How is Germany the richest country in Europe? (GDP)

at the time of making this video germany's gdp is estimated to be around 4.2 trillion us dollars this amount of money is hard to comprehend however it is still less than the combined market cap of the two most valuable brands on the planet apple and saudi aramco whose total market cap is valued at five trillion us dollars an economy size of 4.2 trillion makes germany the fourth richest country in the world when looking at this metric of course this does not reflect individual wealth but the wealth of the value of all finished goods and services made within germany during a specific period only japan china and the usa have a larger economy each have a population 1.5 16.6 and four times larger respectively so just how is germany the richest country in europe well germany is an economic powerhouse it sits in the middle of europe is a founding member of the eu and is the second most populated country on the continent only behind russia which kind of cheats by sitting in two continents only the dutch work fewer hours among the 34 members of the oecd which contains 38 countries from around the world that german children spend 25 percent less time in the classroom than their italian counterparts and that there are six more productive economies in europe alone and yet germany still has the strongest economy in europe so first things first let's take a look at how germany compares to other european countries in terms of gdp so the uk sits just below them with 3.1 trillion next is france at 2.9 trillion italy at 2.1 trillion and then russia at 1.6 trillion us dollars however it must be noted that due to the sanctions from russia's invasion of ukraine it is likely that russia's economy size is actually much lower than this figure so germany comfortably takes the crown as the richest country by gdp on the continent in 2016 germany recorded the highest trade surplus in the world worth over 300 billion dollars this economic result made it the biggest capital exporter globally germany is one of the largest exporters in the world with around two trillion dollars worth of goods and services exported in 2019. the automotive industry gross production value in germany accounts for roughly 500 billion euros in total sales in 2019 around 3.5 million vehicles were exported which was around 20 of all exported cars in the world the industry employs around 800 000 people within germany and accounts for around 10 of the total national gdp german cars are known around the world for their quality and value brands such as bmw mercedes audi and porsche are some of the most prestigious brands in the world with a revenue of 278 billion us dollars in 2019 volkswagen is germany's biggest company it is the 133rd most valuable brand at a market cap of around 105 billion us dollars however what blows my mind is that a company of this caliber is still 27 times smaller in terms of market cap than the most valuable company apple at around 2.7 trillion dollars at the time of making this video so germany's gdp makes them the richest country in europe but as mentioned earlier this does not reflect the wealth of its citizens let's look at the ussr as an example it was an extremely wealthy empire but the everyday citizens who lived in it were very poor so instead let's take a look at gdp per capita which is a more accurate way of seeing the true wealth of citizens for this germany ranks 17th in the world and actually 12th in europe so not bad but certainly not as good as where the total gdp ranks them it must be noted however that some of the nations that rank above germany are incredibly small such as san marino and luxembourg whose populations are 34 000 and 642 000 respectively so it's not a fair comparison for a country who has 84 million however these stats do not lie and although germany is a financial powerhouse its citizens on average aren't so much compared to other countries around them when it comes to average salaries germany ranks 11th in the world and 8th in europe at just under 54 000 us dollars or 50 000 euros so again not bad but not the best when it comes to enormous wealth germany has the fourth highest amount of billionaires in the world at around 134 only india china and the us have more this means that there are around three billionaires per 2 million people in germany at around 3 million germany has the fourth most billionaires in the world only behind japan china and the usa this means germany is responsible for over five percent of all millionaires in the world there is absolutely no doubt that germany has benefited greatly from the euro by getting into bed with more sluggish economies in southern europe germany adopted a much weaker currency than would otherwise have been the case as one of the very few countries in the world running a balance of payment surplus the deutsche mark would have been a great deal stronger than the euro however this has provided a terrific boost to german exports which are cheaper to overseas consumers as a result but this goes only somewhere to explaining germany's current economic might just as important are the relatively low levels of private debt while the rest of europe gorged on cheap credit throughout the 1990s and 90s german companies and individuals refused to spend beyond their means in german borrowing is skilden which is the same word for guilt there is an attitude that if you have to borrow there is something wrong with you this has been particularly beneficial to germany in recent years unlike its european counterparts consumers and businesses did not need to slash spending to cut their debt levels when banks stopped lending during the 2008 crash and recession germany is pretty much positioned to become astronomically wealthy germany is centrally situated in europe has access to the sea and has great river connections germany can service markets across europe from its central location germany also has access to both iron and coal which means it can make steal and generate power without having to import anything the germans have a fairly homogeneous culture barring a lot of immigrants from turkey in the post-war era that culture stresses value of hard work thrift education and collective action a perfect combination for creating successful companies and industries the germans came out of world war ii with a destroyed infrastructure but a lot of smart people with the help of the marshall plan they were able to rebuild the infrastructure and the smart people worked with great diligence to restore their material wealth germany had a pre-war reputation for making high-quality goods and german companies traded on that reputation in the post-war era making things like cars industrial equipment chemicals and electronical goods the german people have had a very stable political system since the war ii when reunification became possible the west germans mobilized quickly to make it happen and deployed a lot of money to smooth the transition there was relatively little objection in german society to the reunification even though it was quite expensive so to summarize germany is a resource-rich geographically central country with a large population who have the right values to be successful and with a political system that is very stable thank you for watching and we will see you very soon in the next video [Music] you

Channel: The Geography Bible

Views: 87,505

Keywords: german economy, germany economy, germany, economy in germany, german economy explained, economy of germany, germany economy explained, germany gdp, economy germany, germany economy 2021, germany economy trade, germany economic, the economy of germany, economy of east germany, economy of germany today, is germany rich, germany europe, germany gdp per capita, germany gdp 2021, germany gdp 2022, germany gdp per capita 2022, gdp of germany, european gdp, german cities gdp

Id: xA021DWzmlI

Length: 8min 31sec (511 seconds)

Published: Tue May 10 2022