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Compare key data on Germany & Svalbard

Definitions

  • Economy > Budget > Revenues: Revenues calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms
  • 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.
  • Economy > Exports: This entry provides the total US dollar amount of merchandise exports on an f.o.b. (free on board) basis. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
  • Geography > Area > Comparative: The area of various small countries expressed in comparison to various areas within the United States of America.
  • Geography > Area > Land: Total land area in square kilometres
  • Geography > Area > Total: Total area in square kilometers
  • Geography > Climate: A brief description of typical weather regimes throughout the year.
  • 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.
  • Government > Government type: A description of the basic form of government (e.g., republic, constitutional monarchy, federal republic, parliamentary democracy, military dictatorship).
  • 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.
  • Government > Political pressure groups and leaders: Organizations with leaders involved in politics, but not standing for legislative election.
  • People > Birth rate: The average annual number of births during a year per 1,000 persons in the population at midyear; also known as crude birth rate. The birth rate is usually the dominant factor in determining the rate of population growth. It depends on both the level of fertility and the age structure of the population.
  • People > Death rate: The average annual number of deaths during a year per 1,000 population at midyear; also known as crude death rate. The death rate, while only a rough indicator of the mortality situation in a country, accurately indicates the current mortality impact on population growth. This indicator is significantly affected by age distribution, and most countries will eventually show a rise in the overall death rate, in spite of continued decline in mortality at all ages, as declining fertility results in an aging population.
  • People > Ethnic groups: This entry provides a rank ordering of ethnic groups starting with the largest and normally includes the percent of total population.
  • People > Population: Population, total refers to the total population.
  • Geography > Natural resources: A country's mineral, petroleum, hydropower, and other resources of commercial importance.
  • People > Population growth rate: The average annual percent change in the population, resulting from a surplus (or deficit) of births over deaths and the balance of migrants entering and leaving a country. The rate may be positive or negative. The growth rate is a factor in determining how great a burden would be imposed on a country by the changing needs of its people for infrastructure (e.g., schools, hospitals, housing, roads), resources (e.g., food, water, electricity), and jobs. Rapid population growth can be seen as threatening by neighboring countries.
  • Geography > Area > Land > Per capita: Total land area in square kilometres Per capita figures expressed per 1,000 population.
  • Language > Languages: A rank ordering of languages starting with the largest and sometimes includes the percent of total population speaking that language.
  • Geography > Terrain: A brief description of the topography
  • Geography > Location: The country's regional location, neighboring countries, and adjacent bodies of water.
  • Government > Executive branch > Head of government: Head of government includes the name and title of the top administrative leader who is designated to manage the day-to-day activities of the government. For example, in the UK, the monarch is the chief of state, and the prime minister is the head of government. In the US, the president is both the chief of state and the head of government.
  • Geography > Coastline: The total length of the boundary between the land area (including islands) and the sea.
  • Labor > Labor force: The total labor force figure
  • Environment > Current issues: This entry lists the most pressing and important environmental problems. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry:
  • Government > Executive branch > Chief of state: The name and title of any person or role roughly equivalent to a U.S. Chief of State. This means the titular leader of the country who represents the state at official and ceremonial functions but may not be involved with the day-to-day activities of the government
  • Economy > GDP > Purchasing power parity: This entry gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. A nation's GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued at prices prevailing in the United States. This is the measure most economists prefer when looking at per-capita welfare and when comparing living conditions or use of resources across countries. The measure is difficult to compute, as a US dollar value has to be assigned to all goods and services in the country regardless of whether these goods and services have a direct equivalent in the United States (for example, the value of an ox-cart or non-US military equipment); as a result, PPP estimates for some countries are based on a small and sometimes different set of goods and services. In addition, many countries do not formally participate in the World Bank's PPP project that calculates these measures, so the resulting GDP estimates for these countries may lack precision. For many developing countries, PPP-based GDP measures are multiples of the official exchange rate (OER) measure. The difference between the OER- and PPP-denominated GDP values for most of the weathly industrialized countries are generally much smaller.
  • Government > Capital city > Name: This entry gives the name of the seat of government, its geographic coordinates, the time difference relative to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and the time observed in Washington, DC, and, if applicable, information on daylight saving time (DST). Where appropriate, a special note has been added to highlight those countries that have multiple time zones.
  • Government > Capital city > Geographic coordinates: This entry gives the name of the seat of government, its geographic coordinates, the time difference relative to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and the time observed in Washington, DC, and, if applicable, information on daylight saving time (DST). Where appropriate, a special note has been added to highlight those countries that have multiple time zones.
  • Government > International organization participation: This entry lists in alphabetical order by abbreviation those international organizations in which the subject country is a member or participates in some other way.
  • Geography > Area > Water: Total water area in square kilometers
  • Transport > Airports: Total number of airports. Runways must be useable, but may be unpaved. May not have facilities for refuelling, maintenance, or air traffic control.
  • 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 > Elevation extremes > Highest point: Highest point above sea level
  • Military > Military branches: This entry lists the service branches subordinate to defense ministries or the equivalent (typically ground, naval, air, and marine forces).
  • 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
  • Media > Radio broadcast stations: The total number of AM, FM, and shortwave broadcast stations.
  • Government > Executive branch > Elections: Elections includes the nature of election process or accession to power, date of the last election, and date of the next election
  • Economy > Budget > Expenditures: Expenditures calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms
  • Economy > Budget > Revenues > Per capita: Revenues calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms Per capita figures expressed per 1 population.
  • 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 Svalbard HISTORY
Economy > Budget > Revenues $1.53 trillion
Ranked 4th. 61229 times more than Svalbard
$25.07 million
Ranked 212th.

