Special pages

Fact machine

Did you already know ... ?
... how fast our world is changing? You will find many interesting, but also thought-provoking figures in our fact machine, which acts like a real-time counter: It shows the second-by-second, daily and annual changes in Germany and the world in the categories of consumption, media, social affairs and government. In this way, the fact machine vividly reflects the dynamics of our lives and provides food for thought.
It shows, for example, how many plastic bags German citizens have consumed, how many cars have been sold worldwide or how much Germany's national debt has fallen since you are reading these lines.
The fact checker's projections are based on surveys, calculations and statistics from renowned social, political and economic institutions and can be viewed on the website.

United Dreams of Europe

Like all dreams, this one began with an idea. The idea of finding a vision, an identity, a dream for Europe. But what is Europe? And how do Europeans see their continent? Is Europe just a supranational institution where everything revolves around politics? Or do we have more in common? Perhaps a vision or a dream for the future?
What we do know is that Europe is shaped by people, their behaviours, feelings, opinions and dreams. For "United Dreams of Europe", we conducted a study in which we asked over 15,000 citizens across Europe about their lives. We also interviewed politicians, academics and students about their thoughts on the future of Europe. But we wanted to get an even broader impression, so we created this website to give everyone the opportunity to participate by publishing their personal dream for Europe.
The results of the study were published in 2011 in the book of the same name "United Dreams of Europe".