• Total prison population: 81,176 prisoners
• Crime trend: Up 3% in 2000–2002

Crime rates

Crime rates are lower than in most other European countries, and reporting is high. This is largely the result of a genuine respect for the law, coupled with a strong police force. Recently, however, higher unemployment has led to an increase in petty theft and a wave of violence, notably against immigrants.

German politicians, once with an enviably clean reputation, have suffered several corruption scandals. Civil service corruption remains rare. People convicted under environmental laws can face ten-year jail sentences.

• Annual defense budget: $31.5bn

GERMAN ARMED FORCES

• Army: 2398 main battle tanks (670 Leopard 1A1/A3/A4/A5, 1728 Leopard 2) (191,350 personnel)
• Navy: 12 submarines, 1 destroyer, 12 frigates, and 20 patrol boats (25,650 personnel)
• Air force: 376 combat aircraft (152 F-4, 262 Tornado, 3 MiG-21/23, 1 Su-22) (67,500 personnel)
• Nuclear capability: None

The armed forces are being streamlined, to focus more on mobility and provide support to allied states; Germany backs the concept of an EU force. In 1994 the Constitutional Court ruled that military units could take part in collective defense activities abroad: participation in the 1999 NATO action against Serbia was a landmark. In 2002–2003 Germany led the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.

• Gross National Product (GNP): $1876bn

Score card

• World GNP ranking: 3rd
• GNP per capita: $22,740
• Balance of payments: $53.5bn
• Inflation: 1.1%
• Unemployment: 9%

Exports

Imports

Economic performance indicator

Strengths

Europe's major industrial power. Cars, heavy engineering, electronics, and chemicals. Efficient industry benefits from low inflation. Strong work ethic.

Weaknesses

Underestimation of costs of updating inefficient east German economy. High welfare costs and potentially crippling pension obligations (despite reforms in 2001) with an aging population. High unemployment. Relatively few small firms, short working week in terms of hours, poorly developed service sector. Fall in domestic demand.

Profile

West Germany's remarkable postwar recovery, to become the world's third-strongest economy, was based on the concept of a social market economy, under which the state provided welfare and ensured workers' rights. Major banks and businesses are privately owned, except for the partly state-owned Volkswagen. After reunification in 1990, massive investment went into the former East Germany, where state concerns were sold off.

Germany was one of the 12 EU states to adopt the euro in 2002. The SPD-led government undertook to tackle unemployment and to maintain growth, which reached a ten-year high of 3.1% in 2000. The government received $46 billion from the sale of "third generation" mobile phone operators' licenses in 2001, but global economic slowdown hit employment levels hard. The jobless figure rose again, exceeding four million in late 2002. Tax cuts were brought forward in an attempt to boost consumer spending. The economy entered a brief recession in 2003, and Germany narrowly escaped threatened EU sanctions over its rising budget deficit. Exports led a return to growth in 2004 but unemployment still dogged the government.