Germany -  officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland ), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea, to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Germany is a democratic parliamentary federal republic, made up of 16 states (Bundesländer), which in certain spheres act independently of the federation. Historically consisting of several sovereign nations with their own history, language (distinct dialects), culture and religion, Germany was unified as a nation state during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/1871.

The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 and the G4 nations, and is a founding member of the European Union. It is the European Union's most populous and most economically powerful member state.

Territory
 
River Rhine valleySince reunification Germany has resumed its role as a major centre between Scandinavia in the north and the Mediterranean region in the south, as well as between the Atlantic west and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

The territory of Germany stretches from the high mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,962 m / 9,718 ft) in the south to the shores of the North Sea (Nordsee) in the north-west and the Baltic Sea (Ostsee) in the north-east. In between are the forested uplands of central Germany and the low-lying lands of northern Germany (lowest point: Neuendorfer/Wilstermarsch at 3.54 metres (11.6 ft) below sea level), traversed by some of Europe's major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe.

Due to its central location, Germany shares borders with more European countries than any other country. Its neighbours are Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Austria and Switzerland in the south, France and Luxembourg in the south-west and Belgium and the Netherlands in the north-west.

Demographics
 
Population of Germany over time. The federal statistics office estimates the population will shrink to approximately 75 million by 2050 [5]Due to the country's federal and decentralised structure Germany has a number of larger cities. The most populous are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt and Dortmund. By far the largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region, including the Düsseldorf-Cologne district and the cities of Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg and Bochum. The federal structure has kept the population oriented towards a number of large cities, and has precluded the growth of any single city that would rival such European capitals as London, Paris or Moscow for size.

As of 2005, about 7.5 million foreign citizen residents were living in Germany. The majority came from Turkey, followed by Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Poland, Croatia, Russia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro, the Netherlands, Spain, and France.  Thanks to reform of German nationality law, many of these immigrants are eligible for naturalization (. 8 million of German citizens are connected with another nationality.

Germany is still a primary destination for political and economic refugees from many less industrialised countries, especially Turkey and Southern/Southeastern Europe, but the number of annual asylum seekers has been declining in recent years.

Concerning the microcensus of 2005 some 81% of the inhabitants of Germany are German.