List of the largest districts in Germany

Of the 294 German districts, these lists include the largest districts in Germany in terms of population or area . Among the counties (in North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein circles called) also include the Aachen region , the Hanover region and the regional association Saarbrücken , members of the German County Association are. Compare with the smallest district in Germany.

Counties according to the number of inhabitants

Of the fifty largest districts in terms of population are in the Federal Republic of Germany

• 23 districts in North Rhine-Westphalia (NW) (including the Aachen city region)
• 12 districts in Baden-Württemberg (BW)
• 4 districts in Hesse (HE)
• 4 districts in Lower Saxony (NI) (including the Hanover region)
• 4 districts in Saxony (SN)
• 1 district in Bavaria (BY)
• 1 regional association in Saarland (SL)
• 1 district in Schleswig-Holstein (SH)

space	district	coat of arms	Seat	Vehicle	country	location	Pop.	Area (km²)	Ew / km²	image
1	Hanover (region)		Hanover	H	NI		1,157,115	2,290.86	505
2	Recklinghausen		Recklinghausen	RE, CAS, GLA	NW		614.137	761.31	807
3	Rhein-Sieg district		Siegburg	SU	NW		600.764	1,153.21	521
4th	Aachen (city region)		Aachen	AC, MON	NW		557.026	706.95	788
5	Rhein-Neckar district		Heidelberg	HD	BW		547.625	1,061.7	516
6th	Ludwigsburg		Ludwigsburg	LB, VAI	BW		543.984	686.84	792
7th	Esslingen		Esslingen am Neckar	ES, NT	BW		533.859	641.46	832
8th	Mettmann		Mettmann	ME	NW		485,570	407.22	1192
9	Rhein-Erft district		Bergheim	BM	NW		470,615	704.71	668
10	Wesel		Wesel	WES, DIN, MO	NW		459.976	1,042.8	441
11	Rhine district of Neuss		Neuss	NE, GV	NW		451.730	576.52	784
12	Steinfurt		Steinfurt	ST, BF, TE	NW		448.220	1,795.76	250
13	Karlsruhe		Karlsruhe	KA	BW		444.232	1,084.96	409
14th	Ortenau district		Offenburg	OG, BH , KEL, LR, WOL	BW		429.479	1,860.81	231
15th	Rems-Murr district		Waiblingen	WN, BK	BW		426.158	858.13	497
16	Main-Kinzig district		Gelnhausen	MKK, HU , GN, SLÜ	HE		420,552	1,397.55	301
17th	Märkischer Kreis		Ludenscheid	MK	NW		410.222	1,061.06	387
18th	Unna		Unna	UN, LH, LÜN	NW		394.891	543.21	727
19th	Boeblingen		Boeblingen	BB, LEO	BW		391,640	617.82	634
20th	Bark		Bark	BOR, AH, BOH	NW		371,339	1,420.98	261
21st	Gutersloh		Gutersloh	GT	NW		364.938	969.21	377
22nd	Osnabrück		Osnabrück	OS , BSB, MEL, WTL	NI		358.080	2,121.63	169
23	Offenbach		Dietzenbach	OF	HE		355.813	356.3	999
24	Munich		Munich	M , AIB , WOR	BY		350,473	664.25	528
25th	lip		Detmold	LIP	NW		347,514	1,246.21	279
26th	Heilbronn		Heilbronn	HN	BW		343.068	1,099.9	312
27	Erzgebirgskreis		Annaberg-Buchholz	ERZ, ANA, ASZ, AU, MAB, MEK, STL, SZB, ZP	SN		334,948	1,827.91	183
28	Saarbrücken (regional association)		Saarbrücken	SB, (VK)	SL		328.714	410.64	800
29	Goettingen		Goettingen	GÖ , DUD, HMÜ, OHA	NI		326.041	1,753.41	186
30th	Emsland		Meppen	Tbsp	NI		326,954	2,882.07	113
31	Ennepe-Ruhr district		Schwelm	EN, WIT	NW		324.106	409.64	791
32	Zwickau		Zwickau	Z, GC, HOT, WDA	SN		315.002	949.78	332
33	Pinneberg		Pinneberg	PI	SH		316.103	664.28	476
34	Ostalbkreis		Bask	AA, GD	BW		314.002	1,511.54	208
35	Kleve		Kleve	KLE, GEL	NW		312,465	1,232.99	253
36	Minden-Lübbecke		Minden	MI	NW		310.409	1,152.41	269
37	Paderborn		Paderborn	PB, BÜR	NW		307.839	1,246.8	247
38	Wetteraukreis		Friedberg (Hesse)	FB, BÜD	HE		308,339	1,100.69	280
39	Central Saxony		Freiberg	FG, BED, DL, FLÖ, HC, MW, RL	SN		304.099	2,116.85	144
40	Soest		Soest	SO, LP	NW		301,785	1,328.63	227
41	Bautzen (Budyšin)		Bautzen	BZ, BIW, HY, KM	SN		299,758	2,395.61	125
42	Viersen		Viersen	VIE, KK	NW		298,863	563.28	531
43	Darmstadt-Dieburg		Darmstadt	DA, TU	HE		297,844	658.65	452
44	Reutlingen		Reutlingen	RT	BW		286,748	1,092.74	262
45	Constancy		Constancy	KN, (BÜS)	BW		285,325	817.98	349
46	Ravensburg		Ravensburg	RV, SLG , ÜB , WG	BW		284.285	1,632.08	174
47	Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis		Bergisch Gladbach	GL	NW		283.271	437.32	648
48	Siegen-Wittgenstein		Wins	SI, BLB	NW		276,944	1,132.89	244
49	Warendorf		Warendorf	WAF, BE	NW		277.840	1,319.41	211
50	Hildesheim		Hildesheim	HI, ALF	NI		275.817	1,206.03	229

