knowledge Overview
The Free State of Bavaria lies in southeastern Germany and borders Austria and the Czech Republic. The state capital is Munich. Bavaria is the largest federal state by area (around 70,500 km²) and has about 13.1 million inhabitants (2022 census). Its ISO-3166-2 code is DE-BY. Bavaria was a founding state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.
Administrative divisions
The state is divided into 7 government regions: Oberbayern, Niederbayern, Oberpfalz, Oberfranken, Mittelfranken, Unterfranken and Schwaben. Below them there are 71 rural districts and 25 urban districts (kreisfreie Städte) – the largest number of all federal states.
Major cities
- Munich (around 1.5 million inhabitants)
- Nuremberg (around 520,000 inhabitants)
- Augsburg (around 300,000 inhabitants)
- Regensburg (around 235,000 inhabitants)
- Ingolstadt (around 140,000 inhabitants)
Transport
Munich is the most important transport hub in southern Germany, with Munich Airport and ICE connections to all parts of the country. The Munich U-Bahn with lines U1 to U8 is operated by MVG; Nuremberg also has its own U-Bahn.
Economy
Bavaria has the largest state economy in Germany, with strong sectors in automotive and aerospace (BMW, Audi), electrical engineering (Siemens), semiconductors (Infineon) and a powerful tourism industry in the Alps.