Germany

Germany

Germany is Western Europe's most populous nation, with 82.5 million inhabitants (compared to approximately 58.7 million in both France and the United Kingdom and 57.4 million in Italy), and claims the third largest economy in the world after those of the United States and Japan. Germany is strategically situated at the geopolitical and economic crossroads of Europe, bordering nine countries. Its neighbors are France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west; Denmark to the north; Poland to the east; the Czech Republic and Austria to the southeast; and Switzerland to the south. Germany is a prominent member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and a founding member of the European Union.

Germany's geographical features include rolling countryside dotted with farms and forests throughout much of the country, sandy beaches on the shores of the Baltic and North seas, mountains in the south—including a slice of the Alps on the border with Austria—and the Black Forest in the southwest. The most important rivers are the Rhine in the west and the Elbe in the east.

Urban and industrial centers are more decentralized in Germany than in many European countries (notably France and Britain). The three largest cities are Berlin (the country's capital) near the Polish border in the east, Hamburg on the North Sea, and Munich (the capital of the state of Bavaria) in the south.

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