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{{States of Germany Navbox}}
{|class="wikitable" style="max-width: 400px; border: 2px solid #DD0000;"
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| colspan="2" style="text-align: center; padding: 10px; background-color: #fff;" | ![[States_of_Germany.gif]]<br><small>The 16 states of Germany</small>
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! style="color: #DD0000; width: 40%; background-color: #fff; text-align: left;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface); color: color-mix(in srgb, #DD0000 55%, #f5f5f7);" | Country
| style="background-color: #fff;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | [[Germany]]
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! style="color: #DD0000; background-color: #fff; text-align: left;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface); color: color-mix(in srgb, #DD0000 55%, #f5f5f7);" | German term
| style="background-color: #fff;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | ''Bundesland'' (sing.)<br>''Bundesländer'' (pl.)
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! style="color: #DD0000; background-color: #fff; text-align: left;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface); color: color-mix(in srgb, #DD0000 55%, #f5f5f7);" | Total number
| style="background-color: #fff;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | 16
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! style="color: #DD0000; background-color: #fff; text-align: left;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface); color: color-mix(in srgb, #DD0000 55%, #f5f5f7);" | Categories
| style="background-color: #fff;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | 13 area states<br>3 city-states
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! style="color: #DD0000; background-color: #fff; text-align: left;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface); color: color-mix(in srgb, #DD0000 55%, #f5f5f7);" | Largest (area)
| style="background-color: #fff;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | [[Bavaria]]<br><small>70,542 km²</small>
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! style="color: #DD0000; background-color: #fff; text-align: left;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface); color: color-mix(in srgb, #DD0000 55%, #f5f5f7);" | Largest (population)
| style="background-color: #fff;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | [[North Rhine-Westphalia]]<br><small>~17.9 million</small>
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! style="color: #DD0000; background-color: #fff; text-align: left;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface); color: color-mix(in srgb, #DD0000 55%, #f5f5f7);" | Smallest (area)
| style="background-color: #fff;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]]<br><small>419 km²</small>
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! style="color: #DD0000; background-color: #fff; text-align: left;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface); color: color-mix(in srgb, #DD0000 55%, #f5f5f7);" | Smallest (population)
| style="background-color: #fff;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]]<br><small>~684,000</small>
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! style="color: #DD0000; background-color: #fff; text-align: left;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface); color: color-mix(in srgb, #DD0000 55%, #f5f5f7);" | Federal body
| style="background-color: #fff;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | [[Bundesrat of Germany|Bundesrat]]
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! style="color: #DD0000; background-color: #fff; text-align: left;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface); color: color-mix(in srgb, #DD0000 55%, #f5f5f7);" | Established
| style="background-color: #fff;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | 1949 (West) · 1990 (current 16)
|}
'''The states of Germany''' (German: ''Bundesländer'', singular ''Bundesland'') are the 16 federated entities that together form the [[Federal Republic of Germany]]. Each state has its own constitution, its own elected parliament, and its own government, and each shares power with the federal government in [[Berlin]].
Thirteen of the 16 states are called area states (''Flächenländer'') and contain a mix of cities, towns, and rural regions. The other three — [[Berlin]], [[Hamburg]], and [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]] — are called city-states (''Stadtstaaten'') because each one is a single city (or, in Bremen's case, two neighboring cities) that also functions as a state.
Five of the area states — [[Brandenburg]], [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]], [[Saxony]], [[Saxony-Anhalt]], and [[Thuringia]] — are sometimes called the "new states" (''neue Länder''). They were formed when [[East Germany]] joined the Federal Republic during [[German reunification]] in 1990.
The states play a major role in German government. They make their own laws on areas like education, policing, and culture, and they send representatives to the [[Bundesrat of Germany|Bundesrat]] (Federal Council), the upper house of the federal parliament, where they help shape national legislation.
= Navigation =
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! colspan="4" style="background-color: #DD0000;" | '''[[States of Germany#City-states|<span style="color: #fff;">City-states</span>]]'''
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| [[Berlin]]
| [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]]
| [[Hamburg]]
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! colspan="4" style="background-color: #DD0000;" | '''[[States of Germany#Area states|<span style="color: #fff;">Area states</span>]]'''
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| [[Baden-Württemberg]]
| [[Bavaria]]
| [[Brandenburg]]
| [[Hesse]]
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| [[Lower Saxony]]
| [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]]
| [[North Rhine-Westphalia]]
| [[Rhineland-Palatinate]]
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| [[Saarland]]
| [[Saxony]]
| [[Saxony-Anhalt]]
| [[Schleswig-Holstein]]
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| [[Thuringia]]
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| colspan="4" style="font-size: 95%; padding: 0.4em 0.5em; background-color: #f8f9fa;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" | [[Germany]] · [[Politics of Germany|Politics]] · [[Bundesrat of Germany|Bundesrat]] · [[German reunification|Reunification]] · [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|Basic Law]]
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= History =
== Origins after World War II ==
Modern Germany's federal structure was created after [[World War II]]. When the [[Federal Republic of Germany|Federal Republic]] was founded in West Germany in 1949, it was made up of 11 states (including [[West Berlin]] as a special case). [[East Germany]], also founded in 1949, originally had 5 states but reorganized into 14 districts (''Bezirke'') in 1952, doing away with the state system there.
