Germany and America

Both Germany and America are two countries where many people want to live in. Both are famous for geographic features and the environments. Both have significant strong economies. And human rights are highly considered in both nations.  Which lands are you going to sail to? Looking closer to each category shown above gives a better Idea of living in Germany is better, or living the American dream is a made-up story.

The geographical features of the two countries are not too hard to be identified. Germany is located in the Central Europe. The country shares its border with the baltic sea and the north sea, and lies between the Netherlands, Poland, and south of Denmark. While the United States is situated in north America, and shares its border with both the north Atlantic ocean and the north Pacific ocean. In addition, the neighbors of America are Mexico and Canada. America is tremendously larger than Germany. In fact, the nation covers an area of  nearly 10 million square kilometers, whereas the European country occupies an area of just over 350 000 square kilometers. Furthermore, the climate of Germany and almost all the terrains of America are moderate. That is to say, an American can drive to see centuries of history and explore diverse environments within the country’ s border, unlike Germany would be a short trip.

         The populations of the two countries differ greatly in size and there is an important difference in their composition. Firstly, America is home to more than 323 million people, Germany has only about 80 million people. Secondly, America is a racially and ethnically diverse country, any small ethnic groups can be found in America, while Germany’ s population is ethnically homogenous. In fact, German makes up the vast  majority of the population, Turkish and other ethnic groups exist in small numbers. Dr. Charles Taylor, a professor used to work at McGIll University in Montreal, studied the effect of diversity and commented: “people who have another culture, another outlook, speak other languages than the common language which, in this case, is English, and so on and so on which immensely enriches a society people who have another culture, another outlook, speak other languages than the common language which, in this case, is English, and so on and so on which immensely enriches a society”, he also cautioned: “the danger of multiculturism could arise if people came who didn't really want to accept those principles, who wanted in some way to stand apart from them and then you'd get a risk of fragmentation. So, there's a – there is a risk on one side of fragmentation and there's a risk on the other side of, you're right, a kind of stagnation, a kind of very, very unproductive homogeneity “ (Kyoto Prize Winner Explains the Benefits of Living in a Diverse Society, 2009). In other words, when a community is overly homogeneous, that society will have risks fragmentation from those who refuse to collaborate with each other and stagnation from the lack of contribution. In conclusion, having a diverse community, America has a factor which allows the economy to grow better, produces a colorful culture and prevents stagnation.

There are similarities and differences in the economies of the two nations. America has a stronger economy than Germany. In fact, America’ s GDP is nearly 18 trillion dollars, which is the biggest GDP in the world. While Germany is ranked 6th in the world, 3.4 trillion dollars. Likewise, Americans enjoy a higher per capita income than German people, which are about 56000 dollars and nearly 47000 dollars per year respectively. Although America has a stronger economy, Germany has a better safety net for its people. In addition, the percentage of unemployed people of the total American population is 5.2%, whereas there is only 4.8% in Germany. Moreover, the gap between the rich and the poor of America is also bigger than Germany. Base on the GINI index, the distribution of family income in America is almost twice as big as Germany, which are 45 and 27 respectively. These numbers indicate that Germany government has a better preparation for the unemployment situation, which means a german citizen has more chances to keep the job in a recession than an American. Furthermore, because of American Government’ policies, bankruptcy laws have been loosened for large corporations, which also means working in America is not as “safe” as in Germany. On one hand, German’ s income tax is extremely much higher than America’s. German people have to spend just under half of their income on tax, yet America’s income tax is about 27.4%. Even more, because of the high tax rate, gas and utility are expensive in Germany, it is 5.6 dollars per gallon for gasoline, whereas, it’s only 2.6 dollars in America. On the other hand, because of the high tax rate, German people gets more benefits than Americans in return, such as universal health care, free college, and university. In contrast, American people have to prepare big budgets for health care and education’ fees. in fact, many students graduate with 10000 dollars in debt. Last but not least, in German, Rent per month for an apartment (1-bed room) in City Centre is only about $700, however, the rent is more than $1000. Clearly, both countries have pros and cons. Living like an American gives hopes or chances to make the American dream come true, but that person undoubtedly has to spend  a lot of money on basic needs. In contrast, basic needs have been covered by taxes, which make german people focus on their works more than worry about their life’s situations.