Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea,
between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark

51 00 N, 9 00 E

Europe

total: 357,021 sq km
land: 349,223 sq km
water: 7,798 sq km

slightly smaller than Montana

total: 3,621 km
border countries: Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646
km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 138 km, Netherlands 577
km, Poland 456 km, Switzerland 334 km

2,389 km

continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers;
occasional warm foehn wind

lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south

lowest point: Freepsum Lake -2 m
highest point: Zugspitze 2,963 m

iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium,
copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land

arable land: 33%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 15%
forests and woodland: 31%
other: 20% (1993 est.)

4,750 sq km (1993 est.)

flooding

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 currently attempting to
define mechanism for ending the use of nuclear power; government
working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in
line with the EU's Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile
Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants,
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

strategic location on North European Plain and along
the entrance to the Baltic Sea