If America represents a society of excess, then Germany can be viewed as representing one which may not have deficits, but knows its limits.
The U.S. has 15x as much natural gas, 5x as much crude oil, 4x as much coal, and 5x as many renewable water resources. And the list goes on.
In the year 2000, the annual use of gasoline per capita in the USA was 1,633 liters versus just 450 in Germany, electricity use was 13,672 versus 6,680 kwh.
As far as space is concerned, the numbers grow incomperable. With its 9.63 million km², the U.S. is 27x larger than Germany with its 357,000 km².
The state of Texas alone is nearly twice as large, having 678,000 km², California with 411,000 km² and Montana 381,000 km². My home state of Pennsylvania is already 1/3 the size of Germany with its 117,000 km².
All of this impacts the population density. In Germany, an average population density per km² is 231, in Northrhine-Westphalia, the most populous state, that number more than doubles to 530.
In the U.S., the figure lies at a mere 31. But let us examine the development o fthis number over the past 200 years: in 1800, there were 2.5 people per km², in 1850 3,5/km², 1900 8,0/km², and by 1950 still only 17 persons per km².