Historical list

The following list shows the ten largest districts in the Federal Republic of Germany in terms of population. A new entry is only available if the order is changed.

year	1.	2.	3.	4th	5.	6th	7th	8th.	9.	10.
1950	Recklinghausen	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Aachen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Rhein-Wupper district	Siegkreis	Pinneberg	Unna	Ludwigsburg
1951	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Recklinghausen	Moers	Aachen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Rhein-Wupper district	Siegkreis	Pinneberg	Unna	Kempen-Krefeld
1952	Recklinghausen	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Aachen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Rhein-Wupper district	Siegkreis	Unna	Pinneberg	Kempen-Krefeld
1953	Recklinghausen	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Aachen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Rhein-Wupper district	Siegkreis	Unna	Ludwigsburg	Kempen-Krefeld
1955	Recklinghausen	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Aachen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Siegkreis	Unna	Ludwigsburg	Kempen-Krefeld	Pinneberg
1956	Recklinghausen	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Aachen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Siegkreis	Ludwigsburg	Unna	Kempen-Krefeld	Pinneberg
1957	Recklinghausen	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Saarbrücken	Aachen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Ludwigsburg	Siegkreis	Unna	Pinneberg
1960	Recklinghausen	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Aachen	Saarbrücken	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Ludwigsburg	Siegkreis	Unna	Pinneberg
1961	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Recklinghausen	Moers	Saarbrücken	Aachen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Ludwigsburg	Siegkreis	Unna	Pinneberg
1962	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Recklinghausen	Saarbrücken	Aachen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Ludwigsburg	Siegkreis	Unna	Pinneberg
1964	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Recklinghausen	Aachen	Saarbrücken	Ludwigsburg	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Siegkreis	Pinneberg	Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
1966	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Recklinghausen	Aachen	Ludwigsburg	Saarbrücken	Siegkreis	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Pinneberg	Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
1967	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Moers	Recklinghausen	Ludwigsburg	Siegkreis	Aachen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Saarbrücken	Pinneberg	Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
1969	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Rhein-Sieg district	Moers	Recklinghausen	Ludwigsburg	Aachen	Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Saarbrücken	Pinneberg
