German states
Baden- Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg- Vorpommern North Rhine- Westphalia Rhineland- Palatinate Saarland Saxony Saxony- Anhalt Schleswig- Holstein Thuringia Luxembourg Poland France Denmark Netherlands Belgium Austria Czech Republic Switzerland North Sea Baltic Sea
Category	Federated state
Location	Germany
Number	16
Areas	419.4 km2 (161.92 sq mi) (Bremen) – 70,549.4 km2 (27,239.29 sq mi) (Bavaria)
Government	State government
Subdivisions	Borough, District, Amt, Governmental district

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of Germany
Constitution (Basic Law) Federal Constitutional Court Human rights
Head of State President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD)
Executive Chancellor of Germany (list) Olaf Scholz (SPD) Vice Chancellor of Germany Robert Habeck (Grüne) Cabinet Scholz Federal agencies
Legislature Bundestag constituencies members Bundesrat Vermittlungsausschuss Gemeinsamer Ausschuss
Judiciary Federal Constitutional Court Federal courts Ordinary Administrative Fiscal Labour Social Joint Senate Other courts
Subdivisions State (Land) Minister president State Parliament (Landtag) composition Regierungsbezirk District (Kreis) list Collective municipality (Amt) Municipality (Gemeinde) list
Elections Electoral system Political parties Referendums Coalitions Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung) Presidential elections Weimar Republic (1919–1933) 1919 1925 1932 East Germany (1949–1960) 1949 1953 1957 Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949) 1949 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2010 2012 2017 2022 Parliamentary election 1867 (Feb) 1867 (Aug) 1868 1871 1874 1877 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1898 1903 1907 1912 1919 1920 1924 (May) 1924 (Dec) 1928 1930 1932 (July) 1932 (Nov) 1933 (Mar) 1933 (Nov) 1936 1938 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1972 1976 1980 1983 1987 1990 1994 1998 2002 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 Next European elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
State and local politics State Politics Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein Thuringia
Foreign relations Foreign relations by country France Italy UK USA China Russia International Relations Politics of the European Union Visa Passport
Political ideologies Political culture Communism Conservatism (Agrarian Conservatism) Far-right Liberalism Social Democracy
Germany portal  Politics portal Other countries
v t e

The Federal Republic of Germany, as a federal state, consists of sixteen states.^[a] Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen (with its seaport exclave, Bremerhaven) are called Stadtstaaten ("city-states"), while the other thirteen states are called Flächenländer ("area states") and include Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia, which describe themselves as Freistaaten ("free states").

The Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany") was created in 1949 through the unification of the three western zones previously under American, British, and French administration in the aftermath of World War II. Initially, the states of the Federal Republic were Baden (until 1952), Bavaria (in German: Bayern), Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse (Hessen), Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz), Schleswig-Holstein, Württemberg-Baden (until 1952), and Württemberg-Hohenzollern (until 1952). West Berlin, while still under occupation by the Western Allies, viewed itself as part of the Federal Republic and was largely integrated and considered a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum, Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern merged into Baden-Württemberg. In 1957, the Saar Protectorate joined the Federal Republic as the state of Saarland.

The next change occurred with German reunification in 1990, in which the territory of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) became part of the Federal Republic, by accession of the re-established eastern states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Saxony (Sachsen), Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt), and Thuringia (Thüringen), and the reunification of West and East Berlin into a city state. A referendum in 1996 to merge Berlin with surrounding Brandenburg failed to reach the necessary majority vote in Brandenburg, while a majority of Berliners voted in favour.

Federalism is one of the entrenched constitutional principles of Germany. According to the German constitution, some topics, such as foreign affairs and defence, are the exclusive responsibility of the federation (i.e., the federal level), while others fall under the shared authority of the states and the federation. The states retain residual or exclusive legislative authority for all other areas, including culture, which in Germany includes not only topics such as the financial promotion of arts and sciences, but also most forms of education and job training (see Education in Germany). Though international relations including international treaties are primarily the responsibility of the federal level, the constituent states have certain limited powers in this area: in matters that affect them directly, the states defend their interests at the federal level through the Bundesrat ("Federal Council"), and in areas where they have the legislative authority they have limited powers to conclude international treaties "with the consent of the federal government".^[3]

States

It was the states that formed the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. This was in contrast to the post-war development in Austria, where the national Bund ("federation") was constituted first, and then the individual states were carved out as units of that federal nation.

The German use of the term Länder ("lands") dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919. Previously, the states of the German Empire had been called Staaten ("states"). Today, it is very common to use the term Bundesland (federated Land). However, this term is not used officially in the constitution of 1919 nor in the current one. Three Länder call themselves Freistaaten ("free states", an older German term for "republic"): Bavaria (since 1919), Saxony (originally from 1919 and again since 1990), and Thuringia (since 1994). Of the 17 states at the end of the Weimar Republic, six still exist (though partly with different borders):

• Bavaria (The geographically distinct Palatinate, which was part of Bavaria, 1816-1946, is now part of Rheinland Pfalz).
• Bremen
• Hamburg
• Hesse
• Saxony
• Thuringia

The other 11 states of the Weimar Republic either merged into one another or were separated into smaller entities:

• Anhalt is now part of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
• Baden is now part of Baden-Württemberg.
• Braunschweig is now part of Lower Saxony.
• Lippe is now part of North Rhine-Westphalia.
• Lübeck is now part of Schleswig-Holstein.
• Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz are now parts of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
• Oldenburg is now part of Lower Saxony, with its former exclaves now belonging to their neighbouring states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein.
• Prussia was divided among the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein. The erstwhile Prussian provinces of Brandenburg, Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Hanover formed the core of the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony respectively. The Prussian provinces of Westphalia and Rhineland contributed most territory to the state of North Rhine Westphalia and Rhineland province contributed about half of the territory of the state of Rhineland Palatinate. Most of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau was merged with the existing state of Hesse.

