Germany Administrative Divisions
What is the hierarchy of administrative divisions in Germany?
Here’s a breakdown of the hierarchy:
Federal States (Bundesländer): Germany is divided into several federal states.
Districts (Kreise): Each state is subdivided into districts, which include rural districts ( Landkreise ) and district-free cities ( kreisfreie Städte ).
Municipalities (Gemeinden): Districts and district-free cities are further subdivided into municipalities, which form the smallest official administrative units.
Collective Municipalities (Verbandsgemeinden/Samtgemeinden): In some states, smaller municipalities are grouped into collective associations for administrative purposes. This level does not exist in all states.
List of Germany's administrative divisions with their counts and names
These are the summarized administrative divisions. The full dataset is available in the Download Center.
| iso | country | admin level 1 | admin level 2 | admin level 3 | admin level 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE | Germany | Baden-Wurttemberg (State) | 4 Counties | 35 Districts, 9 District-free towns | 451 Community associations |
| DE | Germany | Bavaria (State) | 7 Counties | 25 District-free towns, 71 Districts | 1360 Community associations, 1 Unincorporated area |
| DE | Germany | Berlin (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 1 District-free town | This level doesn’t exist for this country. |
| DE | Germany | Brandenburg (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 14 Districts, 4 District-free towns | 189 Community associations |
| DE | Germany | Bremen (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 2 District-free towns | This level doesn’t exist for this country. |
| DE | Germany | Hamburg (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 1 District-free town | This level doesn’t exist for this country. |
| DE | Germany | Hesse (State) | 3 Counties | 21 Districts, 5 District-free towns | 416 Community associations |
| DE | Germany | Lower Saxony (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 37 Districts, 8 District-free towns | 406 Community associations, 4 Unincorporated areas |
| DE | Germany | Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 2 District-free towns, 6 Districts | 114 Community associations |
| DE | Germany | North Rhine-Westphalia (State) | 5 Counties | 23 District-free towns, 30 Districts | 374 Community associations |
| DE | Germany | Rhineland-Palatinate (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 12 District-free towns, 24 Districts | 158 Community associations |
| DE | Germany | Saarland (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 6 Districts | 52 Community associations |
| DE | Germany | Saxony-Anhalt (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 11 Districts, 3 District-free towns | 119 Community associations |
| DE | Germany | Saxony (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 10 Districts, 3 District-free towns | 306 Community associations |
| DE | Germany | Schleswig-Holstein (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 11 Districts, 4 District-free towns | 165 Community associations |
| DE | Germany | Thuringia (State) | This level doesn’t exist for this country. | 17 Districts, 5 District-free towns | 184 Community associations |
Why is building an Administrative Divisions Database complex?
The complexity arises from inconsistent global standards, frequent boundary changes, non-uniform naming conventions (e.g., “suburb” in Australia vs. “county” in the US), and variations in administrative levels across countries. Integrating and harmonizing data from multiple sources requires advanced normalization, versioning, and geospatial validation techniques.
How does GeoPostcodes solve the problem for you?
Our standardized database overcomes the complexity of different administrative division
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each country’s unique administrative hierarchy.
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