States of Germany States of Germany Germany is a federal republic consisting of sixteen states (, plural ; informally and very commonly , plural ). Since today's Germany was formed from an earlier collection of several states, it has a federal constitution, and the constituent states retain a measure of sovereignty. With an emphasis on geographical conditions, Berlin and Hamburg are frequently called ' (city-states), as is the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, which in fact includes the cities of and . The remaining 13 states are called ' (literally: "area states"). The creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 was
States of Germany are not covered by the normal administrative structure of the respective states. In 2010 only three "Kommunalverbände besonderer Art" exist. Ämter ("offices" or "bureaus"): In some states there is an administrative unit between the districts and the municipalities, called "Ämter" (singular "Amt"), "Amtsgemeinden", "Gemeindeverwaltungsverbände", "Landgemeinden", "Verbandsgemeinden", "Verwaltungsgemeinschaften", or "Kirchspiellandgemeinden". Municipalities ("Gemeinden"): Every rural district and every "Amt" is subdivided into municipalities, while every urban district is a municipality in its own right. There are () 12,141 municipalities, which are the smallest administrative units in Germany. Cities and towns are municipalities as well, also having city rights or town rights ("Stadtrechte").