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Compare key data on Germany & Howland Island

Definitions

  • Economy > Economy > Overview: This entry briefly describes the type of economy, including the degree of market orientation, the level of economic development, the most important natural resources, and the unique areas of specialization. It also characterizes major economic events and policy changes in the most recent 12 months and may include a statement about one or two key future macroeconomic trends.
  • Environment > Current issues: This entry lists the most pressing and important environmental problems. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry:
  • Geography > Area > Comparative: The area of various small countries expressed in comparison to various areas within the United States of America.
  • Geography > Area > Comparative to US places: This entry provides an area comparison based on total area equivalents. Most entities are compared with the entire US or one of the 50 states based on area measurements (1990 revised) provided by the US Bureau of the Census. The smaller entities are compared with Washington, DC (178 sq km, 69 sq mi) or The Mall in Washington, DC (0.59 sq km, 0.23 sq mi, 146 acres).
  • Geography > Area > Land: Total land area in square kilometres
  • Geography > Area > Total: Total area in square kilometers
  • Geography > Area > Water: Total water area in square kilometers
  • Geography > Climate: A brief description of typical weather regimes throughout the year.
  • Geography > Coastline: The total length of the boundary between the land area (including islands) and the sea.
  • Geography > Geographic coordinates: This entry includes rounded latitude and longitude figures for the purpose of finding the approximate geographic center of an entity and is based on the Gazetteer of Conventional Names, Third Edition, August 1988, US Board on Geographic Names and on other sources.
  • Geography > Location: The country's regional location, neighboring countries, and adjacent bodies of water.
  • Geography > Natural resources: A country's mineral, petroleum, hydropower, and other resources of commercial importance.
  • Geography > Terrain: A brief description of the topography
  • Government > Legal system: A brief description of the legal system's historical roots, role in government, and acceptance of International Court of Justice (ICJ) jurisdiction.
  • People > Population: Population, total refers to the total population.
  • Geography > Elevation extremes > Highest point: Highest point above sea level
  • Government > Country name > Conventional long form: This entry is derived from Government > Country name, which includes all forms of the country's name approved by the US Board on Geographic Names (Italy is used as an example): conventional long form (Italian Republic), conventional short form (Italy), local long form (Repubblica Italiana), local short form (Italia), former (Kingdom of Italy), as well as the abbreviation. Also see the Terminology note.
  • Geography > Land use > Arable land: The percentage of used land that is arable. Arable land is land cultivated for crops that are replanted after each harvest like wheat, maize, and rice
  • Geography > Irrigated land: The number of square kilometers of land area that is artificially supplied with water.
  • Geography > Natural hazards: Potential natural disasters.
  • Government > Flag description: A written flag description produced from actual flags or the best information available at the time the entry was written. The flags of independent states are used by their dependencies unless there is an officially recognized local flag. Some disputed and other areas do not have flags.
  • Geography > Maritime claims > Territorial sea: territorial sea - the sovereignty of a coastal State extends beyond its land territory and internal waters to an adjacent belt of sea, described as the territorial sea in the LOS Convention (Part II); this sovereignty extends to the air space over the territorial sea as well as its underlying seabed and subsoil; every State has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles. A full and definitive definition can be found in the Law of the Sea (LOS) Convention.
STAT Germany Howland Island HISTORY
Economy > Economy > Overview The German economy - the fifth largest economy in the world in PPP terms and Europe's largest - is a leading exporter of machinery, vehicles, chemicals, and household equipment and benefits from a highly skilled labor force. Like its Western European neighbors, Germany faces significant demographic challenges to sustained long-term growth. Low fertility rates and declining net immigration are increasing pressure on the country's social welfare system and necessitate structural reforms. Reforms launched by the government of Chancellor Gerhard SCHROEDER (1998-2005), deemed necessary to address chronically high unemployment and low average growth, contributed to strong growth in 2006 and 2007 and falling unemployment. These advances, as well as a government subsidized, reduced working hour scheme, help explain the relatively modest increase in unemployment during the 2008-09 recession - the deepest since World War II - and its decrease to 6.5% in 2012. GDP contracted 5.1% in 2009 but grew by 4.2% in 2010, and 3.0% in 2011, before dipping to 0.7% in 2012 - a reflection of low investment spending due to crisis-induced uncertainty and the decreased demand for German exports from recession-stricken periphery countries. Stimulus and stabilization efforts initiated in 2008 and 2009 and tax cuts introduced in Chancellor Angela MERKEL's second term increased Germany's total budget deficit - including federal, state, and municipal - to 4.1% in 2010, but slower spending and higher tax revenues reduced the deficit to 0.8% in 2011. In 2012 Germany reached a budget surplus of 0.1%. A constitutional amendment approved in 2009 limits the federal government to structural deficits of no more than 0.35% of GDP per annum as of 2016 though the target was already reached in 2012. By 2014, the federal government wants to balance its budget. Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in May 2011 that eight of the country's 17 nuclear reactors would be shut down immediately and the remaining plants would close by 2022. Germany hopes to replace nuclear power with renewable energy. Before the shutdown of the eight reactors, Germany relied on nuclear power for 23% of its electricity generating capacity and 46% of its base-load electricity production. no economic activity
Environment > Current issues emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulfur dioxide emissions, is damaging forests; pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany; hazardous waste disposal; government established a mechanism for ending the use of nuclear power over the next 15 years; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU's Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive no natural fresh water resources
Geography > Area > Comparative slightly smaller than Montana about three times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC
Geography > Area > Comparative to US places slightly smaller than Montana about three times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC
Geography > Area > Land 349,223 sq km
Ranked 61st. 218264 times more than Howland Island
1.6 sq km
Ranked 16th.
Geography > Area > Total 357,022 sq km
Ranked 64th. 223139 times more than Howland Island
1.6 sq km
Ranked 249th.

