ABSTRACT
Germany is situated in the middle of Europe. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxemburg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west. In the north the country has coastlines on the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, in the south the Alps form a natural border. Germany has an area of 357,127 km2. 1 On 30 June 2012, the population totalled 81,902,743, of which 50.8 per cent were female (Statistisches Bundesamt 2013a, table 12411–0020). About 19 per cent of the population have a migrant background and 8–9 per cent have a foreign nationality (Statistisches Bundesamt 2012: 40). Half of the inhabitants live in urban areas. Since 2003, the number of inhabitants has been declining.
