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Population (1996) 81,922,000. The northern part of the country is a vast plain. The Baltic coast is jagged, with deep, narrow gulfs. The centre of the country is made up of very old mountain ranges, plateaus and sedimentary river basins. Of the ancient massifs, the most important are the Black Forest region and the Rhineland. The southern region begins in the Danube Valley, and is made up of plateaus (the Bavarian Plateau) bordered to the south by the Bavarian Alps. There are large deposits of coal and lignite along the banks of the Ruhr and Ens river, which provided the backbone of Germany's industrial development. Heavy industry is concentrated in the Ruhr Valley, mid Rhineland and Lower Saxony. The south of the former German Democratic Republic is rich in coal, lignite, lead, tin, silver and uranium deposits. The chemical, electrochemical, metallurgical and steel industries are concentrated there. This region suffers severe air pollution as a result of the carbon output of the industries. The emission of sulphur dioxide in eastern Germany is 15 times that in the west, compounding the problem of acid rain. Untreated industrial effluents carrying heavy metals and toxic chemicals have contaminated many east German rivers, ending up in the highly polluted Baltic Sea.*
First stamps were issued for individual states. German stamp booklet.
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*Sources:- The SBS World Guide (5th edition) go to next page.
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