Two early changes reshaped the West German map. In 1952, the southwestern states of Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern merged to form [[Baden-Württemberg]]. In 1957, the [[Saarland]] — which had been a French-administered territory after the war — joined the Federal Republic as the 10th state.
== Reunification in 1990 ==
When [[German reunification]] took place on October 3, 1990, East Germany's districts were reorganized back into 5 states: [[Brandenburg]], [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]], [[Saxony]], [[Saxony-Anhalt]], and [[Thuringia]]. These joined the Federal Republic alongside a now-reunified [[Berlin]], bringing the total to 16 states.
The structure has been stable since then. The most notable proposed change involved [[Berlin]] and [[Brandenburg]], whose voters rejected combining the two states in a 1996 referendum.
= Types of states =
== Area states ==
The 13 area states (''Flächenländer'') are the largest type and cover most of Germany's land. Each contains many cities, towns, and rural districts, and is divided internally into smaller administrative units called counties (''Landkreise'') and county-free cities (''kreisfreie Städte''). The largest by area is [[Bavaria]], which alone makes up about a fifth of Germany.
== City-states ==
Three states are city-states (''Stadtstaaten''): [[Berlin]], [[Hamburg]], and [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]]. In each case, a single city (or, for Bremen, the two cities of Bremen and [[Bremerhaven]]) functions both as a city and as a full state. This means the city government and the state government are essentially the same body, which makes the city-states unusual within the German system.
City-states have the same rights and responsibilities as area states, including representation in the [[Bundesrat of Germany|Bundesrat]]. Their unique status reflects historical traditions: [[Hamburg]] and [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]] were free [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic]] cities for centuries, and [[Berlin]] was given special status during the [[Cold War]].
= List of states =
{|class="wikitable" style="width: 100%; text-align: left;"
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! State !! Capital !! Type !! Population (approx.) !! Area (km²)
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| [[Baden-Württemberg]] || [[Stuttgart]] || Area state || 11.3 million || 35,748
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| [[Bavaria]] || [[Munich]] || Area state || 13.4 million || 70,542
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| [[Berlin]] || [[Berlin]] || City-state || 3.8 million || 891
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| [[Brandenburg]] || [[Potsdam]] || Area state || 2.6 million || 29,654
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| [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]] || [[Bremen]] || City-state || 684,000 || 419
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| [[Hamburg]] || [[Hamburg]] || City-state || 1.9 million || 755
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| [[Hesse]] || [[Wiesbaden]] || Area state || 6.4 million || 21,115
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| [[Lower Saxony]] || [[Hanover]] || Area state || 8.1 million || 47,710
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| [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]] || [[Schwerin]] || Area state || 1.6 million || 23,295
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| [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] || [[Düsseldorf]] || Area state || 17.9 million || 34,113
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| [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] || [[Mainz]] || Area state || 4.1 million || 19,858
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| [[Saarland]] || [[Saarbrücken]] || Area state || 990,000 || 2,571
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| [[Saxony]] || [[Dresden]] || Area state || 4.1 million || 18,450
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| [[Saxony-Anhalt]] || [[Magdeburg]] || Area state || 2.2 million || 20,452
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| [[Schleswig-Holstein]] || [[Kiel]] || Area state || 2.9 million || 15,804
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| [[Thuringia]] || [[Erfurt]] || Area state || 2.1 million || 16,202
|}
= Government =
== State governments ==
Every state has its own constitution, its own elected parliament, and its own government headed by a [[Minister-President of Germany|minister-president]] (''Ministerpräsident''). In the city-states the head of government has a different historical title: [[Berlin]] has a Governing Mayor (''Regierender Bürgermeister''), while [[Hamburg]] and [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]] each have a First Mayor (''Erster Bürgermeister'').
State parliaments are called ''Landtag'' in most states. The city-states use older names: Berlin has the ''Abgeordnetenhaus'' ("House of Representatives"), and both [[Hamburg]] and [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]] have a ''Bürgerschaft'' ("Citizens' Assembly").
States have authority over major areas including education (school systems differ noticeably between states), police, broadcasting, and culture. They also share authority with the federal government in many other areas under the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|Basic Law]] (''Grundgesetz'').
== Bundesrat ==
The states are represented at the federal level through the [[Bundesrat of Germany|Bundesrat]] (Federal Council), the upper house of the German parliament. Each state's government appoints members directly — usually members of the state cabinet — and each state has between 3 and 6 votes depending on its population, for a total of 69 votes. Within the Bundesrat, a state's votes must be cast as a single bloc, not split between members.
The Bundesrat must approve federal laws that affect state powers or finances, which gives the states a strong voice in national policy.
= Other wikis =
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_Germany States of Germany] on Wikipedia
* [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_(Deutschland) Land (Deutschland)] on German Wikipedia