Some territories bordering other states were annexed to the bordering state. Also, Prussia had exclaves that were surrounded by other states. These became part of their surrounding states. All states, except Bavaria, now have territory of the former Free State of Prussia. Other former Prussian territories lying east of the rivers Neisse and Oder are now part of Poland or Russia.

• Schaumburg-Lippe is now part of Lower Saxony.
• Württemberg is now part of Baden-Württemberg.

Possible boundary changes between states continue to be debated in Germany, in contrast to how there are "significant differences among the American states and regional governments in other federations without serious calls for territorial changes" in those other countries.^[4] Arthur B. Gunlicks summarizes the main arguments for boundary reform in Germany: "the German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation and pay for it from own source revenues. Too many Länder also make coordination among them and with the federation more complicated."^[5] But several proposals have failed so far; territorial reform remains a controversial topic in German politics and public perception.^[6]

List

State	State code	Since	Capital	Legis­lature	Head of state and government (Minister-President or Mayor)	Bun­des­rat votes	Area (km2)	Pop. (2023-07-01)[7]	Pop. per km2	HDI (2021)[8]	GDP per capita (€; 2020)[9]
Baden-Württemberg	BW	1952[10]	Stuttgart	Landtag	Winfried Kretschmann (Greens)	6	35,752	11,148,904	310	0.956	45,108
Bavaria (Bayern)	BY	1949	Munich (München)	Landtag	Markus Söder (CSU)	6	70,552	13,203,592	185	0.950	46,498
Berlin	BE	1990[11]	–	Abgeord­netenhaus	Kai Wegner (CDU)	4	892	3,689,708	4,086	0.959	42,221
Brandenburg	BB	1990	Potsdam	Landtag	Dietmar Woidke (SPD)	4	29,480	2,546,685	85	0.918	29,282
Bremen	HB	1949	Bremen	Bürger­schaft	Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD)	3	419	663,567	1,630	0.954	46,468
Hamburg	HH	1949	–	Bürger­schaft	Peter Tschentscher (SPD)	3	755	1,904,212	2,439	0.972	64,022
Hesse (Hessen)	HE	1949	Wiesbaden	Landtag	Boris Rhein (CDU)	5	21,115	6,313,614	297	0.950	44,750
Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)	NI	1949	Hanover (Hannover)	Landtag	Stephan Weil (SPD)	6	47,609	8,045,829	168	0.930	37,005
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	MV	1990	Schwerin	Landtag	Manuela Schwesig (SPD)	3	23,180	1,605,259	69	0.916	28,590
North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen)	NW	1949	Düsseldorf	Landtag	Hendrik Wüst (CDU)	6	34,085	17,944,923	526	0.939	38,876
Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz)	RP	1949	Mainz	Landtag	Malu Dreyer (SPD)	4	19,853	4,126,872	206	0.929	34,673
Saarland	SL	1957[12]	Saarbrücken	Landtag	Anke Rehlinger (SPD)	3	2,569	1,005,796	386	0.931	34,125
Saxony (Sachsen)	SN	1990	Dresden	Landtag	Michael Kretschmer (CDU)	4	18,416	4,036,369	221	0.933	30,903
Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt)	ST	1990	Magdeburg	Landtag	Reiner Haseloff (CDU)	4	20,446	2,155,742	108	0.911	28,652
Schleswig-Holstein	SH	1949	Kiel Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=States_of_Germany Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia.  Navigácia: Veda > Analytika Antropológia Aplikované vedy Bibliometria Dejiny vedy Encyklopédie Filozofia vedy Forenzné vedy Humanitné vedy Knižničná veda Kryogenika Kryptológia Kulturológia Literárna veda Medzidisciplinárne oblasti Metódy kvantitatívnej analýzy Metavedy Metodika Metodológia vedy Náboženstvo a veda Náučná literatúra Podvody vo vede Popularizácia vedy Potravinárstvo Prírodné vedy Pseudoveda Scientometria Spoločenské vedy Teórie Teatrológia Technické vedy Technika Terminológia Umenie Výskum Veda Veda a technika podľa štátu Veda a technika podľa kontinentu Veda a technika podľa roka Veda v kozme Vedci Vedecká literatúra Vedecké databázy Vedecké experimenty Vedecké konferencie Vedecké metódy Vedecké ocenenia Vedecké organizácie Vedecké parky Vedeckí spisovatelia Vzdelávanie Záhady Príbuzné výrazy: Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia. www.astronomia.sk | www.biologia.sk | www.botanika.sk | www.dejiny.sk | www.economy.sk | www.elektrotechnika.sk | www.estetika.sk | www.farmakologia.sk | www.filozofia.sk | Fyzika | www.futurologia.sk | www.genetika.sk | www.chemia.sk | www.lingvistika.sk | www.politologia.sk | www.psychologia.sk | www.sexuologia.sk | www.sociologia.sk | www.veda.sk I www.zoologia.sk