Publishing and broadcast media

• Main national newspapers: There are 375 daily newspapers, including the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Die Welt
• Television stations: 3 public service and many independent commercial channels
• Radio stations: 3 public service and many independent networks

TV is supervised by the political parties to ensure a balance of views. Satellite and cable TV have taken much of the audience once shared between the main public service channels, ARD and ZDF. Media conglomerates such as Bertelsmann are major international players. Newspapers are mostly regional and serious. An exception is Bild, a right-wing, sensationalist tabloid, which sells 4.4 million copies daily.

• Main languages spoken: German, Turkish
• Population density: 236/km2 (611/mi2) (Population density high)

The urban/rural population split

Religious persuasion

Ethnic makeup

Population age breakdown

The majority of German speakers live in Germany itself, though Austria and the greater part of Switzerland are German-speaking, as are parts of eastern France and northern Italy. Germans share a common language, but they speak it in a variety of dialects, reflecting a strong sense of regionalism. The north is still largely Protestant, while the south and southwest, particularly Bavaria (Bayern), have strong Catholic traditions.

The large immigrant population now totals some 7.3 million, the 2.1 million Turks forming the largest single group. Gastarbeiter (guest workers) recruited from the mid-1950s to mid-1970s provided part of the labor on which the former West Germany's economic recovery was built. Legislation in 1999 improved the rights of their children to obtain German nationality.

Germany's once liberal asylum laws were tightened in 1993 in response to a new influx of migrants. Ethnic Germans enjoyed privileged access ahead of others fleeing westward after the collapse of communism. Extreme right-wing parties sought to exploit anti-immigrant feeling among disaffected groups including the young unemployed. The government has made special provisions to allow immigration by skilled workers while concurrently tightening the asylum procedure.

Family ties in Germany are little different from those in the US or the UK. Millions of couples live together in common-law arrangements, though this is frowned on by the Roman Catholic Church. In rural districts, notably in Bavaria (Bayern), more traditional habits are still observed. The birthrate is one of Europe's lowest, and the population would have fallen were it not for the influx of immigrants since the 1950s.

Germany has a tradition of strong feminism. Women have full rights under the law and play a bigger role in politics than in most other European countries. Over 30% of Bundestag (Federal Assembly) members elected in 2002 were women, and women ministers occupy several top cabinet posts. From 2001, women were permitted to take on combat roles in the armed forces. However, they are underrepresented in top jobs in business and industry. Abortion remains a charged issue. Women in the former East Germany had the right to abortion on demand, but the Constitutional Court, after strong Catholic lobbying, overruled a relatively liberal 1992 compromise law for the whole country. The current regulations, dating from mid-1995, allow abortions (but only after counseling) within three months of conception.

• Dates of last and next legislative elections: L. House 2002/2006 U. House Varying
• Head of state: President Horst Köhler

Germany is a federal democratic republic of 16 Länder (states). The government is led by the federal chancellor, elected by the Bundestag (Federal Assembly). The president's role is largely ceremonial. The "Basic Law" of West Germany, drawn up in 1948, became the 1990 federal constitution of reunified Germany.

Profile

Germany's politics are now strongly democratic, with a long tradition of federative association. Before 1871, Germany was a mass of separate principalities, kingdoms, and city-states, a situation largely respected by Bismarck's unification constitution. The 1933–1945 Nazi period, during which the federal system was abolished, was very much a hiatus. The Allies reestablished the federal system in West Germany in 1949; in the east, the Länder were restored after reunification in 1990. In many ways, the Länder are at the heart of German political life, each with its own elected parliament and largely controlling its finances. By general consensus the system delivers efficient and commercially astute government. There have been few major differences on domestic policy between the postwar ruling coalitions. All parties support the social market economy on which prosperity was built.

Germany has enjoyed stable governments, with coalitions of the center left and center right each holding sway since the "grand coalition" of 1966–1969. In 1998 the electorate chose moderate SPD leader Gerhard Schröder in a vote for change, ousting long-serving CDU chancellor Helmut Kohl. In opposition the CDU was beset by a party-funding scandal. Kohl was disgraced. Edmund Stoiber, leader of the CDU's Bavarian-based sister party, the CSU, challenged Schröder for the chancellorship in September 2002, but he fell short of toppling the "red–green" coalition. However, economic problems, high unemployment, and the "Agenda 2010" package that Schröder introduced in response caused him to lose popularity rapidly. In 2005, following disastrous regional elections, he pledged to ask for an early general election.

Main Political Issues

The economy

Recession was a shock to Germany, used to constant growth since the 1950s. Spending was reined in to meet targets for European monetary union in the late 1990s. Unrest ensued as unemployment topped four million. A brief return to growth enabled the SPD to start tackling pension reform, but economic weakness still dominates the political agenda and unemployment remains high.

East and west

Most Germans supported reunification after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but feelings soured as the true costs became clear. Many billions of euros have been spent on reconstruction in the east, financed partly by a "solidarity surcharge" on income tax, but the east remains poorer, and people moving west, still seen as "Ossis," may find it hard to fit in. Support for the former communist PDS is strong in, but confined almost entirely to, the east.

Far-right violence

Unemployment and resentment of "foreigners" led to a rise in support for far-right parties. Foreign workers, particularly Turks, and asylum seekers have been subject to shocking attacks. The problem of racism, even if no worse than in many other European states, is particularly sensitive, given Germany's history.