven - Brahms - Schumann - Orff - Wagner

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In Art, there are several fine German painters such as the Renaissance artist Dürer, the romanticist Friedrich, the surrealist Ernst, the expressionist Marc, the conceptual artist Beuys or the neo expressionist Baselitz. Architecture also flourished in Germany. Several UNESCO World Heritage Sites are scattered throughout Germany (including, for instance, the cathedral of Cologne and the Museum Island in Berlin). Famous architects include neoclassicist Schinkel and Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus.

Related Topics:
Renaissance - Dürer - Friedrich - Surrealist - Ernst - Expressionist - Marc - Conceptual - Beuys - Baselitz - UNESCO - World Heritage Site - Cologne - Museum Island - Berlin - Neoclassicist - Schinkel - Gropius - Bauhaus

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Germany was also the homeland of scientists like Helmholtz, Fraunhofer, Fahrenheit, Kepler, Haeckel, Humboldt, Einstein, Born, Planck, Heisenberg, Creuzfeldt, Hertz, Koch, Hahn, Leibniz, Liebig and Bunsen; and inventors and engineers such as Gutenberg, Otto, Bosch, Siemens, von Braun, Daimler, Benz and Diesel.

Related Topics:
Helmholtz - Fraunhofer - Fahrenheit - Kepler - Haeckel - Humboldt - Einstein - Born - Planck - Heisenberg - Creuzfeldt - Hertz - Koch - Hahn - Leibniz - Liebig - Bunsen - Gutenberg - Otto - Bosch - Siemens - Von Braun - Daimler - Benz - Diesel

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Important mathematicians were born in Germany such as Bessel, Gauß, Hilbert, Jacobi, Riemann, Klein and Weierstraß.

Related Topics:
Bessel - Gauß - Hilbert - Jacobi - Riemann - Klein - Weierstraß

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Many historical figures, though not citizens of Germany in the modern sense, were important and influential figures in German culture, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Kafka and Stefan Zweig.

Related Topics:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Franz Kafka - Stefan Zweig

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The German language was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe, and in Europe it is the second most popular language after English. Within the European Union, German is the most spoken language before English, French, Spanish and Italian. As a foreign language, German is the third most taught worldwide.http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/aussenpolitik/kulturpolitik/sprache/deutsch_html It is also the second most used language on the Internet. The language has its origin in Old High German. Germany had two languages: High German and Low German, which—from a linguistic standpoint—were two different languages. Whilst High German was subject to the so-called High German consonant shift, Low German was not. Today's standard language is based on High German rather than Low German; the latter has been given the status of a minority language by the European Union, although it is less used today in the traditionally Low German-speaking areas of northern Germany.

Related Topics:
German language - Lingua franca - European Union - Internet - Old High German - High German - Low German - High German consonant shift

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Since about 1970 Germany has once again had a thriving popular culture, now increasingly being led by its new old capital Berlin, and a self-confident music and art culture. Germany is also well known for its many opera houses, the most famous of which being located in Bayreuth.

Related Topics:
1970 - Berlin - Bayreuth

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