Berlin, Germany

Berlin is the largest city in Germany, its a state in Germany, and is actually the capital of Germany also.  This is what made me so interested in researching and learning more in depth about the state.

It is directly in the middle of the state Brandenburg.  Its population is 3.45 million people.  Around one third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.  The area of Berlin is recorded at 892 sq km. In US terms that would be a little over 344 square miles.  Berlin is the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany and is the seat of the President of Germany, whose official residence is Schloss Bellevue. The Senate of Berlin consists of the Governing Mayor and up to eight senators holding ministerial positions, one of them holding the official title "Mayor" as deputy to the Governing Mayor. Something interesting about a connection between America and Germany is that Berlin is a "Sister City" to Los Angeles, California.  The state is made up of 41.3% of buildings and open space, 0.7% of Business and industry, 11.4% of recreational areas, 15.3% for transportation, 4.7% of agriculture, 18.1% of woodland, 6.7% of water, and 1.9% of other types of covering of land.  The total annual state budget of Berlin in 2007 exceeded $28.7 billion including a budget surplus of $112 million. The figures indicate the first surplus in the history of the city/state. In 2009, the nominal GDP of the city/state Berlin experienced a growth rate of 1.7% and totaling about $117 billion. Berlin's economy is dominated by the service sector, with around 80% of all companies doing business in services. The unemployment rate had steadily decreased over the past decade and reached a 13-year low in 2008. As of April 2010 unemployment was at 14.2%. Industries that do business in the creative arts and entertainment are an important and sizable sector of the economy of Berlin. The creative arts sector comprises music, film, advertising, architecture, art, design, fashion, performing arts, publishing, R&D, software, TV, radio, and video games. Around 22,600 creative enterprises, predominantly SMEs, generated over 18.6 billion Euro in total revenue. Berlin's creative industries have contributed an estimated 20% of Berlin's GDP in 2005.

Not only is Berlin different from most places in Germany because it is in the center of another state, it is also a city. And not only is it just a city, it is a city within a state.  Personally for myself I probably would never want to live there because it is so busy and populated, but it would be an interesting place to visit at some point in my life.

Resources Used:
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