City Facts

Berlin is situated in the middle of the North European plain at 52° N, 13° E, 650 miles east of London, 550 miles north-east of Paris and 1,000 miles west of Moscow. The city covers an area of 550 square miles, stretching 24 miles north-south and 27 miles east-west. It lies at between 34 and 60 metres above sea level and has a continental climate, which means a cold winter, brief spring and autumn, and hot humid summers.

Around a quarter of the city is park and forest, as is the surrounding state of Brandenburg. It is dissected by countless canals and two rivers, the Spree and Havel, which were used extensively in past centuries for transport of goods and raw materials, but are now more accustomed to pleasure and tour boats.

Berlin is served by an integrated public transport system comprising 1,000 miles of bus route, 220 miles of tramline and 100 miles of underground rail track. In addition the city has 500 miles of bicycle lane. Air passengers arrive via three airports - Tegel, Tempelhof or Schönefeld.

With a population of 3.4 million Berlin is approaching its pre-war level and is the largest city in Germany. Half a million of the inhabitants are foreigners. The largest group of these are made up of Turkish migrant workers who were invited in the 70s, followed by settlers from the old Yugoslavia, but there are also substantial French, British, American, Polish, Greek and other European communities. The cosmopolitan nature of the new Berlin is evident in the variety of ethnic restaurants and shops, and in the largely mixed neighbourhoods where inter-community tensions remain low.

The city workforce totals 1.5 million, of which the majority work in the service sector, which is currently expanding. The industrial sector is dominated by electrical engineering, followed by the food and beverage industry and mechanical engineering. In addition something like 25,000 smaller trading outlets employ over a quarter of a million people. 50,000 workers are employed in the field of culture, and the city attracts more than 3.5 million tourists annually. The year 2000 has been an exceptional year for Berlin, since a new record of approximately 10 million visitors will be set, placing fourth behind London, Paris and Vienna as the most visited cities in Europe.

The city is twinned with Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Moscow and Brussels amongst others.

Berlin Statistics:

Find out how to get around, see Public Transportaion.