Germany is a federation made up of 16 federal states, each of which has independent if constrained state authority

• Location: Central Europe

• Size: 357,050 km²

• Borders: 3,757 km

• Coastline: 2,389 km

• Neighboring states: Germany is at the heart of Europe and has nine neighbors: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland

• Highest mountain: Zugspitze 2963 m

• Longest rivers: Rhine 865 km, Elbe 700 km

• Largest cities: Berlin 3.4 million inhabitants, Hamburg (1.7m), Munich (1.2m), Cologne (1.0m), Frankfurt/Main (655,000)

• Landscape: From the North Sea to the Baltic Sea in the North to the Alps in the South, Germany is structured geographically as follows: the North German lowlands, the Mittelgebirge ridge, the Southwest German subdued mountains and terraced landscape, the South German piedmont and the Bavarian Alps

• Climate: Moderate oceanic/continental climatic zone with frequent changes in weather and primarily westerly winds

For more information: http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/inhaltsseiten-home/zahlen-fakten/bevoelkerung.html