Editing Politics of Germany (section)

==Administrative divisions==
{{Main|States of Germany}}
{{See also|List of current heads of government of the German federal states}}

Germany comprises [[States of Germany|sixteen states]] that are collectively referred to as {{lang|de|Länder}}.<ref>The individual denomination is either {{lang|de|Land}} [state], {{lang|de|Freistaat}} [free state] or {{lang|de|Freie (und) Hansestadt}} [free (and) Hanseatic city].<br/>{{cite web |url= http://www.bundesrat.de/nn_11006/EN/organisation-en/laender-en/laender-en-node.html?__nnn=true|title= The Federal States|publisher=[[Bundesrat of Germany]]|work = www.bundesrat.de|access-date=17 July 2011}} <br/>{{cite web|url = http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/DE/Infoservice/Terminologie/Bundeslaender/Uebersicht_node.html|title = Amtliche Bezeichnung der Bundesländer|work = www.auswaertiges-amt.de|publisher = [[Foreign Office (Germany)|Federal Foreign Office]]|language = de|trans-title=Official denomination of federated states|format = PDF; download file "Englisch"|access-date =22 October 2011}}</ref> Due to differences in size and population, the [[States of Germany#Subdivisions|subdivision of these states]] varies especially between [[city-state]]s ({{lang|de|Stadtstaaten}}) and states with larger territories ({{lang|de|Flächenländer}}). For regional administrative purposes five states, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, consist of a total of 22 [[Regierungsbezirke|Government Districts]] ({{lang|de|Regierungsbezirke}}). As of 2009 Germany is divided into 403 [[Districts of Germany|districts]] ({{lang|de|Kreise}}) on municipal level, these consist of 301 [[List of rural districts of Germany|rural districts]] and 102 [[Urban districts of Germany|urban districts]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/DE/Content/Statistiken/Regionales/Gemeindeverzeichnis/Administrativ/Aktuell/04__KreiseAktuell,property=file.xls |title=Kreisfreie Städte und Landkreise nach Fläche und Bevölkerung 31 December 2009 |format=XLS |date=October 2010 |publisher=[[Statistisches Bundesamt]] Deutschland |language=de |access-date=26 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110428135732/http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/DE/Content/Statistiken/Regionales/Gemeindeverzeichnis/Administrativ/Aktuell/04__KreiseAktuell%2Cproperty%3Dfile.xls |archive-date=28 April 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:left; font-size:90%;"
|- style="font-size:100%; text-align:right;"
!Map (Clickable)
! style="width:140px;"| [[States of Germany|State]] !! style="width:85px;"| Capital !! style="width:85px;"| Area (km<sup>2</sup>)!! style="width:85px;"| Population
|-
| rowspan="16" |{{German Federal States|float=right}}
| [[Baden-Württemberg]] || [[Stuttgart]] || style="text-align:right"|35,752|| style="text-align:right"|10,717,000
|-
| [[Bavaria]] || [[Munich]] || style="text-align:right"|70,549|| style="text-align:right"|12,444,000
|-
| [[Berlin]] || [[Berlin]] ||style="text-align:right"|892|| style="text-align:right"|3,400,000
|-
| [[Brandenburg]] || [[Potsdam]] || style="text-align:right"|29,477|| style="text-align:right"|2,568,000
|-
| [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]] || [[Bremen]] || style="text-align:right"|404|| style="text-align:right"|663,000
|-
| [[Hamburg]] || [[Hamburg]] ||style="text-align:right"|755|| style="text-align:right"|1,735,000
|-
| [[Hesse]] || [[Wiesbaden]] || style="text-align:right"|21,115|| style="text-align:right"|6,098,000
|-
| [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]] || [[Schwerin]] || style="text-align:right"|23,174|| style="text-align:right"|1,720,000
|-
| [[Lower Saxony]] || [[Hanover]] || style="text-align:right"|47,618|| style="text-align:right"|8,001,000
|-
| [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] || [[Düsseldorf]] || style="text-align:right"|34,043|| style="text-align:right"|18,075,000
|-
| [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] || [[Mainz]] || style="text-align:right"|19,847|| style="text-align:right"|4,061,000
|-
| [[Saarland]] || [[Saarbrücken]] || style="text-align:right"|2,569|| style="text-align:right"|1,056,000
|-
| [[Saxony]] || [[Dresden]] || style="text-align:right"|18,416|| style="text-align:right"|4,296,000
|-
| [[Saxony-Anhalt]] || [[Magdeburg]] || style="text-align:right"|20,445|| style="text-align:right"|2,494,000
|-
| [[Schleswig-Holstein]] || [[Kiel]] || style="text-align:right"|15,763|| style="text-align:right"|2,829,000
|-
| [[Thuringia]] || [[Erfurt]] || style="text-align:right"|16,172|| style="text-align:right"|2,355,000
|}