States of Germany
State Part of FRG since Head of government Legislature Government coalition Bundes rat votes Area ( km ) Population Pop . per km HDI ( 2017 ) Capital ISO 3166-2 code GDP per Capita in Euro ( 2017 )
Baden-Württemberg 1952 Winfried Kretschmann ( Greens ) Landtag of Baden-Württemberg Greens , CDU 6 35,752 10,755,000 301 0.953 Stuttgart BW 44,886
Bavaria ( Bayern ) 1949 Markus Söder ( CSU ) Landtag of Bavaria CSU , FW 6 70,552 12,542,000 178 0.944 Munich ( München ) BY 45,810
Berlin 1990 Michael Müller ( SPD ) Abgeordnetenhaus SPD , The Left , Greens 4 892 3,469,000 3,890 0.944 - BE 38,032
Brandenburg 1990 Dietmar Woidke ( SPD ) Landtag of Brandenburg SPD , CDU , Greens 4 29,479 2,500,000 85 0.913 Potsdam BB 27,675
Bremen 1949 Andreas Bovenschulte ( SPD ) Bürgerschaft of Bremen SPD , Greens , The Left 3 419 661,000 1,577 0.952 Bremen HB 49,570
Hamburg 1949 Peter Tschentscher ( SPD ) Bürgerschaft of Hamburg SPD , Greens 3 755 1,788,000 2,368 0.977 - HH 64,576
Hesse ( Hessen ) 1949 Volker Bouffier ( CDU ) Landtag of Hesse CDU , Greens 5 21,115 6,066,000 287 0.947 Wiesbaden HE 44,804
Lower Saxony ( Niedersachsen ) 1949 Stephan Weil ( SPD ) Landtag of Lower Saxony SPD , CDU , Greens 6 47,609 7,914,000 166 0.922 Hanover ( Hannover ) NI 36,164
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 1990 Manuela Schwesig ( SPD ) Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern SPD , CDU 3 23,180 1,639,000 71 0.908 Schwerin MV 26,560
North Rhine- Westphalia ( Nordrhein-Westfalen ) 1949 Armin Laschet ( CDU ) Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia CDU , FDP 6 34,085 17,837,000 523 0.935 Düsseldorf NW 38,645
Rhineland-Palatinate ( Rheinland-Pfalz ) 1949 Malu Dreyer ( SPD ) Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate SPD , FDP , Greens 4 19,853 4,052,803 202 0.924 Mainz RP 35,455
Saarland 1957 Tobias Hans ( CDU ) Landtag of Saarland CDU , SPD 3 2,569 1,018,000 400 0.926 Saarbrücken SL 35,460
Saxony ( Sachsen ) 1990 Michael Kretschmer ( CDU ) Landtag of Saxony CDU , Greens , SPD 4 18,416 4,143,000 227 0.926 Dresden SN 29,856
Saxony-Anhalt ( Sachsen-Anhalt ) 1990 Reiner Haseloff ( CDU ) Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt CDU , SPD , Greens 4 20,446 2,331,000 116 0.905 Magdeburg ST 27,221
Schleswig-Holstein 1949 Daniel Günther ( CDU ) Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein CDU , Greens , FDP 4 15,799 2,833,000 179 0.917 Kiel SH 32,342
Thuringia ( Thüringen ) 1990 vacant Landtag of Thuringia none yet 4 16,172 2,231,000 138 0.917 Erfurt TH 28,747
States -- List
The Federal Republic of Germany (informally often simply referred to as Germany) is a federal republic consisting of sixteen partly-sovereign states (German: Land (Country), plural Länder (Countries) commonly informally Bundesland (Federal Country) and Bundesländer (Federal Countries)). [a] Since the German nation state 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 Stadtstaaten (City-states), as is the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, which in fact includes the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The remaining 13 states are called Flächenländer (literally roughly: Area states). The creation of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in 1949 was through the unification of the western states (which were previously under American, British, and French administration) created in the aftermath of World War II. Initially, in 1949, 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 rejoined the Federal Republic as the Saarland. German reunification in 1990, in which the area of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) became part of the Federal Republic, was performed by the way of 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, as well as 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 voted in favour of the merger. Federalism is one of the entrenched constitutional principles of Germany.