Germany (Deutschland) is a Federal Republic consisting of sixteen states, known in German as Länder. The term Bundesländer is commonly used colloquially, as it is more specific, though technically incorrect within the corpus of German law. The citizens of the 16 states form the nation of Germany. The area the 16 states cover is the territory of Germany. The governments of the states form part of the government of Germany. The cities of Berlin and Hamburg are states in their own right, while the State of Bremen consists of two cities, Bremen and Bremerhaven. These three are termed Stadtstaaten (city states), whereas the remaining 13 states are termed Flächenländer (area states). Geographically grouped, the sixteen states are:
North — Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) and Schleswig-Holstein.
West — North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) and Saarland.
Central —Hesse (Hessen) and Thuringia (Thüringen).
East — Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony (Sachsen) and Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt)
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