Editing Economy of Germany (section)

==Economic region==
{{Main|Eurozone}}
[[File:<!--EU2019-->BlueEurozone 2019.svg|thumb|Germany is part of a monetary union, the [[eurozone]] (dark blue), and of the [[European single market|EU single market]]. ]]
Germany as a federation is a polycentric country and does not have a single economic centre. The stock exchange is located in [[Frankfurt|Frankfurt am Main]], the largest Media company ([[Bertelsmann|Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA]]) is headquartered in [[Gütersloh]]; the largest car manufacturers are in [[Wolfsburg]] ([[Volkswagen]]), [[Stuttgart]] ([[Mercedes-Benz]] and [[Porsche]]), and [[Munich]] ([[Audi]] and [[BMW]]).<ref name="ReferenceA">Gürtler, Detlef: Wirtschaftsatlas Deutschland. Rowohlt Berlin, 2010</ref>

Germany is an advocate of closer European economic and political integration. Its commercial policies are increasingly determined by agreements among European Union (EU) members and EU [[single market]] legislation. Germany introduced the common European currency, the [[euro]] on 1 January 1999. Its monetary policy is set by the [[European Central Bank]] in Frankfurt.

The southern states ("''Bundesländer''"), especially Bayern, Baden-Württemberg, and Hessen, are economically stronger than the northern states. One of Germany's traditionally strongest (and at the same time oldest) economic regions is the [[Ruhr|Ruhr area]] in the west, between [[Duisburg]] and [[Dortmund]]. 27 of the country's 100 largest companies are located there. In recent years, however, the area, whose economy is based on natural resources and heavy industry, has seen a substantial rise in unemployment (2010: 8.7%).<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The economy of [[Bavaria|Bayern]] and [[Baden-Württemberg]], the states with the lowest number of unemployed people (2018: 2.7%, 3.1%), on the other hand, is based on high-value products. Important sectors are automobiles, electronics, aerospace, and biomedicine, among others. Baden-Württemberg is an industrial centre especially for the automobile and machine-building industry and the home of brands like Mercedes-Benz (Daimler), Porsche and Bosch.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

With the reunification on 3 October 1990, Germany began the major task of reconciling the economic systems of the two former republics. Interventionist economic planning ensured gradual development in eastern Germany up to the level of former West Germany, but the [[standard of living]] and annual income remains significantly higher in western German states.<ref name="FR">Berg, S., Winter, S., Wassermann, A. [http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,373639,00.html The Price of a Failed Reunification] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120093208/http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,373639,00.html |date=20 November 2007}} Spiegel Online International. 5 September 2005. Retrieved 28 November 2006.</ref> The modernisation and integration of the eastern German economy continues to be a long-term process scheduled to last until the year 2019, with annual transfers from west to east amounting to roughly $80 billion. The overall unemployment rate has consistently fallen since 2005 and reached a 20-year low in 2012. The country in July 2014 began legislating to introduce a federally mandated minimum wage which would come into effect on 1 January 2015.<ref name="GermanyWages">{{cite news|title=Germany may become 22nd EU state with federal minimum wage|url=http://www.germanynews.net/index.php/sid/223558107/scat/0b761d844c35f1be/ht/Germany-may-become-22nd-EU-state-with-federal-minimum-wage|access-date=7 July 2014|publisher=Germany News.Net|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714163733/http://www.germanynews.net/index.php/sid/223558107/scat/0b761d844c35f1be/ht/Germany-may-become-22nd-EU-state-with-federal-minimum-wage|archive-date=14 July 2014}}</ref>{{update inline|date=April 2018}}

On 25 May 2023, a declaration of a recession in the German economy was made. It was reported that [[Gross domestic product|Gross Domestic Product]] (GDP) had contracted by 0.3% between January and March. This contraction was largely due to increased prices which discouraged consumer spending. The statistics office in Germany reported that household spending had dropped by 1.2% in the first quarter of the year.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Stickings|first=Tim|date=2023-05-25|title=Germany slides into recession as high prices hit home|language=en|work=The National|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2023/05/25/germany-slides-into-recession-as-high-prices-hit-home/l|access-date=2023-06-21}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

===German states===
[[File:Düsseldorf Panorama.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region]] in [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] has the second largest GDP in the European Union (€536 billion). [[List of EU metropolitan regions by GDP#2021 ranking of top four German metropolitan regions|Four of the EU's 5 biggest metropolitan regions by GDP]] are in Germany.]]

