Facts And Figures About Germany

Are you considering at this moment whether to enter the German market place with your product? If you are not sure and want further encouragement, then take a look at the following statistics from official sources for the year ending 2009.

1. Germany is the fourth largest economy in terms of its Gross Domestic Product, after the USA, Japan and China. It is easily ahead of its closest European competitor, France.

2. Germany is one of the major exporting nations in the world. After China, it is the second largest export leader, and even ahead of the USA, Japan and France.

3. The UK imported 53 billion Euros worth of goods from Germany, making us Germany’s fourth largest export partner. Only France, the Netherlands and the USA import more goods from Germany than we do.

4. The good news for British exporters is that in 2009 we were the sixth largest trader with Germany, who bought 5% of all their imports from the United Kingdom. Only the Netherlands, China, France, the USA and Italy were ahead of the UK.

5. The largest industrial sectors in Germany are the automobile industry (261 billion Euros turnover); the engineering industry (161 billion Euros); the food industry (149 billion Euros); the chemicals industry (145 billion Euros); and the electrical industry (144 billion Euros). These data also underline how strong Germany still is in traditional industrial areas.

6. Germany isn’t only strong in what might be termed traditional industries but also those of the future. Germany comes top in green technologies, powered by solar electricity. In green technologies powered by wind energy it is the second top nation behind the USA, but ahead of China.

And here are some further facts and figures about Germany’s importance.

Germany has a population of over 80 million, and a further 20 million people living in other European states have German as one of their national languages or use it as the main language of communication on a daily basis.

It is bordered by 9 different European states, all of them in the EU, with the exception of Switzerland. In other words, one can fairly claim that Germany is at the heart of the new post-1990 Europe.

Germany stands at the crossroads of Western and Eastern Europe, but also it is a major axis for trade from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean countries. It is in fact one of the key transit countries for the transportation of goods.

Even though Berlin is the new capital of a reunited Germany, it is by no means the centre of that country, as London or Paris are for the UK and France. On the contrary, Berlin has to compete with at least a dozen other major cities in the Federal Republic of Germany, such as Hamburg, Munich, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Hannover, Cologne and Dresden.

Frankfurt is yet a further major trading city in the Federal Republic, and is at the very heart of the German financial system as well as that of the European Union. The European Central Bank has its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. This city is often referred to, jokingly, as Mainhattan, as it lies on the River Main and its skyline resembles that of New York.

Many German cities regularly appear in the ranking lists of Europe’s leading cities in terms of quality of life and standard of living.

Still on the subject of ranking lists, all of you will have heard of, or even be customers of, the following top selling German companies:

1. Volkswagen (automobiles)
2. E-ON (energy)
3. Daimler (automobiles)
4. Siemens (electronics)
5. Metro (retail market)

Finally, have a guess at the most valuable German brands! According to their value measured in millions of US Dollars, here they are:

1. Mercedes Benz (international rank: 12)
2. BMW (15)
3. SAP (27)
4. Siemens (47)
5. Volkswagen (55)