1970	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Rhein-Sieg district	Recklinghausen	Moers	Ludwigsburg	Aachen	Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis	Saarbrücken	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Grevenbroich
1971	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Rhein-Sieg district	Recklinghausen	Moers	Ludwigsburg	Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis	Aachen	Grevenbroich	Ennepe-Ruhr district	Cologne
1972	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Rhein-Sieg district	Recklinghausen	Moers	Ludwigsburg	Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis	Aachen	Grevenbroich	Osnabrück	Cologne
1973	Rhein-Neckar district	Esslingen	Ludwigsburg	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Rhein-Sieg district	Karlsruhe	Recklinghausen	Ortenau district	Moers	Rems-Murr district
1974	Hanover	Rhein-Neckar district	Düsseldorf-Mettmann	Esslingen	Rhein-Sieg district	Ludwigsburg	Saarbrücken city association	Recklinghausen	Main-Kinzig district	Ortenau district
1975	Recklinghausen	Hanover	Esslingen	Rhein-Neckar district	Märkischer Kreis	Rhein-Sieg district	Mettmann	Ludwigsburg	Wesel	Neuss
1976	Recklinghausen	Hanover	Mettmann	Esslingen	Rhein-Neckar district	Rhein-Sieg district	Märkischer Kreis	Ludwigsburg	Wesel	Neuss
1978	Recklinghausen	Hanover	Mettmann	Esslingen	Rhein-Neckar district	Rhein-Sieg district	Ludwigsburg	Märkischer Kreis	Wesel	Neuss
1979	Recklinghausen	Hanover	Mettmann	Rhein-Neckar district	Esslingen	Rhein-Sieg district	Ludwigsburg	Märkischer Kreis	Wesel	Neuss
1981	Recklinghausen	Hanover	Mettmann	Rhein-Sieg district	Rhein-Neckar district	Esslingen	Ludwigsburg	Märkischer Kreis	Wesel	Neuss
1985	Recklinghausen	Hanover	Rhein-Sieg district	Mettmann	Rhein-Neckar district	Esslingen	Ludwigsburg	Wesel	Märkischer Kreis	Neuss
1987	Recklinghausen	Hanover	Mettmann	Rhein-Sieg district	Rhein-Neckar district	Esslingen	Ludwigsburg	Wesel	Märkischer Kreis	Neuss
1990	Recklinghausen	Hanover	Rhein-Sieg district	Mettmann	Rhein-Neckar district	Esslingen	Ludwigsburg	Wesel	Märkischer Kreis	Neuss
1991	Recklinghausen	Hanover	Rhein-Sieg district	Mettmann	Rhein-Neckar district	Esslingen	Ludwigsburg	Wesel	Märkischer Kreis	Erftkreis
1993	Recklinghausen	Hanover	Rhein-Sieg district	Rhein-Neckar district	Mettmann	Esslingen	Ludwigsburg	Wesel	Märkischer Kreis	Erftkreis
2001	Hanover region	Recklinghausen	Rhein-Sieg district	Rhein-Neckar district	Mettmann	Esslingen	Ludwigsburg	Wesel	Erftkreis	Märkischer Kreis
2002	Hanover region	Recklinghausen	Rhein-Sieg district	Rhein-Neckar district	Esslingen	Mettmann	Ludwigsburg	Wesel	Erftkreis	Märkischer Kreis
2003	Hanover region	Recklinghausen	Rhein-Sieg district	Rhein-Neckar district	Esslingen	Ludwigsburg	Mettmann	Wesel	Rhein-Erft district	Märkischer Kreis
2007	Hanover region	Recklinghausen	Rhein-Sieg district	Rhein-Neckar district	Ludwigsburg	Esslingen	Mettmann	Wesel	Rhein-Erft district	Steinfurt
2009	Hanover region	Recklinghausen	Rhein-Sieg district	City region Aachen	Rhein-Neckar district	Ludwigsburg	Esslingen	Mettmann	Wesel	Rhein-Erft district
2014	Hanover region	Recklinghausen	Rhein-Sieg district	City region Aachen	Rhein-Neckar district	Ludwigsburg	Esslingen	Mettmann	Rhein-Erft district	Wesel

