Administrative divisions of Germany
URL: https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/concepts/germany-admin-divisions.html

The administrative divisions of Germany follow the federal principle with the federation, 16 states and below them government regions, districts and municipalities.

## Overview

Germany is a federal state: legislation and administration are distributed between the federation and 16 states, which have their own constitutions, parliaments (Landtage) and governments. The states are represented in the Bundesrat; municipal self-government is guaranteed by Article 28 of the Basic Law.

## Levels

- **Federation**: the Federal Republic of Germany as the federal overall state
- **States (16)**: Baden-Württemberg ([Baden-Württemberg](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-baden-wuerttemberg.html)), Bavaria ([Bavaria](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-bayern.html)), Berlin ([Berlin](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-berlin.html)), Brandenburg ([Brandenburg](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-brandenburg.html)), Bremen ([Bremen](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-bremen.html)), Hamburg ([Hamburg](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-hamburg.html)), Hesse ([Hesse](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-hessen.html)), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ([Mecklenburg-Vorpommern](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-mecklenburg-vorpommern.html)), Lower Saxony ([Lower Saxony](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-niedersachsen.html)), North Rhine-Westphalia ([North Rhine-Westphalia](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-nordrhein-westfalen.html)), Rhineland-Palatinate ([Rhineland-Palatinate](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-rheinland-pfalz.html)), Saarland ([Saarland](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-saarland.html)), Saxony ([Saxony](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-sachsen.html)), Saxony-Anhalt ([Saxony-Anhalt](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-sachsen-anhalt.html)), Schleswig-Holstein ([Schleswig-Holstein](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-schleswig-holstein.html)), Thuringia ([Thuringia](https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/places/de-thueringen.html))
- **Government regions**: only in four territorial states – Baden-Württemberg (4), Bavaria (7), Hesse (3) and North Rhine-Westphalia (5). Rhineland-Palatinate dissolved its regions in 2000, Saxony-Anhalt in 2004, Lower Saxony on 1 January 2005; Saxony merged its government regions into three directorates in 2008 and combined them into the Landesdirektion Sachsen on 1 March 2012. Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Thuringia established no regions in 1990; Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland never had any.
- **Districts**: Germany is divided into 400 districts – 294 rural districts (in North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein "Kreise") and 106 urban districts (as of end of 2024).
- **Municipalities**: around 10,800 municipalities (about 10,786, as of 2024) as the lowest municipal level, partly organised in administrative associations and Ämter.

## City states

Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen are city states: they form both state and municipality and have no rural districts. Berlin is divided into 12 boroughs, Hamburg into 7 boroughs; Bremen consists of the two urban municipalities of Bremen and Bremerhaven.

Updated: 2026-10-28

Tags:
- 行政区划 https://knowledge.ivjn.us/en/tags/admin-division.html

Sources:
- Verwaltungsgliederung Deutschlands — Wikipedia https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verwaltungsgliederung_Deutschlands abgerufen 2026-10-28