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. Coal mining, tourism, and international research are the major revenue sources on Svalbard. Coal mining is the dominant economic activity and a treaty of 9 February 1920 gave the 41 signatories equal rights to exploit mineral deposits, subject to Norwegian regulation. Although US, UK, Dutch, and Swedish coal companies have mined in the past, the only companies still engaging in this are Norwegian and Russian. The settlements on Svalbard are essentially company towns. The Norwegian state-owned coal company employs nearly 60% of the Norwegian population on the island, runs many of the local services, and provides most of the local infrastructure. There is also some hunting of seal, reindeer, and fox. Goods such as alcohol, tobacco, and vehicles, normally highly taxed on mainland Norway, are considerably cheaper in Svalbard in an effort by the Norwegian government to entice more people to live on the Arctic archipelago. By law, the Norwegians collect only enough taxes to pay for the needs of the local government; none of tax proceeds go to Norway.
Economy > Exports $1.46 trillion
Ranked 3rd. 7389 times more than Svalbard
$197.60 million
Ranked 1st.
Geography > Area > Comparative slightly smaller than Montana slightly smaller than West Virginia
Geography > Area > Land 349,223 sq km
Ranked 61st. 6 times more than Svalbard
61,020 sq km
Ranked 122nd.

Geography > Area > Total 357,022 sq km
Ranked 64th. 6 times more than Svalbard
62,045 sq km
Ranked 126th.

Geography > Climate temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current; cool summers, cold winters; North Atlantic Current flows along west and north coasts of Spitsbergen, keeping water open and navigable most of the year
Geography > Geographic coordinates 51 00 N, 9 00 E 78 00 N, 20 00 E
Government > Government type federal republic NA
Government > Legal system civil law system the laws of Norway where applicable apply
Government > Political pressure groups and leaders business associations and employers' organizations<br />trade unions; religious, immigrant, expellee, and veterans groups NA
People > Birth rate 8.37 births/1,000 population
Ranked 217th.
-9 births/1,000 population
Ranked 227th.
People > Death rate 11.17 deaths/1,000 population
Ranked 36th.
-9 deaths/1,000 population
Ranked 227th.
People > Ethnic groups German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish) Norwegian 55.4%, Russian and Ukrainian 44.3%, other 0.3%
People > Population 81.15 million
Ranked 16th. 42242 times more than Svalbard
1,921
Ranked 228th.

Geography > Natural resources coal, lignite, natural gas, iron ore, copper, nickel, uranium, potash, salt, construction materials, timber, arable land coal, iron ore, copper, zinc, phosphate, wildlife, fish
People > Population growth rate -0.19%
Ranked 210th. 6 times more than Svalbard
-0.03%
Ranked 199th.

