Population of Cities in Germany [German Population Statistics]

Key takeaways

• Nordrhein-Westfalen is the most populated federal state in Germany, with a population of 18 million.
• Berlin has the highest population density, with around 4105 people living per square km.
• Berlin is also the most populated city in Germany, with a population of 3.66 million.
• Bremen, Berlin, and Hamburg have the highest percentage of expats in Germany.
• 13.89 million foreigners are living in Germany as of 31 Dec 2023.
• The highest number of foreign nationals living in Germany are Turkish.

Table of Contents

What is the population of German federal states?

Germany has 16 federal states. Nordrhein-Westfalen is the most populated federal state in Germany, with a population of 18 million. It accounts for 21.59% of the total German population.

Next in line are Bayern and Baden-Württemberg, which have 13.1 million and 11.2 million in population, respectively. 

The table below shows the population of all the federal states in Germany as of 31 Dec 2023.

German Federal States	Population	Percentage
Nordrhein-Westfalen	18,017,520	21.59%
Bayern	13,176,426	15.79%
Baden-Württemberg	11,230,740	13.46%
Niedersachsen	8,008,135	9.60%
Hessen	6,267,546	7.51%
Rheinland-Pfalz	4,125,163	4.94%
Sachsen	4,054,689	4.86%
Berlin	3,662,381	4.39%
Schleswig-Holstein	2,953,202	3.54%
Brandenburg	2,554,464	3.06%
Sachsen-Anhalt	2,144,570	2.57%
Thüringen	2,114,870	2.53%
Hamburg	1,851,596	2.22%
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	1,578,041	1.89%
Saarland	1,014,047	1.22%
Bremen	702,655	0.84%
Germany	83,456,045	100%

Saarland and Bremen have the lowest population in Germany. They account for a mere 1.22% and 0.84% of the total German population, respectively.

Population density of Federal States of Germany

German Federal States	Area (sq km)	Population density (Nr of people per sq KM)
Berlin	892	4105
Hamburg	755	2452
Bremen	419	1676
Nordrhein-Westfalen	34,085	528
Saarland	2,569	394
Baden-Württemberg	35,752	314
Hessen	21,115	296
Sachsen	18,416	220
Rheinland-Pfalz	19,853	207
Schleswig-Holstein	15,799	186
Bayern	70,552	186
Niedersachsen	47,609	168
Thüringen	16,172	130
Sachsen-Anhalt	20,446	105
Brandenburg	29,480	86
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	23,180	68

The German capital, Berlin, has the highest population density, with around 4105 people living per square km. Next to Berlin is Hamburg, where 2452 people live per square kilometer.

Strangely, Bremen has the lowest population, but it has the third largest population density in Germany. 1676 people per square kilometer are living in Bremen.

Top 10 most populated cities in Germany?

German City	Population	Percentage
Berlin	3,426,354	4.09%
Hamburg	1,739,117	2.08%
Munich	1,260,391	1.51%
Koeln	963,395	1.15%
Frankfurt am Main	650,000	0.78%
Essen	593,085	0.71%
Stuttgart	589,793	0.70%
Dortmund	588,462	0.70%
Duesseldorf	573,057	0.68%
Bremen	546,501	0.65%

Berlin not only has the most dense population but is also the most populated city in Germany. Berlin attracts a lot of foreigners and offers an open culture.

Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Köln, and Frankfurt are the top 5 most populated cities in Germany as of 2024.

Which German federal states have the most foreigners?

German Federal States	Population	Total foreigners	Percentage
Bremen	693,204	142,458	20.55%
Berlin	3,596,999	702,977	19.54%
Hamburg	1,808,846	305,278	16.88%
Hessen	6,207,278	1,040,610	16.76%
Baden-Württemberg	11,104,040	1,844,243	16.61%
Nordrhein-Westfalen	17,890,489	2,568,080	14.35%
Bayern	13,038,724	1,860,565	14.27%
Saarland	1,006,864	131,593	13.07%
Rheinland-Pfalz	4,094,169	511,716	12.50%
Niedersachsen	7,943,265	816,625	10.28%
Schleswig-Holstein	2,927,542	258,554	8.83%
Thüringen	2,110,396	132,143	6.26%
Sachsen	4,038,131	252,463	6.25%
Brandenburg	2,534,075	146,229	5.77%
Sachsen-Anhalt	2,146,443	123,599	5.76%
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	1,570,817	76,215	4.85%

Based on the percentage of foreigners in a federal state, Bremen, Berlin, and Hamburg are the top three. However, if you look at the number of foreigners in a federal state, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bayern, and Baden-Württemberg are the top three.

20% of the population of Bremen and Berlin and 16% of the total population of Hamburg, Hessen, and Baden-Württemberg are foreigners.

2.56 million foreigners have settled in Nordrhein-Westfalen. 1.86 million and 1.84 million expats call Bayern and Baden-Württemberg their home, respectively.

Top 10 foreign nationals living in Germany

Foreign Nationals Living in Germany	Total	Percentage
Turkish	1,548,095	1.85%
Ukraine	1,239,705	1.48%
Syrians	972,460	1.16%
Romanian	909,795	1.09%
Polish	887,715	1.06%
Italien	644,035	0.77%
Bulgarian	436,860	0.52%
Croatian	434,045	0.52%
Afghanistan	419,410	0.50%
Greeks	359,045	0.43%
Indian	246,125	0.29%
United States	122,475	0.15%

13.89 million foreigners are living in Germany as of 31 Dec 2023. Turkish are the top foreign nationals living in Germany.

As of December 2023, there were around 1.54 million Turkish in Germany, which is 1.54% of the total German population.

In second place are the Ukranians. There are around 1.24 million Ukrainians in Germany. Syrians come in third place, with almost a million Syrians living in Germany.

Romanians and Polish nationals share the third place. Each has around 900,000 people living in Germany.

There are around 246k Indian and 122k American nationals in Germany.

References

• https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/cities/germany
• https://ergebnisse.zensus2022.de/datenbank/online
• https://www-genesis.destatis.de/datenbank/online/statistic/12411/table/12411-0010/table-toolbar