Western Germany


Western Germany is a region in the west of Germany. The exact area defined by the term is not constant, but it usually includes North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. The Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate are also sometimes included but are usually considered Southwestern Germany. Though located in Western Germany, Lower Saxony is almost always referred to as a part of Northern Germany both culturally and geographically. Likewise, though to a lesser extent Hesse is considered to foremost be a Central German state.
West of the Harz in Central Germany, or the line between the cities of Hamburg and Munich, is the western part, but again, these distinctions must only be considered very loosely, especially not in a political sense.
Politically, Germans often still identify the term Westdeutschland with the Bonn Republic, the Cold War-era West Germany. Therefore, the English-language distinction between "West Germany" and "Western Germany" is rarely made in German. However, the latter can be specified as der Westen Deutschlands, "the West of Germany."

Major cities

Where a city has different names in English and German, the English name is given first.
RankCityPop.
1950		Pop.
1960		Pop.
1970		Pop.
1980		Pop.
1990		Pop.
2000		Pop.
2010		Area
Density
per km²		Growth

surpassed
100,000		State
1. / Köln5949418011428494519766949535519628841007119405,1724864.591852
2.532037675009666179629375644865648550679664248,3127374.801875
3.500516697891660963590479575794569364588735217,2227103.401882
4.507349640802640642608297599055588994580444280,712068−1.451894
5.605411729462696419647643626973595243574635210,322732−3.461896
6.410783503641452721558089535447514915489599232,832103−4.921904
7.289804362490343809400757396486391147374737145,662573−4.201904
8.363224421378417694393381383660366434349721168,392077−4.561884
9.115394146889275722288148292234302247324899141,2223017.491934
10.153613174527168609312708319037321758323270257,9212530.471930
11.118496180871198878269696259438265609279803302,969245.341915
12.220741257293250715274464260301270109275976203,9313532.171905
13.129811170367175451243947241861244386258664160,8416085.841888
14.124879152414151085258424259436263014257993170,451514−1.911921
15.315460388608347074304386293714278695257981104,942458−7.431903
RankCityPop.
1950		Pop.
1960		Pop.
1970		Pop.
1980		Pop.
1990		Pop.
2000		Pop.
2010		Area
Density
per km²		Growth

surpassed
100,000		State