Interesting facts about Germany

Germany is a modern country in central Europe with more than 82 million inhabitants. It has a strong economy with a GDP of 2,322 billion Euros…Facts that you can read anywhere, no need to provide them again.

Some funny hard facts about common stereotypes on Germans.

Common Stereotypes
You may check out common stereotypes about Germany...

Eating and Drinking
Germany has about 1280 breweries offering more than 5000 different beer brands to discover in Germany today - from dark brown to pale gold, from bitter to smooth. 53 per cent of all German breweries are located in Bavaria, by the way. The quality of German Beer has been ensured by the German Beer Purity Law from 1516. The breweries still stick closely to this law today. The average German beer consumption per person is 115 ltrs of beer per year. In the German state of Bavaria - where the famous Oktoberfest takes place, the average consumption is 170 ltrs/year. (Source: Brewers Of Europe )
		There are over 1,500 types of sausages, such as the Frankfurters (milder), Nuremberg (which are served barbequed) and Bavaria sausages (white).
There is a unique culture of baking and eating bread in Germany. We do have more than 300 different types of bread and more than 1.200 types of biscuits and pastries (Source: Bäckerhandwerk)

Traditional Handcraft
Germany is the home of the world-famous garden-gnome. In the mid 1800s, the first garden gnomes were made in Thuringia, Germany. They have spread via central and northern Europe as far as America and Australia and have admirers in all four corners of the world. In fact, we do not all have garden-gnomes in our gardens.
		The first cuckoo clock was made in Germany in the early 17th century. It is a clock, where a bird appears through a small trap door and imitates the call of a cuckoo while the clock is striking the hours. Contrary to popular belief, modern Germans do not use to have cuckoo clocks in their homes. The world's largest cuckoo clock (as reported in the Guiness Book of records) can be seen in the small Black Forest town of Schönach.

Architecture
It took more than 632 years (from 1248 to 1880) to build Germany’s most popular tourist attraction, the Cologne Cathetral.

Marketing
When the perfume brand "Irish Mist" was introduced to the German market, it had to be renamed because in German language "Mist" means nothing else but "Bullshit". Because nobody wanted to buy bullshit to spread it over his face, now it is called "Irisch Moos" = moss. (Source: t-online)
		The birth of an ice bear at the Berlin Zoo in early 2007 was marketed very clever. Several trademarks were registered containing the baby bear. The stir about "Knut" resulted in a 20 per cent increase of visitors. More than 2 million visitors wanted to see the little one.

Environment
Germany is a leader in garbage separation. More than 80 % of paper and glass is recycled. The problem is that each state has a different set of rules on this matter. (Source: Die Welt)
		Germany is the only European country that has no overall speed limit on the highways, the so-called Autobahn. Currently, there is a political debate about whether or not to introduce one, but the call for a speed limit will probably be again rejected by the political majorities. You should think about choosing a sports car when you come here and need a rental!

Economy
Germans themselves assume that their tax system is the most complex in the world. It is said that ten percent of the literature on taxation in the world refers to the German tax system.
		Economic cost for the ongoing reformation of German orthography are estimated to be several Billion Euros (Source: Reformkosten)

The German Reunion
After the German reunion, there were many prejudices of the West Germans against East Germans and vice versa. This was also revealed by a flood of sarcastic jokes about the East and West Germans, the so-called "Ossies" and "Wessies".
		After the demolition of the wall, more than 2.4 million people have migrated from the Eastern Part of Germany to the Western part, with migration still going on. Almost 18 years after, there are great differences between both parts left. The net value added of "the East" is only about two thirds of that of "the West". Salaries in the Eastern part of Germany are still lower than those of the Western part. Also the mental reunion has not been completed, revealed for example by different results at parliamentary elections.

Berliners
The people of Berlin are famous for their dialect. We call it the "Berliner Schnauze" which means as much as "Berlin muzzle", because it sounds rather crude to many people. There is a German saying that the typical Berliner is a good hearted big mouth.
		During a visit to Germany in 1963 President John F. Kennedy was greeted with rapturous approval when he said "Ich bin ein Berliner" (the translation is "I am a Berliner"). Later, this caused some amusement because a "Berliner" is also a popular name for a type of doughnut.