Germany is located in the western half of Central Europe, bordered in the north by the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and Denmark, in the east by Poland and the Czech Republic, in the south by Austria and Switzerland and in the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and The Netherlands. Ancient descriptions call Germany the land between the sea and the Alps.

The country can be divided into three main geographical areas: the German Plain in the north, the central German highlands, and in the south, the Alps. The climate is temperate, although there is considerable variation. Nearlygeography two-thirds of the country's forests are coniferous, with the remainder mainly beech forest.

Germany has relatively few mineral resources. The farmland is usually very fertile.

There are 16 federal states on German territory, officially called Länder (singular Land, often in the form Bundesländer) in German. They have many powers and also co-determination at the federal level.

Most of Germany has a temperate seasonal climate dominated by humid westerly winds. The country is located between the maritime climate of Western Europe and the continental climate of Eastern Europe. The climate is moderated by the North Atlantic Current, the northern continuation of the Gulf Stream. The warm water in this sea current has consequences for the areas bordering the North Sea; for example, northern and northwestern Germany have a maritime climate. In Germany, an average of 789 mm of precipitation falls, evenly distributed over the months, per year.

In Germany there are small internal climate differences. For example, northern and central Germany generally have mild summers and cool, damp winters. In the south and in the low mountain ranges such as the Harz Mountains, the Black Forest and in Bavaria, the summers are warmer, the winters colder and there is more snow.

Germany has a population of 83,222,442 (September 30, 2021).[3] About 60 percent of the population has a religion and 40 percent does not. With almost 31 percent (25.46 million people)(December 31, 2007), Catholics form the largest group. They mainly live in the south and west.

Since the early 1970s, millions of guest workers from other countries (especially the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Italy) have come to work in Germany. Among them are currently about 3.5 million Muslims, mainly Turks and Kurds. On December 31, 2020, Germany had 10.599 million foreigners, making 12.7% of the population hold a non-German citizenship. 86.3% of the population has German citizenship. After the United States, Germany is the second most popular migration destination in the world.