Distillers Germany
A one-page guide to Germany for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Berlin
- Official languages
- German
- Currency
- Euro (EUR)
- Time zone
- UTC+1 (UTC+2 summer, CEST)
- Area
- 357,680 km²
People
- Population
- 83.5 million (2025)
- Population growth
- -0.0% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 82.1%
- Aged under 15
- 13.9%
- Aged 65 and over
- 23.7%
- Life expectancy
- 80.8 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$5.05 trillion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$60,496 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 0.24% (2025)
- Inflation
- 2.17% (2025)
Climate
Temperate: oceanic in the north and west, continental in the east and southeast. Winters are cool to cold and often overcast; summers range from hot and dry to cool and rainy. Monthly mean temperatures from February 2019 to February 2020 ranged from 3.3 C (January 2020) to 19.8 C (June 2019).
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 16 for beer and wine (14 if accompanied by a custodial person); 18 for spirits and drinks containing spirits (Protection of Young Persons Act, section 9)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 10.96 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 53%, wine 28%, spirits 19% (2016)
- Traditional drinks
- Korn (malted-grain spirit), Obstler (fruit brandy), Geist (fruit/plant infused spirit), Schnaps (general term for strong spirits)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia - Alcohol laws of Germany; Wikipedia - Alcohol in Germany; Wikipedia - Germany; WHO country profile DEU; Steuerschroeder - end of the Branntweinmonopol; Mast-Jagermeister company fact sheet; KVK - importing spirits (EU duty 0%); BSI - Bundesverband der Deutschen Spirituosen-Industrie und -Importeure. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.