breakingthrunow
deutsche_kultur

- Germany’s territory covers about 137,850 sqm - it's just slightly larger than the US state of Montana, just to put it in perspective.

- The largest city is the capital Berlin with ~3.4 million inhabitants (Hamburg: 1.76 mio, Munich: 1.35).

- Germany consists of 16 states, 3 of which are city states (Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen).

- Germany shares borders with Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.

- It's one of the world’s top exporters, main exports being cars, machinery and chemical products.

- 18 is the universal age of consent. This is when you can vote and drive a car as well.

- There are 9 to 13 holidays a year (varies from state to state, more days off in catholic states).

- Employees get 20 to 30 days paid vacation per year. If they stick with one company over the years, the number increases even more. All national holidays are off for most people (apart from some service staff in cinemas, hotels, etc). There is no such thing as a set number of "sick days".

- The population growth rate is -0.033 - more of a decline rate.

- 34% of the population are Protestants, 34% are Catholics, the rest is other or undeclared. The Christian churches have been steadily losing members for decades. For Germans, religion is private and generally won't be announced to the world as it is done in countries like the United States. It does not take a center role and it would be more than odd to hear a politician mention "god" in their speeches.