Bavaria

**Bavaria** (; , ), officially the **Free State of Bavaria** (, ; ), is a State (_Bundesland_) of Germany. The territory of this state is the largest of the 16 German states. The state capital is Munich with 1.5 million people. About 13.1 million people live in Bavaria.

Like many German states, Bavaria was once independent. Ludwig II of Bavaria was its last independent king. Bavaria joined the German Empire in 1871.

## Structure

Bavaria has seven parts: _Oberbayern_ (Upper Bavaria), _Niederbayern_ (Lower Bavaria), _Schwaben_ (Swabia), _Mittelfranken_ (Middle Franconia), _Unterfranken_ (Lower Franconia), _Oberfranken_ (Upper Franconia) and _Oberpfalz_ (Upper Palatinate). Bavaria has 71 districts and 25 free cities.

The highest point is the Zugspitze, which is also the highest mountain in Germany. Munich is the largest city, the second biggest city is Nuremberg (_Nürnberg_), which is famous for its gingerbread, a kind of Christmas bread that is often shaped like a Christmas tree, a snowman or Santa Claus.

Pope Benedict XVI was born in Bavaria.

### Administrative regions

Bavaria is divided into seven administrative regions called **' (singular **'). For every Administrative region there is a state agency called **' (district government).
- **Altbayern**:
1. Upper Palatinate
1. Upper Bavaria
1. Lower Bavaria
- **Franconia**:
1. Upper Franconia
1. Middle Franconia
1. Lower Franconia
- **Swabia**:
1. Swabia

### Districts _(Bezirke)_

Bavaria has "_Bezirke_" or districts; the others are the **' and the **' or **'. The **' in Bavaria are identical with the **'. In the other larger states of Germany, there are only **' as administrative divisions and no self-governing entities at the level of the **' as the __ in Bavaria.

#### Population and area

||Region||Coat of arms||Capital|colspan="2"|Population (2019)|colspan="2"|Area (km<sup>2</sup>)|colspan="2"|No. municipalities|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Lower Bavaria|align="center"||Landshut|style="text-align:right;"|1,244,169|style="text-align:right;"|9.48%|style="text-align:right;"|10,330|style="text-align:right;"|14.6%|style="text-align:right;"|258|style="text-align:right;"|12.5%|
|Lower Franconia|align="center"||Würzburg|style="text-align:right;"|1,317,619|style="text-align:right;"|10.46%|style="text-align:right;"|8,531|style="text-align:right;"|12.1%|style="text-align:right;"|308|style="text-align:right;"|15.0%|
|Upper Franconia|align="center"||Bayreuth|style="text-align:right;"|1,065,371|style="text-align:right;"|8.49%|style="text-align:right;"|7,231|style="text-align:right;"|10.2%|style="text-align:right;"|214|style="text-align:right;"|10.4%|
|Middle Franconia|align="center"||Ansbach|style="text-align:right;"|1,775,169|style="text-align:right;"|13.65%|style="text-align:right;"|7,245|style="text-align:right;"|10.3%|style="text-align:right;"|210|style="text-align:right;"|10.2%|
|Upper Palatinate|align="center"||Regensburg|style="text-align:right;"|1,112,102|style="text-align:right;"|8.60%|style="text-align:right;"|9,691|style="text-align:right;"|13.7%|style="text-align:right;"|226|style="text-align:right;"|11.0%|
|Swabia|align="center"||Augsburg|style="text-align:right;"|1,899,442|style="text-align:right;"|14.21%|style="text-align:right;"|9,992|style="text-align:right;"|14.2%|style="text-align:right;"|340|style="text-align:right;"|16.5%|
|Upper Bavaria|align="center"||Munich|style="text-align:right;"|4,710,865|style="text-align:right;"|35.12%|style="text-align:right;"|17,530|style="text-align:right;"|24.8%|style="text-align:right;"|500|style="text-align:right;"|24.3%|

### Districts

Bavaria is made up of 71 rural districts that are comparable to counties, as well as the 25 independent cities, both of which share the same administrative responsibilities and duties.

Rural districts:

Independent cities:

### Municipalities

The 71 rural districts are on the lowest level divided into 2,031 regular municipalities. Together with the 25 independent cities, there are a total of 2,056 municipalities in Bavaria.

In 44 of the 71 rural districts, there are a total of 215 unincorporated areas (as of 1 January 2005), not bel<nowiki/>onging to any municipality, all unsettled and unpopulated, mostly forested areas, but also four lakes (-without islands, -without islands, , , which are the three largest lakes of Bavaria, and ).

