<hdr>The World Factbook 1994: Germany<nl>Geography</hdr><body>
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<item><hi format=bold>Location:</hi> Central Europe, bordering the North Sea between France and Poland
<item><hi format=bold>Area:</hi>
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<item>• <hi format=ital>total area:</hi> 356,910 sq km
<item>• <hi format=ital>land area:</hi> 349,520 sq km
<item>• <hi format=ital>comparative area:</hi> slightly smaller than Montana
<item>• <hi format=ital>note:</hi> includes the formerly separate Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and Berlin following formal unification on 3 October 1990
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<item><hi format=bold>Land boundaries:</hi> total 3,621 km, 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
<item><hi format=bold>Coastline:</hi> 2,389 km
<item><hi format=bold>Maritime claims:</hi>
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<item>• <hi format=ital>continental shelf:</hi> 200-m depth or to depth of exploitation
<item>• <hi format=ital>territorial sea:</hi> 3 nm in North Sea and Schleswig-Holstein coast of Baltic Sea (extends, at one point, to 16 nm in the Helgolander Bucht); 12 nm in remainder of Baltic Sea
<item>• <hi format=ital>meadows and pastures:</hi> 16%
<item>• <hi format=ital>forest and woodland:</hi> 30%
<item>• <hi format=ital>other:</hi> 19%
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<item><hi format=bold>Irrigated land:</hi> 4,800 sq km (1989 est.)
<item><hi format=bold>Environment:</hi>
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<item>• <hi format=ital>current issues:</hi> emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries in the southeast and lead emissions from vehicle exhausts (the result of continued use of leaded fuels) contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulfur dioxide emissions, is damaging forests; heavy pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany
<item>• <hi format=ital>natural hazards:</hi> NA
<item>• <hi format=ital>international agreements:</hi> party to—Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not ratified—Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Hazardous Wastes
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<item><hi format=bold>Note:</hi> strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea