States of Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany, as a federal state, consists of sixteen partly sovereign federated states (German: Land (state), plural Länder (states); commonly informally Bundesland / federated state, plural Bundesländer / federated states).[a] Since the German nation state was formed from an earlier collection of several states (only some of which still exist), it has a federal constitution, and the constituent states retain a measure of sovereignty.

German states
CategoryFederated state
LocationFederal Republic of Germany
Populations682,986 (Bremen) –
17,932,651 (NRW)
Areas419.4 km2 (161.92 sq mi) (Bremen) –
70,549.4 km2 (27,239.29 sq mi) (Bavaria)

With an emphasis on geographical conditions, Berlin and Hamburg are frequently called Stadtstaaten ('city-states'), as is the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, which in fact includes the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The remaining thirteen states are called Flächenländer (roughly 'area states').

The creation of the Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany") in 1949 was through the unification of the three western zones which were 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 officially not part of the Federal Republic, was largely integrated and considered as 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 in the aftermath of German reunification in 1990, in which the area of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) became part of the Federal Republic. This was performed by accession of the re-established eastern states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Saxony (Sachsen), Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt), and Thuringia (Thüringen) to the Federal Republic and by the de facto reunification of West and East Berlin into Berlin and its establishment as a full and equal state. A regional referendum in 1996, to merge Berlin with surrounding Brandenburg as "Berlin-Brandenburg", failed to reach the necessary majority vote in Brandenburg, while a majority of Berliners had voted in favour.

Federalism is one of the entrenched constitutional principles of Germany. According to the German constitution (Basic Law, or Grundgesetz), 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. 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', the de facto upper house of the German Federal Parliament) 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]



The German use of the term Länder (‘lands’) dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919. Before this time, the states of the German Empire were called Staaten (states). Today, it is very common to use the term Bundesland (federated land). However, this term is not used officially, neither by the constitution of 1919 nor by the Basic Law (Constitution) of 1949. Three Länder call themselves Freistaaten (‘free states’, an older German term for ‘republic’): Bavaria (since 1919), Saxony (originally since 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 border-lines):

The other 11 pre-existing states either merged into one another or were separated into smaller entities.

A new delimitation of the federal territory keeps being 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]


Coat of arms Flag State Since Capital Legislature Head of State and Government
(Minister-President or Mayor)

(Dec. 2020)[7]
per km2
GDP per capita
in Euro (2020)[9]
    Baden-Württemberg 1952[10] Stuttgart Landtag Winfried Kretschmann (The Greens) Greens, CDU 6 35,752 11,103,043 310 0.953 BW 45,108
1949 Munich
Landtag Markus Söder (CSU) CSU, FW 6 70,552 13,140,183 185 0.947 BY 46,498
    Berlin 1990[11] Abgeordnetenhaus Michael Müller (SPD) SPD, The Left, Greens 4 892 3,664,088 4,086 0.950 BE 42,221
    Brandenburg 1990 Potsdam Landtag Dietmar Woidke (SPD) SPD, CDU, Greens 4 29,479 2,531,071 85 0.914 BB 29,282
1949 Bremen Bürgerschaft Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) SPD, Greens, The Left 3 419 680,130 1,630 0.951 HB 46,468
1949 Bürgerschaft Peter Tschentscher (SPD) SPD, Greens 3 755 1,852,478 2,439 0.975 HH 64,022
1949 Wiesbaden Landtag Volker Bouffier (CDU) CDU, Greens 5 21,115 6,293,154 297 0.949 HE 44,750
    Lower Saxony
1949 Hanover
Landtag Stephan Weil (SPD) SPD, CDU 6 47,609 8,003,421 168 0.922 NI 37,005
    Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) 1990 Schwerin Landtag Manuela Schwesig (SPD) SPD, CDU 3 23,180 1,610,774 69 0.910 MV 28,590
    North Rhine-

1949 Düsseldorf Landtag Hendrik Wüst (CDU) CDU, FDP 6 34,085 17,925,570 526 0.936 NW 38,876
1949 Mainz Landtag Malu Dreyer (SPD) SPD, FDP, Greens 4 19,853 4,098,391 206 0.928 RP 34,673
    Saarland 1957 Saarbrücken Landtag Tobias Hans (CDU) CDU, SPD 3 2,569 983,991 386 0.931 SL 34,125
1990 Dresden Landtag Michael Kretschmer (CDU) CDU, Greens, SPD 4 18,416 4,056,941 221 0.930 SN 30,903
1990 Magdeburg Landtag Reiner Haseloff (CDU) CDU, SPD, Greens 4 20,446 2,180,684 108 0.908 ST 28,652
    Schleswig-Holstein 1949 Kiel Landtag Daniel Günther (CDU) CDU, Greens, FDP 4 15,799 2,910,875 183 0.920 SH 33,452
1990 Erfurt Landtag Bodo Ramelow (The Left) The Left, SPD, Greens 4 16,172 2,120,237 133 0.921 TH 28,953


Federalism has a long tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states, numbering more than 300 around 1796. The number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1814). After the Congress of Vienna (1815), 39 states formed the German Confederation. The Confederation was dissolved after the Austro-Prussian War in which Prussia defeated Austria and forced Austria to remove itself from the affairs of the German states.

Prussia and the other states in Northern and Central Germany united as a federal state, the North German Federation, on 1 July 1867. Four of the five southern German states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt) entered military alliances with Prussia but Austria did not. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, those four states joined the North German Federation which was consequently renamed to German Empire. The parliament and Federal Council decided to give the Prussian king the title of German Emperor (since 1 January 1871). The new German Empire included 25 states (three of them, Hanseatic cities) and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. Within the empire, 65% of the territory and 62% of the population belonged to the state of Prussia.


The Kingdom of Prussia (light gray) within the German Empire (1871–1918)


Former German territory that lay east of the Oder-Neisse line fell under either Polish or Soviet administration but attempts were made at least symbolically not to abandon sovereignty well into the 1960s. The former provinces of Farther Pomerania, East Prussia, Silesia and Posen-West Prussia fell under Polish administration with the Soviet Union taking the area around Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), pending a final peace conference with Germany which eventually never took place.[12] More than 8 million Germans had been expelled from these territories that had formed part of the German-speaking lands for centuries and which mostly did not have sizable Polish minorities before 1945. However, no attempts were made to establish new states in these territories, as they lay outside the jurisdiction of West Germany at that time.


East Germany originally consisted of five states (i.e., Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia). In 1952, these states were abolished and the East was divided into 14 administrative districts called Bezirke. Soviet-controlled East Berlin – despite officially having the same status as West Berlin – was declared East Germany's capital and its 15th district.


The states of the Weimar Republic in 1925, with the Free State of Prussia as the largest


The German states can conclude treaties with foreign countries in matters within their own sphere of competence and with the consent of the Federal Government (Article 32 of the Basic Law). Typical treaties relate to cultural relationships and economic affairs.

Some states call themselves a "free state" (Freistaat). It is merely a historic synonym for "republic" and was a description used by most German states after the abolishment of monarchy after World War I. Today, Freistaat is associated emotionally with a more independent status, especially in Bavaria. However, it has no legal significance. All sixteen states are represented at the federal level in the Bundesrat (Federal Council), where their voting power depends on the size of their population.

West Germany, 1945–1990Edit


A new delimitation of the federal territory has been discussed since the Federal Republic was founded in 1949 and even before. Committees and expert commissions advocated a reduction of the number of states; academics (Werner Rutz, Meinhard Miegel, Adrian Ottnad, etc.) and politicians (Walter Döring, Hans Apel, and others) made proposals – some of them far-reaching – for redrawing boundaries but hardly anything came of these public discussions. Territorial reform is sometimes propagated by the richer states as a means to avoid or reduce fiscal transfers.








Between 1945 and 1947, new states were established in all four zones of occupation: Bremen, Hesse, Württemberg-Baden, and Bavaria in the American zone; Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, and North Rhine-Westphalia in the British zone; Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern and the Saarland – which later received a special status – in the French zone; Mecklenburg(-Vorpommern), Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia in the Soviet zone.



In their letter to Konrad Adenauer, the three western military governors approved the Basic Law but suspended Article 29 until such time as a peace treaty should be concluded. Only the special arrangement for the southwest under Article 118 could enter into force.