Geography > Area > Land > Per capita 4.24 sq km per 1,000 people
Ranked 175th.
28,184.76 sq km per 1,000 people
Ranked 1st. 6647 times more than Germany

Language > Languages German Russian
Geography > Terrain lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south wild, rugged mountains; much of high land ice covered; west coast clear of ice about one-half of the year; fjords along west and north coasts
Geography > Location Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark Northern Europe, islands between the Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea, Greenland Sea, and Norwegian Sea, north of Norway
Government > Executive branch > Head of government Chancellor Angela MERKEL (since 22 November 2005) Governor Odd Olsen INGERO (since September 2009); Assistant Governor Lars Erik ALHEIM
Geography > Coastline 2,389 km
Ranked 55th.
3,587 km
Ranked 34th. 50% more than Germany

Labor > Labor force 43.35 million
Ranked 14th. 35130 times more than Svalbard
1,234
Ranked 121st.
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 NA
Government > Executive branch > Chief of state President Joachim GAUCK (since 23 March 2012) King HARALD V of Norway (since 17 January 1991)
Economy > GDP > Purchasing power parity $3.17 trillion
Ranked 5th. 502 times more than Svalbard
$6.31 billion
Ranked 1st.

Government > Capital city > Name Berlin Longyearbyen
Government > Capital city > Geographic coordinates 52 31 N, 13 24 E 78
Government > International organization participation ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CBSS, CD, CDB, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EITI (implementing country), EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, FATF, G-20, G-5, G-7, G-8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD (partners), IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, Schengen Convention, SELEC (observer), SICA (observer), UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMIL, UNMISS, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC none
Geography > Area > Water 8,350 sq km
Ranked 54th.
0.0
Ranked 233th.

Media > Broadcast media a mixture of publicly-operated and privately-owned TV and radio stations; national and regional public broadcasters compete with nearly 400 privately-owned national and regional TV stations; more than 90% of households have cable or satellite TV; hundreds of radio stations broadcasting including multiple national radio networks, regional radio networks, and a large number of local radio stations the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) began direct TV transmission to Svalbard via satellite in 1984; Longyearbyen households have access to 3 NRK radio and 2 TV stations
Transport > Airports 539
Ranked 13th. 135 times more than Svalbard
4
Ranked 190th.

Geography > Area > Comparative to US places slightly smaller than Montana slightly smaller than West Virginia
Geography > Elevation extremes > Highest point Zugspitze 2,963 m Newtontoppen 1,717 m
Military > Military branches Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr): Army (Heer), Navy (Deutsche Marine, includes naval air arm), Air Force (Luftwaffe), Joint Support Services (Streitkraeftbasis, SKB), Central Medical Service (Zentraler Sanitaetsdienst, ZSanDstBw) no regular military forces
Government > Country name > Conventional long form Federal Republic of Germany none
Geography > Land use > Arable land 33.25%
Ranked 21st.
0.0
Ranked 240th.

Media > Radio broadcast stations AM 51, FM 787, shortwave 4 AM 1, FM 1 (plus 2 repeaters), shortwave 0
Government > Executive branch > Elections president elected for a five-year term (eligible for a second term) by a Federal Convention, including all members of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and an equal number of delegates elected by the state parliaments; election last held on 19 February 2012 (next to be held by June 2017); chancellor elected by an absolute majority of the Federal Parliament for a four-year term; Federal Parliament vote for Chancellor last held after 22 September 2013 (next to be held September 2017) none; the monarchy is hereditary; governor and assistant governor responsible to the Polar Department of the Ministry of Justice
Economy > Budget > Expenditures $1.53 trillion
Ranked 4th. 133217 times more than Svalbard
$11.50 million
Ranked 12th.
Economy > Budget > Revenues > Per capita $17,645.42 per capita
Ranked 16th. 94% more than Svalbard
$9,096.52 per capita
Ranked 6th.
Geography > Natural hazards flooding ice floes often block the entrance to Bellsund (a transit point for coal export) on the west coast and occasionally make parts of the northeastern coast inaccessible to maritime traffic
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 Norway is used
Geography > Maritime claims > Territorial sea 12 nautical mile
Ranked 19th. 3 times more than Svalbard
4 nautical mile
Ranked 183th.

SOURCES: CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 28 March 2011; CIA World Factbooks 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013; All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008; CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 28 March 2011; 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.

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