#### Major cities and towns

|City|Region|Population|Population|Population|Population|Change|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Munich|Upper Bavaria|align="right"|1,210,223|align="right"|1,259,677|align="right"|1,353,186|align="right"|1,450,381|align=right|+11.81||
|Nuremberg|Middle Franconia|align="right"|488,400|align="right"|499,237|align="right"|505,664|align="right"|509,975|align=right|+3.53||
|Augsburg|Swabia|align="right"|254,982|align="right"|262,676|align="right"|264,708|align="right"|286,374|align=right|+3.81||
|Regensburg|Upper Palatinate|align="right"|125,676|align="right"|129,859|align="right"|135,520|align="right"|145,465|align=right|+7.83||
|Ingolstadt|Upper Bavaria|align="right"|115,722|align="right"|121,314|align="right"|125,088|align="right"|132,438|align=right|+8.09||
|Würzburg|Lower Franconia|align="right"|127,966|align="right"|133,906|align="right"|133,799|align="right"|124,873|align=right|+4.56||
|Fürth|Middle Franconia|align="right"|110,477|align="right"|113,422|align="right"|114,628|align="right"|124,171|align=right|+3.76||
|Erlangen|Middle Franconia|align="right"|100,778|align="right"|103,197|align="right"|105,629|align="right"|108,336|align=right|+4.81||
|Bayreuth|Upper Franconia|align="right"|74,153|align="right"|73,997|align="right"|72,683|align="right"|72,148|align=right|−1.98||
|Bamberg|Upper Franconia|align="right"|69,036|align="right"|70,081|align="right"|70,004|align="right"|73,331|align=right|+1.40||
|Aschaffenburg|Lower Franconia|align="right"|67,592|align="right"|68,642|align="right"|68,678|align="right"|68,986|align=right|+1.61||
|Landshut|Lower Bavaria|align="right"|58,746|align="right"|61,368|align="right"|63,258|align="right"|69,211|align=right|+7.68||
|Kempten|Swabia|align="right"|61,389|align="right"|61,360|align="right"|62,060|align="right"|66,947|align=right|+1.09||
|Rosenheim|Upper Bavaria|align="right"|58,908|align="right"|60,226|align="right"|61,299|align="right"|61,844|align=right|+4.06||
|Neu-Ulm|Swabia|align="right"|50,188|align="right"|51,410|align="right"|53,504|align="right"|57,237|align=right|+6.61||
|Schweinfurt|Lower Franconia|align="right"|54,325|align="right"|54,273|align="right"|53,415|align="right"|51,969|align=right|−1.68||
|Passau|Lower Bavaria|align="right"|50,536|align="right"|50,651|align="right"|50,594|align="right"|50,566|align=right|+0.11||
|Freising|Upper Bavaria|align="right"|40,890|align="right"|42,854|align="right"|45,223|align="right"|46,963|align=right|+10.60||
||Straubing|Lower Bavaria|align="right"|44,014|align="right"|44,633|align="right"|44,450|align="right"|46,806|align=right|+0.99|
|Dachau|Upper Bavaria|align="right"|38,398|align="right"|39,922|align="right"|42,954|align="right"|46,705|align=right|+11.87||
Source: Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik und Datenverarbeitung

## Other websites

- Official government website
- Official website of Bayern Tourismus Marketing GmbH
- Bavarian Studies in History and Culture
- Außenwirtschaftsportal Bayern
- Statistics

## Infobox (settlement)

- **official name**: Free State of Bavaria
- **native name**:

- **settlement type**: States of Germany, State
- **imagesize**: 270px
- **image flag**:

- **flag size**: 120px
- **image shield**: Coat of arms of Bavaria.svg
- **shield size**: 110
- **anthem**:

<div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;"></div>
- **mapsize**: 155px
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: Germany
- **seat type**: Capital
- **seat**: Munich
- **governing body**: Landtag of Bavaria
- **leader party**: CSU
- **leader title**: List of Ministers-President of Bavaria, Minister-President
- **leader name**: Markus Söder
- **leader title1**: Governing parties
- **leader name1**: Christian Social Union of Bavaria, CSU / Free Voters of Bavaria, FW
- **leader title2**: Bundesrat of Germany, Bundesrat votes
- **leader name2**: 6 (of 69)
- **total type**: Total
- **area total km2**: 70550.19
- **population total**: 13,124,737
- **population as of**: 2019-12-31
- **population density km2**: 186
- **population demonym**: Bavarians
- **timezone1**: Central European Time, CET
- **utc offset1**: +1
- **timezone1 dst**: Central European Summer Time, CEST
- **utc offset1 dst**: +2
- **blank name sec1**: Gross regional product, GRP (nominal)
- **blank info sec1**: €633 billion (2019)
- **blank1 name sec1**: GRP per capita
- **blank1 info sec1**: €48,000 (2019)
- **blank2 name sec2**: Human Development Index, HDI (2018)
- **blank2 info sec2**: 0.947
 · List of German states by Human Development Index, 6th of 16
- **iso code**: DE-BY
- **blank name sec2**: First level NUTS of the European Union#Germany, NUTS Region
- **blank info sec2**: DE2
- **website**: https://www.bayern.de
- **demographics type1**: Population
- **demographics1 title1**: Official languages