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Germans - Who Are They? (1/3)

November 17, 2016

The Germans, who are they and what are they like? Researchers try to decipher the German soul, using hard facts and figures. How do they live and what are their peculiarities?

https://p.dw.com/p/2Soo3
Image: ZDF

Statistically speaking, the 'average' German man is 42, slightly overweight, 1.79m tall, and has blue eyes. He loves going to the DIY store and is called Thomas Müller. His wife Sabine is around 10cm shorter. They have one child together. Every day Thomas travels 39km. His greatest wish is to own his own home. Of course this Thomas Müller doesn’t really exist. He’s a fictitious person, calculated from statistical data - the 'typical' German. He likes to stay put in one place: on average, Germans move house only four times in their entire life. But when it comes to cars it’s a different story: the statistical Thomas Müller will own 9.8 cars during his lifetime. But because of the many traffic jams he often moves at less than 20 kilometers per hour in many towns and cities - not much faster than in the days of travel by horse!