{{Main|List of German states by GRP}}
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|+ List of German states by GRP in 2022
|- align=center valign=middle
!States
!Rank
!GRP <br/>(in billions [[Euro|EUR€]])
!Share of <br>GDP (%)
|- style="background:#e6e6e6" 
|align=left| '''{{flag|Germany}}'''
|—
|'''3,867.050'''
|'''100'''
|-
|align=left|{{flag|North Rhine-Westphalia}}
|1
|793.790
|20.5
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Bavaria}}
|2
|716.784
|18.5
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Baden-Württemberg}}
|3
|572.837
|14.8
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Lower Saxony}}
|4
|339.414
|8.8
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Hesse}}
|5
|323.352
|8.4
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Berlin}}
|6
|179.379
|4.6
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Rhineland-Palatinate}}
|7
|171.699
|4.4
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Saxony}}
|8
|146.511
|3.8
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Hamburg}}
|9
|144.220
|3.7
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Schleswig-Holstein}}
|10
|112.755
|2.9
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Brandenburg}}
|11
|88.800
|2.3
|-
| align="left" |{{flag|Saxony-Anhalt}}
|13
|75.436
|2.0
|-
| align="left" |{{flag|Thuringia}}
|12
|71.430
|1.8
|-
|align=left|{{flag|Mecklenburg-Vorpommern}}
|14
|53.440
|1.4
|-
| align="left" |{{flag|Bremen}}
|16
|38.698
|1.0
|-
| align="left" |{{flag|Saarland}}
|15
|38.505
|1.0
|}

===Wealth===
{{Main|List of Germans by net worth}}
[[File:Hasso Plattner.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Hasso Plattner]]]]
The following top 10 list of German [[billionaire]]s is based on an annual assessment of wealth and assets compiled and published by ''[[Forbes]]'' magazine on 1 March 2016.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list#version:static_country:Germany|title=The World's Billionaires|access-date=2016-07-04|work=Forbes|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403013841/http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/#version:static_country:Germany|archive-date=3 April 2013}}</ref>

# '''$27.9 billion''' Albrecht family
# '''$20.3 billion''' [[Theo Albrecht Jr.]]
# '''$18.5 billion''' [[Susanne Klatten]]
# '''$18.1 billion''' [[Georg F. W. Schaeffler|Georg Schaeffler]]
# '''$16.4 billion''' [[Dieter Schwarz]]  
# '''$15.6 billion''' [[Stefan Quandt]]
# '''$15.4 billion''' [[Michael Otto (businessman)|Michael Otto]]
# '''$11.7 billion''' [[Heinz Hermann Thiele]]
# '''$10 billion''' [[Klaus-Michael Kühne]]
# '''$9.5 billion''' [[Hasso Plattner]]

[[Wolfsburg]] is the city in Germany with the country's highest per capita GDP, at $128,000. The following top 10 list of German cities with the highest per capita GDP is based on a study by the [[German Economic Institute|Cologne Institute for Economic Research]] on 31 July 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bild.de/geld/wirtschaft/bruttoinlandsprodukt/top-50-das-sind-deutschlands-power-staedte-31595934.bild.html|title=These Are Germany's Power Cities|date=12 August 2013|access-date=2014-03-01|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313030548/http://www.bild.de/geld/wirtschaft/bruttoinlandsprodukt/top-50-das-sind-deutschlands-power-staedte-31595934.bild.html|archive-date=13 March 2014}}</ref>

# '''$128,000''' [[Wolfsburg]], [[Lower Saxony]]
# '''$114,281''' [[Frankfurt|Frankfurt am Main]], [[Hesse]]
# '''$108,347''' [[Schweinfurt]], [[Bavaria]]
# '''$104,000''' [[Ingolstadt]], Bavaria
# '''$99,389''' [[Regensburg]], Bavaria
# '''$92,525''' [[Düsseldorf]], [[North Rhine-Westphalia]]
# '''$92,464''' [[Ludwigshafen|Ludwigshafen am Rhein]], [[Rhineland-Palatinate]]
# '''$91,630''' [[Erlangen]], Bavaria
# '''$91,121''' [[Stuttgart]], [[Baden-Württemberg]]
# '''$88,692''' [[Ulm]], Baden-Württemberg