USA at a Glance

• Population: 292 million


• Capital city: Washington, D.C., approx. 572,000 inhabitants


• Language: English, also Spanish in some areas


• Religions: 62% of the population belong to 238 religious communities: 26% are Roman Catholic, 27.5% Protestant, 2.6% Jewish


• Form of government:: Presidential republic with balanced separation of powersc

Economy

The USA are Germany's most important trade partner outside the EU. German exports to the United States consist mainly of technical products: motor vehicles, machinery and electro-technical goods. The main USA exports to Germany are machinery, aircraft and mechatronics. Each country is important to the other as a location for investment. According to U.S.-figures, at the end of 2002, German direct investment in the USA stood at 149 billion U.S.-Dollars. This puts Germany in third place, ahead of Holland and France, in the international ranking of foreign investors in the USA. American direct investment in Germany stood at 80 billion U.S.-Dollars at the end of 2003. In 2002, the USA was the main investment country for German companies, and the largest foreign investor in Germany.

Culture and Science

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people travel across the Atlantic as tourists, artists or participants in the numerous exchange programmes. One of the programmes which support this exchange, is the "Trans-Atlantic-Outreach-Program" (TOP) which enables American Social Studies teachers to get to know modern Germany.

Since World War II, around 16 million American soldiers have lived in Germany with their families, appreciating the country and bringing Germany the "American way of life". Hundreds of thousands of German exchange students have studied in the USA. Of the foreign languages offered at private secondary schools, colleges and universities, German takes third place behind Spanish and French. Around 46 million U.S.-citizens, more than 23 percent of the American population, have German roots. However, unlike the Italians, Polish, or Irish, for example, the German Americans do not constitute a cohesive group with influence on political life in the USA. There are so many German-American associations, that it is difficult to put a number on them. However, these groups are almost entirely dedicated to nurturing German traditions.

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