Culture of Germany

Germany has the world's oldest universal health care system, dating back to Bismarck's social legislation in 1883.[182] Currently the population is covered by a fairly comprehensive health insurance plan provided by statute. Certain groups of people (lifetime officials, self-employed persons, employees with high income) can opt out of the plan and switch to a private insurance contract. Previously, these groups could also choose to do without insurance, but this option was dropped in 2009.[183] According to the World Health Organization, Germany's health care system was 77% government-funded and 23% privately funded as of 2005.[184] In 2005, Germany spent 11% of its GDP on health care. Germany ranked 20th in the world in life expectancy with 77 years for men and 82 years for women, and it had a very low infant mortality rate (4 per 1,000 live births).[184]
In 2010, the principal cause of death was cardiovascular disease, at 41%, followed by malignant tumours, at 26%.[185] In 2008, about 82,000 Germans had been infected with HIV/AIDS and 26,000 had died from the disease (cumulatively, since 1982).[186] According to a 2005 survey, 27% of German adults are smokers.[186]
Culture

Main article: Culture of Germany


Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), composer
From its roots, culture in German states has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically Germany has been called Das Land der Dichter und Denker ("the land of poets and thinkers"),[187] because of the major role its famous writers and philosophers have played in the development of Western thought and culture.
The federated states are in charge of the cultural institutions. There are 240 subsidised theatres, hundreds of symphonic orchestras, thousands of museums and over 25,000 libraries spread in Germany. These cultural opportunities are enjoyed by many: there are over 91 million German museum visits every year; annually, 20 million go to theatres and operas; 3.6 million per year listen to the symphonic orchestras.[188] As of 2012 the UNESCO inscribed 37 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List.[189]
Germany has established a high level of gender equality,[190] promotes disability rights, and is legally and socially tolerant towards homosexuals. Gays and lesbians can legally adopt their partner's biological children, and civil unions have been permitted since 2001.[191] Germany has also changed its attitude towards immigrants; since the mid-1990s, the government and the majority of Germans have begun to acknowledge that controlled immigration should be allowed based on qualification standards.[192] Germany has been named the world's second most valued nation among 50 countries in 2010.[193] A global opinion poll for the BBC revealed that Germany is recognised for having the most positive influence in the world in 2011,[194] and for being the most positively viewed nation in the world, in 2013.