Counties by area

Of the forty according to the area largest districts in the Federal Republic of Germany

• 10 districts in Brandenburg (BB)
• 7 districts in Lower Saxony (NI) (including the Hanover region)
• 6 districts in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (MV) (these are all districts of this federal state)
• 5 districts in Saxony (SN)
• 5 districts in Saxony-Anhalt (ST)
• 3 districts in Schleswig-Holstein (SH)
• 1 district in Baden-Württemberg (BW)
• 1 district in Bavaria (BY)
• 1 district in Hesse (HE)
• 1 district in North Rhine-Westphalia (NW)

space	district	coat of arms	Seat	Vehicle	country	location	Pop.	Area (km²)	Ew / km²	image
1	Mecklenburg Lake District		Neubrandenburg	MSE, AT, DM, MC, MST, MÜR, NZ, RM, WRN, (NB)	MV		258.074	5,470.35	47
2	Ludwigslust-Parchim		Parchim	LUP, HGN, LBZ, LWL, PCH, STB	MV		211,779	4,752.44	45
3	Vorpommern-Greifswald		Greifswald	VG, ANK, GW, PW, SBG, UEM, WLG, (HGW)	MV		235.623	3,929.73	60
4th	Rostock		Guestrow	LRO, BÜZ, DBR, GÜ, ROS, TET	MV		215.794	3,422.51	63
5	Western Pomerania-Ruegen		Stralsund	VR, GMN, NVP, RDG, RÜG, (HST)	MV		224,702	3,207.37	70
6th	Uckermark		Prenzlau	UM, ANG, PZ, SDT, TP	BB		118,947	3,076.93	39
7th	Emsland		Meppen	Tbsp	NI		326,954	2,882.07	113
8th	Potsdam-Mittelmark		Bad Belzig	PM	BB		216,566	2,591.61	84
9	Ostprignitz-Ruppin		Neuruppin	OPR, KY, NP, WK	BB		98,861	2,526.55	39
10	Stendal		Stendal	SDL, HV, OBG	ST		111.190	2,423.16	46
11	Bautzen (Budyšin)		Bautzen	BZ, BIW, HY, KM	SN		299,758	2,395.61	125
12	Börde		Haldensleben	BK , BÖ, HDL, OC, OK, WMS, WZL	ST		170.923	2,366.63	72
13	Altmarkkreis Salzwedel		Salzwedel	SAW, GA, KLZ	ST		83.173	2,293.03	36
14th	Hanover (region)		Hanover	H	NI		1,157,115	2,290.86	505
15th	Dahme-Spreewald ( Dubja-Błota )		Luebben (Spreewald)	LDS, KW, LC, LN	BB		170.791	2,274.48	75
16	Oder-Spree		Beeskow	LOS, BSK, EH, FW	BB		178,803	2,256.78	79
17th	Rendsburg-Eckernförde		Rendsburg	RD, ECK	SH		274.098	2,189.17	125
18th	Märkisch-Oderland		Seelow	MOL, FRW, SEE, SRB	BB		195,751	2,158.67	91
19th	Prignitz		Pearl Mountain	PR	BB		76.158	2,138.61	36
20th	Osnabrück		Osnabrück	OS , BSB, MEL, WTL	NI		358.080	2,121.63	169
21st	Northwest Mecklenburg		Wismar	NWM, GDB, GVM, WIS, (HWI)	MV		157.322	2,118.51	74
22nd	Central Saxony		Freiberg	FG, BED, DL, FLÖ, HC, MW, RL	SN		304.099	2,116.85	144
23	Görlitz (Zhorjelc)		Goerlitz	GR, LÖB, NOL, NY, WSW, ZI	SN		252.725	2,111.41	120
24	resin		Halberstadt	HZ, HBS, QLB, WR	ST		213.310	2,104.54	101
25th	Teltow-Fläming		Luckenwalde	TF	BB		169.997	2,104.19	81
26th	North Friesland		Husum	NF	SH		165.951	2,082.96	80
27	Schleswig-Flensburg		Schleswig	SL	SH		201.156	2,071.14	97
28	Rotenburg (Wümme)		Rotenburg (Wümme)	ROW, BRV	NI		163,782	2,070.45	79
29	Cuxhaven		Cuxhaven	CUX	NI		198.038	2,057.78	96
30th	North Saxony		Torgau	TDO, DZ, EB, OZ, TG, TO	SN		197,741	2,028.56	97
31	Diepholz		Diepholz	DH, SY	NI		217.089	1,988.14	109
32	Ansbach		Ansbach	AN , DKB, FEU, ROT	BY		184,591	1,971.84	94
33	Hochsauerlandkreis		Meschede	HSK	NW		259,777	1,960.17	133
34	Wittenberg		Lutherstadt Wittenberg	WB, GHC, JE	ST		124,953	1,930.31	65
35	Elbe Elster		Herzberg (Elster)	EE, FI, LIB	BB		101,827	1,899.54	54
36	Heidekreis		Bad Fallingbostel	HK	NI		140.673	1,873.72	75
37	Ortenau district		Offenburg	OG, BH , KEL, LR, WOL	BW		429.479	1,860.81	231
38	Waldeck-Frankenberg		Korbach	KB, FKB, WA	HE		156.406	1,848.44	85
39	Erzgebirgskreis		Annaberg-Buchholz	ERZ, ANA, ASZ, AU, MAB, MEK, STL, SZB, ZP	SN		334,948	1,827.91	183
40	Oberhavel		Oranienburg	OHV	BB		212.914	1,808.18	118

Historical list

In the following list, the ten largest districts in the Federal Republic of Germany are given. A new entry is only available if the order is changed.

