Germany
The light green area is the rest of the European Union
Germany had the fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP in the world in 2018, and the largest in Europe. Germany is third largest exporting country and recorded the highest trade surplus in the world in four recent consecutive years. Germany benefits from a highly skilled labour force and is ranked 11th in the Human Capital Index. Over 99 percent of firms are small and medium enterprises, the "Mittelstand", which are typically larger than the European average, more export orientated, and tend to be family owned. Germany has 29 companies in the top 500 global companies in 2019. In 2019, renewable energy accounted for 46 percent of electricity consumed. Services accounted for 62 percent of GDP in 2018. Manufacturing accounted for 21 percent, which is similar to the level for Japan and close to double the USA's. The leading export sectors are machinery (18.5 percent of exports in 2017), services (17.6 percent), vehicles (17.45 percent), and chemicals (14.95 percent). The largest individual exports are ICT services (9.8 percent), cars (8.8 percent), transport services (3.5 percent), and car parts (3.5 percent). Its leading export partners are the USA (8.7 percent, France (8.2 percent), China (6.75 percent), the UK (6.6 percent), and the Netherlands (6.2 percent). Its biggest goods imports are electrical machinery and equipment (12.7 percent), industrial machinery (12.5 percent), vehicles (10.3 percent), and oil (7.8 percent). Industrialisation progressed rapidly after unification in 1871 as the population grew and urbanised, and the government introduced universal education and welfare. By 1900, Germany had overtaken the UK and the USA in steel production and was growing fast in the new knowledge industries of chemicals and electrical equipment. Post World War 2, West Germany recovered quickly with industry and institutions reorganised, recapitalised, and given a free-trade bias by the US. East Germany was organised as a command economy and decentralised policies saw a growth in industrialisation in the 1960s. Post re-unification the economy struggled in the 1990s as the government pursued fiscal consolidation. Labour market reforms by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the late 1990s led to strong economic growth and falling unemployment in the 2000s. The economy weathered the global financial crisis with a public recapitalisation of banks and tax cuts.