Germans facts for kids
Total population | |
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c. 100–150 worldwide | |
Regions with significant populations | |
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62,482,000 |
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46,047,114 (descent) |
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12,000,000 (descent) |
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3,541,600 (descent) |
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3,322,405 (descent) |
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500,000 (descent) |
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437,000 |
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394,138 |
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368,512 |
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310,900 |
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204,000 |
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181,958 |
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178,837 |
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148,000 |
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167.771 |
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50,863 |
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15,000–40,000 |
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40,000 |
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36,000 |
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33,302 |
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27,593 |
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25,000 |
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21,216 |
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10,030 (2016) |
Languages | |
German | |
Religion | |
Historically: 2/3rds Protestant 1/3rd Roman Catholic Nowadays: 1/3rd Protestant 1/3rd Roman Catholic 1/3rd Irreligious |
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Related ethnic groups | |
other Germanic peoples |
Germans (German: Deutsche) are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe, who share a common German ancestry, culture and history. German is the shared mother tongue of a substantial majority of ethnic Germans.
The English term Germans has historically referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages. Ever since the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire, German society has been characterized by a Catholic-Protestant divide.
Of approximately 100 million native speakers of German in the world, roughly 80 million consider themselves Germans. There are an additional 80 million people of German ancestry mainly in the United States, Brazil (mainly in the South Region of the country), Argentina, Canada, South Africa, the post-Soviet states (mainly in Russia and Kazakhstan), and France, each accounting for at least 1 million. Thus, the total number of Germans lies somewhere between 100 and more than 150 million, depending on the criteria applied (native speakers, single-ancestry ethnic Germans, partial German ancestry, etc.).
Today, people from countries with German-speaking majorities which were earlier part of the Holy Roman Empire, (such as Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and other historically-tied countries like Luxembourg), most often subscribe to their own national identities and may or may not also self-identify as ethnically German.
Images for kids
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Extent of Holy Roman Empire in 972 (red line) and 1035 (red dots) with Kingdom of Germany marked in blue
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18 January 1871: The proclamation of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles. Bismarck appears in white. The Grand Duke of Baden stands beside Wilhelm, leading the cheers. Crown Prince Friedrich, later Friedrich III, stands on his father's right.
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The German Empire of 1871–1918. By excluding the German-speaking part of the multinational Austrian Empire, this geographic construction represented the Kleindeutsche Lösung ("Lesser German solution")
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The current Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel
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Walk of Ideas, Berlin, a sculpture honoring Johannes Gutenberg and some of Germany's most influential writers
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German philosopher Immanuel Kant
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Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820
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Diane Krüger, 2008
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Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria
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Portrait of Martin Luther
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The Allianz Arena, one of the world's most modern football stadiums.
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Helmut Kohl played a principal role in the German reunification.
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Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era.
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Gerhart Hauptmann, a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.
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Thomas Mann, a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate.
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Günter Grass was a recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature.
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Herta Müller was born into a German minority in Romania. She is the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature for her novel Atemschaukel.
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Karl Marx's ideas played a significant role in the establishment of the social sciences and the development of the socialist movement. He published numerous books during his lifetime, the most notable being The Communist Manifesto and Capital. He is also considered one of the greatest economists of all time.
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The Meister Eckhart portal of the Erfurt Church
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Pope Benedict XVI and clergy of the Catholic Church at mass in Freiburg, Germany
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Religion in the Holy Roman Empire on the eve of the Thirty Years' War
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Michael Schumacher has claimed 91 race victories and 7 championships in his F1 career.
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Dirk Nowitzki (in green), Dallas Mavericks power forward, 2011 NBA Champion and Finals MVP
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Rutenfest in Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, celebrating the folklore story of "The Seven Swabians" by the Brothers Grimm
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Actors from Germany in film "Als der Tod ins Leben wuchs" of Sebastian Ed Erhenberg as Volga Germans