Critics were sceptical when she came to power, but Germany’s first female chancellor has presided over a transformed economy and retains widespread support

On 18 September 2005 Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU party narrowly edged out Gerhard Schröder’s SPD by four seats and one percentage point.

A month later, the parties formed a grand coalition and Merkel became Germany’s first female chancellor, and its first from the former East Germany.

The Economist magazine suggested at the time that a grand coalition led by a weak Merkel would prove short-lived and ineffective, but 94 EU leaders later, Merkel appears likely to win a fourth term if she chooses to seek one in 2017.

Merkel is now Germany’s third longest serving leader since the second world war, behind Helmut Kohl and Konrad Adenauer, Germany’s first postwar chancellor.

Although Merkel is not universally popular abroad, her approval at home over the past decade has remained consistently high, dipping below 50% only between 2010 and 2011, when the German public became disgruntled at the effects of the financial crisis and early European bailouts.

Support for Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CDU/CSU), is stronger now that at any point during her chancellorship.

Merkel’s popularity at home is mostly explained by the stability of the economy. Though Germany was hit by the the 2008 financial crisis, by early 2010, GDP had recovered and surpassed pre-crisis levels.

In January 2015 the country also balanced its budget for the first time in more than 40 years and there are now a record number of people in employment.

Wage growth has been somewhat slower, only rising above the euro area average in more recent years. This despite low unemployment. The year Merkel took office, unemployment was at a 70-year high. The unemployment rate is now at a record low.

More than 50% of recipients of Hartz IV – non-contributory unemployment assistance payment – in east Germany have been relying on the support for more than four years despite it being meant primarily for the short term. Nevertheless, the unemployment rate among young people is the lowest in the EU.

The employment rate among women has gone from less than 60% in 2005 to nearly 70% today.

As Germany’s population has aged, its population has shrunk. But the demographic decline hasslowed owing to an increase in immigration.

The number of people with a migrant background living in the country is at a record high. The proportion among those under the age of 15 is even higher, at over 30%.

One of Merkel’s most significant decisions over the past decade was made in 2011 when she announced that Germany would shut down all nuclear reactors by 2022. The announcement of a drive towards renewable energy was coupled with the biggest infrastructure project in Germany since the end of the second world war.

Renewables now provide nearly 30% of Germany’s electricity demand, from just above 10% in 2005. The government’s target is that by 2020 at least 35% of the country’s electricity supply is to be generated by renewable energy. The share should then rise to 50% by 2030, to 65% by 2040, and to 80% by 2050.