Simplify the following text for a Grade 5 native English-speaking person.
Original: It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants , making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany 's sixteen states .
Simplified: It lies in central Germany and has an area of 16251 k. This means Thuringia is the sixth smallest state in Germany by area . It has 2.45 million inhabitants , so it is the fifth smallest state in Germany by population .