Officially the Federal
Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland), Germany is a
parliamentary democracy with five constitutional bodies, namely: the Bundestag,
the Bundesrat, the Federal President, the Federal Government, and the Federal
Constitutional Court. Germany is the fifth-largest country in Europe, and
covers an area of 357,386 square kilometers. Germany is the most populous
member state of the European Union, with a population of 83 million
inhabitants. Berlin is Germany's capital and largest metropolis. Germany has a
very High Development Index - 0.936. The Euro is the currency used in Germany.
German is the official language. Angela Merkel is the German Chancellor.
Learn more
about Germany or test your knowledge about Germany with these top 20 facts.
1. Holocaust
denial constitutes a crime under German law and carries a sentence of up to
five years in jail.
2. Germans
are generally brutally honest and straightforward - without malicious intent of
course.
3. Nudism
is traditionally popular in Germany; the concept is known as Freikoerperkultur (FKK), Free Body Culture. It is common to see
Germans naked in swimming pools, saunas, parks and beaches. However, they don't
bare it all just anywhere. There are specific FFK areas such as: the Volkspark Friedrichshain, the Tiergarten and the
famous Mauerpark in Prenzlauer Berg. It's also permitted to go about naked on all
Berlin's public bathing beaches.
4. Germany
has the third most powerful passport in the world, as the German passport can
allow visa-free travel to a whopping 179 countries. The first two most powerful
passports are those of Japan and Singapore with visa-free access to 180
countries. Germany had been for five years in a row, ranked as having the
world's most powerful passport (2012 to early 2018).
5. Germany
recycles more than any other country, with a 54% recycling rate.
6. Germany is
usually dubbed "Europe's biggest brothel". It has one of the most
liberal sex trade laws in the world, and legalized sex work/prostitution in
2002. According to the documentary Sex - Made in Germany, more than
one million men pay for sex on a daily basis in Germany. Paradise, in
Stuttgart, is one of Europe's largest brothels. Majority of sex workers in
Germany come from the European Union's two poorest countries, Romania and
Bulgaria. Germany has about 400,000 sex-workers.
7. Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft
- a compound German word with "Association
for Subordinate Officials of the Main Maintenance Building of the Danube Steam
Shipping Electrical Services" as meaning in English - is the longest word
ever, at 80 letters.
8. Germany is
the world's capital of penis enlargement. Eight out of every 100,000 adult
males resident in Germany go in for penis enlargement surgery. Venezuela is the
only country that comes close to Germany's rate with four out of every 100,000
adult males going in for a penis enlargement operation.
9. Germany
comes fourth in beer consumption, with 104.2 liters of beer drunk per capita
(2016 statistics). Oktoberfest is one of the major annual events in Germany
where many Germans dress up in their traditional costume - Oktoberfest tracht -
and drink a lot of beer. Oktoberfest also happens to be the biggest beer
festival in the world.
10. Germany
has the largest economy in the European Union with nominal Gross Domestic Product
of 3,479,232 billion USD (2016).
11. It is
illegal to run out of gas on the highway (Autobahn) in Germany as per the Straßenverkehrsordnung (Road traffic
regulations). Fines are applicable, and can fall anywhere between €30 and €70 depending on the case. Drivers can also have
their licenses suspended for up to six months.
12. 65% of
the highways (Autobahn) in Germany have no speed limit. Speed limits are
enforced on the Autobahn in congested areas near cities, and during inclement
weather.
13. The
Christmas tree tradition (Tannenbaum) originated in
Germany.
14. Germany
has the most zoos in the world - more than 400. Zoologischer Garten in Berlin,
Germany is one of the ten largest zoos in the world.
15. The
world's narrowest street is found in the German town of Reutlingen. Spreuerhofstrasse is listed as the
narrowest street in the world with a width of 12.2 inches (31 cm) - about the
wist of a small computer screen.
16. The
German football team is the second most successful football team in the world,
with four FIFA World Cup wins and 218 points on the FIFA World Cup All-time
rankings.
17. Germany
has been called the 'land of poets and thinkers". Germany has been home to
world-renowned writers like Kant, Goethe, Hegel,
Schopenhauer, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Planck, Einstein, Beethoven and Wagner.
The German-speaking world boasts 13 winners of the Nobel Prize in literature to
date.
Nietzsche
18. Prison
escape is not punishable by law in Germany. In countries like Germany, Austria,
and Mexico, the law recognizes that it is human nature to strive for freedom,
and hence the act of escaping itself is not a crime. So long as the escapees do
not break any other laws when escaping, they are not charged and extra time is
not added to their sentence.
19. Germany
ranks sixth in number of books published annually, with close to 94,000 titles
published per year.
20. The first
major book to ever be printed was the Gutenberg Bible, printed by Johannes
Gutenberg (in Latin) in 1455, in Germany.
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