year	1.	2.	3.	4th	5.	6th	7th	8th.	9.	10.
1950	Gifhorn	Celle	Rendsburg	Uelzen	Cloppenburg	Harburg	Segeberg	Duchy of Lauenburg	Stade	Bremervörde
1970	Rendsburg-Eckernförde	North Friesland	Gifhorn	Celle	Uelzen	Ostholstein	Dithmarschen	Cloppenburg	Harburg	Segeberg
1971	Rendsburg-Eckernförde	North Friesland	Bitburg-Prüm	Gifhorn	Celle	Uelzen	Ostholstein	Dithmarschen	Cloppenburg	Harburg
1972	Rendsburg-Eckernförde	Osnabrück	North Friesland	Ansbach	Bitburg-Prüm	Celle	Gifhorn	Traunstein	Passau	Oberallgäu
1973	Rendsburg-Eckernförde	Osnabrück	North Friesland	Ansbach	Ortenau district	Ravensburg	Bitburg-Prüm	Celle	Gifhorn	Traunstein
1974	Rendsburg-Eckernförde	Osnabrück	Hanover	Schleswig-Flensburg	North Friesland	Ansbach	Ortenau district	Waldeck-Frankenberg	Ravensburg	Bitburg-Prüm
1975	Rendsburg-Eckernförde	Osnabrück	Hanover	Schleswig-Flensburg	North Friesland	Ansbach	Hochsauerlandkreis	Ortenau district	Waldeck-Frankenberg	Steinfurt
1977	Emsland	Rendsburg-Eckernförde	Cuxhaven	Osnabrück	Hanover	Schleswig-Flensburg	Rotenburg (Wümme)	North Friesland	Diepholz	Ansbach
1993	Uckermark	Emsland	Potsdam-Mittelmark	Ostprignitz-Ruppin	Dahme-Spreewald	Oder-Spree	Rendsburg-Eckernförde	Märkisch-Oderland	Prignitz	Teltow-Fläming
1994	Uckermark	Emsland	Potsdam-Mittelmark	Ludwigslust	Ostprignitz-Ruppin	Stendal	Altmarkkreis Salzwedel	Dahme-Spreewald	Oder-Spree	Parchim
2001	Uckermark	Emsland	Potsdam-Mittelmark	Ludwigslust	Ostprignitz-Ruppin	Stendal	Altmarkkreis Salzwedel	Hanover region	Dahme-Spreewald	Oder-Spree
2007	Uckermark	Emsland	Potsdam-Mittelmark	Ludwigslust	Ostprignitz-Ruppin	Stendal	Börde	Altmarkkreis Salzwedel	Hanover region	Dahme-Spreewald
2008	Uckermark	Emsland	Potsdam-Mittelmark	Ludwigslust	Ostprignitz-Ruppin	Stendal	Bautzen	Börde	Altmarkkreis Salzwedel	Hanover region
2011	Mecklenburg Lake District	Ludwigslust-Parchim	Vorpommern-Greifswald	Rostock	Western Pomerania-Ruegen	Uckermark	Emsland	Potsdam-Mittelmark	Ostprignitz-Ruppin	Stendal

swell

• Statistical State Office Baden-Württemberg - Population by nationality and gender on December 31, 2018 (CSV file) ( help on this ). (As of December 31, 2018)
• Sheet "Data 2", Statistical Report A1200C 202041 Population of the municipalities, districts and administrative districts 1st quarter 2020 (population based on the 2011 census) ( help ). (As of December 31, 2019)
• Population in the state of Brandenburg by municipalities, offices and municipalities not subject to official registration December 31, 2019 (XLSX file; 223 KB) (updated official population figures) ( help on this ). (As of December 31, 2019)
• Hessian State Statistical Office: Population status on December 31, 2019 (districts and urban districts as well as municipalities, population figures based on the 2011 census) ( help ). (As of December 31, 2019)
• State Office for Statistics Lower Saxony, LSN-Online regional database, table 12411: Update of the population, as of December 31, 2019  ( help ). (As of December 31, 2019)
• Statistisches Amt MV - Population status of the districts, offices and municipalities 2019 (XLS file) (official population figures in the update of the 2011 census) ( help ). (As of December 31, 2019)
• Population of the municipalities of North Rhine-Westphalia on December 31, 2019 - Update of the population based on the census of May 9, 2011. State Office for Information and Technology North Rhine-Westphalia (IT.NRW), accessed on June 17, 2020 .   (Help on this) (Status: December 31, 2019)
• Saarland.de - Official population figures as of December 31, 2019 (PDF; 20 kB) ( help ). (As of December 31, 2019)
• Population of the Free State of Saxony by municipality on December 31, 2019  ( help on this ). (As of December 31, 2019)
• State Statistical Office Saxony-Anhalt, population of the municipalities - as of December 31, 2019 (PDF) (update) ( help ). (As of December 31, 2019)
• Statistics Office North - Population of the municipalities in Schleswig-Holstein 4th quarter 2019 (XLSX file) (update based on the 2011 census) ( help ). (As of December 31, 2019)

Web links

• Independent cities and districts by area and population on December 31, 2014 , Federal Statistical Office , December 2015, xls format, approx. 114 KB