Not surprisingly, “love of beer” came in first place, as voted on by five countries including neighbouring Austria, in the survey conducted by Translate Media. 

The Danes and Swedes were among the countries who most strongly stereotyped Germans for their stubbornness, whereas a love of efficiency and bureaucracy was the next largest stereotype, as singled out by Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Romania.

Some countries had more unusual stereotypes of Germany. Spain, for example, associates the Teutons most strongly with garbage sorting, while the British and Finnish think of Germans for their Christmas traditions. Beyond beer and bureaucracy, Croatians associated Germany with bread baking.

When Germans themselves were surveyed about the customs they are the most proud of, over a third (37.3 percent) were quick to answer “punctuality.”

Coming in second place, 16.8 percent of Germans were most proud of privacy, followed by environmental awareness (14.5%), perfectionism (9.4%), being direct (8.8%), a love of rules and organization (7.3%) and stubbornness (5.9%).

“Germany has a great tradition of brewing very good beer, and that’s what a lot of visitors to the country enjoy, so it’s no wonder that’s the trait most identified by Europeans” said Yusuf Bhana at Translate Media in a news release. 

“But it’s also interesting that Germans themselves are proudest of their punctuality; it’s a very polite and respectful trait!”

The interactive graphic (in the German language) below shows stereotypes of Germans based on country and federal state.