In the world, the German economy ranks 4th in terms of nominal GDP and 5th in terms of purchasing power. Germany is the world’s second largest trader both in terms of imports and exports. Germany is also the hub of global scientific and technological developments.
Germany is the largest economy in the European Union. It benefits from a large pool of talented work force that has enabled Germany to dominate the vehicles, machinery, chemicals and household equipment vertical across the globe.
It is this strong and productive work force that enabled Germany to face recession with a resilient face and the Germany economy could manage to have a GDP (purchasing power parity) of $2.182 trillion in 2009. The graph below shows how the German economy performed since 2007 till 2009.

Even in the recession marred years, the German economy managed to stay stable as the world sixth largest country in terms of GDP (2009.)
However as is the case with recession, the economy did constrict and stood at -5% in 2009. The graph below shows how the real growth rate has performed since 2007 till 2009. (in percentage)

The GDP per capita has been strong as well. In 2009, the per capita GDP was $34,200. In 2008, the per capita GDP was slightly higher at $35,900 and $35,500 in 2008. However, the unemployment rate grew from 7.8% to 8.2% in 2009. This may be attributed to factors ranging from an industrial slow down to lesser imports for productivity.
G7, G8, G20
Germany is part of the G-7, Group of Seven, G-8, Group of Eight, and G-20, Group of Twenty.