Geography > Area > Water 8,350 sq km
Ranked 54th.
0.0
Ranked 181st.

Geography > Climate temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind equatorial; scant rainfall, constant wind, burning sun
Geography > Coastline 2,389 km
Ranked 55th.
None

Geography > Geographic coordinates 51 00 N, 9 00 E 0 48 N, 176 38 W
Geography > Location Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark Oceania, island in the North Pacific Ocean, about half way between Hawaii and Australia
Geography > Natural resources coal, lignite, natural gas, iron ore, copper, nickel, uranium, potash, salt, construction materials, timber, arable land guano (deposits worked until late 1800s), terrestrial and aquatic wildlife
Geography > Terrain lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south low-lying, nearly level, sandy, coral island surrounded by a narrow fringing reef; depressed central area
Government > Legal system civil law system the laws of the US, where applicable, apply
People > Population 81.15 million
Ranked 16th.
0.0
Ranked 243th.

Geography > Elevation extremes > Highest point Zugspitze 2,963 m unnamed location 3 m
Government > Country name > Conventional long form Federal Republic of Germany none
Geography > Land use > Arable land 33.25%
Ranked 21st.
0.0
Ranked 223th.

Geography > Irrigated land 4,850 sq km
Ranked 54th.
0.0
Ranked 2nd.

Geography > Natural hazards flooding the narrow fringing reef surrounding the island can be a maritime hazard
Government > Flag description three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and gold; these colors have played an important role in German history and can be traced back to the medieval banner of the Holy Roman Emperor - a black eagle with red claws and beak on a gold field the flag of the US is used
Geography > Maritime claims > Territorial sea 12 nautical mile
Ranked 19th. The same as Howland Island
12 nautical mile
Ranked 71st.

SOURCES: CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 28 March 2011; All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008; World Bank: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects, (2) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), (3) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (4) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (5) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, and (6) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database.; CIA World Factbooks 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Citation

Compare Germany and Howland Island in
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