Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
Population
81,305,856
584,578
Life Expectancy
80.190 years
74.420 years
Capital City
Berlin
Largest city
Berlin (population: 3,426,350)
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Human Development Index
0.94
0.591
GDP per capita
$38,400 US
Literacy Rate
99%
%
Corruption Perception Index
7.9
2.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
30.6%
0%
Wealthiest Citizens
Karl Albrecht ($21.5bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
6.000%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
federal republic
parliamentary democracy
Independence date
18 January 1871 (German Empire unification); divided into four zones of occupation (UK, US, USSR, and later, France) in 1945 following World War II; Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) proclaimed 23 May 1949 and included the former UK, US, and French zones; German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) proclaimed 7 October 1949 and included the former USSR zone; unification of West Germany and East Germany took place 3 October 1990; all four powers formally relinquished rights 15 March 1991
Religions
Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3%
Church of Melanesia 32.8%, Roman Catholic 19%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
Languages
German
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous languages
Exports
machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles
External Debt
$5,624,000,000,000 $
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6734 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
1.500%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
41
0
Location
Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Area
357,022 km sq
28,896 km sq
Coastline
2,389 km
5,313 km
Climate
temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