Establishment of Baden-WürttembergEdit


Petitions to reconstitute former states Edit




Saar: the little reunificationEdit


On 27 October 1956, the Saar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to join Germany, as provided by the Grundgesetz constitution art. 23 for the Federal Republic of Germany. Saarland became part of Germany effective 1 January 1957. The Franco-Saarlander currency union ended on 6 July 1959, when the Deutsche Mark was introduced as legal tender in the Saarland.

Constitutional amendmentsEdit

Paragraph 6 of Article 29 stated that, if a petition was successful, a referendum should be held within three years. Since the deadline passed on 5 May 1958 without anything happening, the Hesse state government filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court in October 1958. The complaint was dismissed in July 1961 on the grounds that Article 29 had made the new delimitation of the federal territory an exclusively federal matter. At the same time, the Court reaffirmed the requirement for a territorial revision as a binding order to the relevant constitutional bodies.

The grand coalition decided to settle the 1956 petitions by setting binding deadlines for the required referendums. The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were to be held by 31 March 1975, and the referendum in Baden was to be held by 30 June 1970. The threshold for a successful vote was set at one-quarter of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections. Paragraph 4 stated that the vote should be disregarded if it contradicted the objectives of paragraph 1.

In his investiture address, given on 28 October 1969 in Bonn, Chancellor Willy Brandt proposed that the government would consider Article 29 of the Basic Law as a binding order. An expert commission was established, named after its chairman, the former Secretary of State Professor Werner Ernst. After two years of work, the experts delivered their report in 1973. It provided an alternative proposal for the two regions: the north and center-southwest.


In the center and southwest, one alternative was that Rhineland-Palatinate (with the exception of the Germersheim district but including the Rhine-Neckar region) should be merged with Hesse and the Saarland (solution C), the district of Germersheim would then become part of Baden-Württemberg. The other alternative was that the Palatinate (including the region of Worms) could be merged with the Saarland and Baden-Württemberg, and the rest of Rhineland-Palatinate would then merge with Hesse (solution D).




The referendum in Baden was held on 7 June 1970. 81.9% of voters decided for Baden to remain part of Baden-Württemberg, only 18.1% opted for the reconstitution of the old state of Baden.

The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were held on 19 January 1975 (the percentages given are the percentages of those eligible who voted in favour):

The votes in Lower Saxony were successful as both proposals were supported by more than 25% of eligible voters. The Bundestag however decided that both Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe should remain part of Lower Saxony. The justification was that a reconstitution of the two former states would contradict the objectives of paragraph 1 of article 29 of the constitution. An appeal against the decision was rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Constitutional Court.

On 24 August 1976, the binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory was altered into a mere discretionary one. Paragraph 1 of Article 29 was rephrased, with the provision that any state had to be "of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively" put first.[14] The option for a referendum in the Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4) was abolished, which meant territorial revision was no longer possible against the will of the population affected by it.

Reunited Germany, 1990–presentEdit




The state treaty between Berlin and Brandenburg was approved in both parliaments with the necessary two-thirds majority, but in the popular referendum of 5 May 1996, about 63% voted against the merger.





Composition of German states' governing coalitions

The Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, the federal constitution, stipulates that the structure of each Federated State's government must "conform to the principles of republican, democratic, and social government, based on the rule of law" (Article 28). Most of the states are governed by a cabinet led by a Ministerpräsident (minister-president), together with a unicameral legislative body known as the Landtag (State Diet). The states are parliamentary republics and the relationship between their legislative and executive branches mirrors that of the federal system: the legislatures are popularly elected for four or five years (depending on the state), and the minister-president is then chosen by a majority vote among the Landtag’s members. The minister-president is typically the head of the biggest party of a coalition. The minister-president appoints a cabinet to run the state's agencies and to carry out the executive duties of the state's government. Like in other parliamentary systems, the legislature can dismiss or replace the minister-president after a successful no-confidence vote.

The governments in Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg are referred to as "senates". In the free states of Bavaria and Saxony, the government is referred to as "state government" (Staatsregierung); and in the other states, the government is referred to as "Land government" (Landesregierung). Before January 1, 2000, Bavaria had a bicameral parliament, with a popularly elected Landtag, and a Senate made up of representatives of the state's major social and economic groups. The Senate was abolished following a referendum in 1998. The states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg are governed slightly differently from the other states. In each of those cities, the executive branch consists of a Senate of approximately eight, selected by the state's parliament; the senators carry out duties equivalent to those of the ministers in the larger states. The equivalent of the minister-president is the Senatspräsident (president of the senate), also commonly referred to as Bürgermeister (Mayor) in Bremen, the Erster Bürgermeister (first mayor) in Hamburg, and the Regierender Bürgermeister (governing mayor) in Berlin. The parliament for Berlin is called the Abgeordnetenhaus (House of Representatives), while Bremen and Hamburg both have a Bürgerschaft. The parliaments in the remaining 13 states are referred to as Landtag (State Parliament).


Administrative divisions of Germany. (Clickable image).

The city-states of Berlin and Hamburg are subdivided into boroughs. The City of Bremen consists of two urban districts: Bremen and Bremerhaven, which are not contiguous. In the other states there are the following subdivisions:

Area associations (Landschaftsverbände)Edit



Governmental districts (Regierungsbezirke)Edit

The large states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia are divided into governmental districts, or Regierungsbezirke.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, these districts were abolished on January 1, 2000, in Saxony-Anhalt on January 1, 2004, and in Lower Saxony on January 1, 2005. From 1990 until 2012, Saxony was divided into three districts (called Direktionsbezirke since 2008). In 2012, these districts' authorities were merged into one central authority, the Landesdirektion Sachsen [de].

Administrative districts (Kreise)Edit





In 2010 only three Kommunalverbände besonderer Art exist.

  • District of Hanover: formed in 2001 from the rural district of Hanover and the district-free city of Hanover.
  • Regionalverband (district association) of Saarbrücken: formed in 2008 from the Stadtverband Saarbrücken (city association of Saarbrücken), which was formed in 1974.
  • City region of Aachen: formed in 2009 from the rural district of Aachen and the district-free city of Aachen.

Offices (Ämter)Edit


Municipalities (Gemeinden)Edit


The number of inhabitants of German municipalities differs greatly, the most populous municipality being Berlin with nearly 3.8 million inhabitants, while the least populous municipalities (for instance, Gröde in Nordfriesland) have less than 10 inhabitants.





Unincorporated areas in German states
State 1 January 2005 1 January 2000
Number Area (km2) Number Area (km2)
Bavaria 216 2,725.06 262 2,992.78
Lower Saxony 23 949.16 25 1,394.10
Hesse 4 327.05 4 327.05
Schleswig-Holstein 2 99.41 2 99.41
Baden-Württemberg 1 66.98 2 76.99
Total 246 4,167.66 295 4,890.33


See alsoEdit


  1. ^ Terminological note: The loan word Land is written with a capital "L" and is used in the official English version of the Basic Law[1] and in UK parliamentary proceedings.[2] The word Bundesland is very often used informally in German to avoid confusion, since Land can also mean ‘land’ or ‘country’ in German. This is sometimes translated to "federal state" in English, even though federal state in English usually refers to the federation as a whole, and not its members. Thus, the more correct translation in English is: federated state. Although the term Land applies to all the states, each of the states of Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia describes itself as a Freistaat (free state). The expression is based on early 20th-century attempts to create a genuinely German alternative for the loan word Republik and to express the end of the German monarchies.


  1. ^ Christian Tomuschat, David P. Currie (April 2010). "Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany" (PDF). Deutscher Bundestag Public Relations Division. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  3. ^ Leonardy, Uwe (1998). "Länder Power-Sharing in International Relations and European Affairs". The institutional structures of German federalism. Working papers / Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, London Office (electronic ed.). Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
  4. ^ Gunlicks, Arthur B. "German Federalism and Recent Reform Efforts" Archived 2011-06-21 at the Wayback Machine, German Law Journal, Vol. 06, No. 10, p. 1287.
  5. ^ Gunlicks, p. 1288
  6. ^ Gunlicks, pp. 1287–88
  7. ^ "Germany: States and Major Cities". City Population. 3 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Bruttoinlandsprodukt je Einwohner nach Bundesländern 2020".
  13. ^ "Results of the referendum on the Saar Statute (23 October 1955)". Saarländische Volkszeitung. Saarbrücken. 24 October 1955. p. 10. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  14. ^, constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany

External linksEdit