Germany is a federal republic which consists of the 16 different German states. While the state of course does not necessarily characterize all of its people, each of them is unique in terms of how people will behave, the accent they have and their general culture.
We should not over-estimate these differences, because fundamental core values are pretty much the same thoughout all German states, but we should also not under-estimate the difference.
If you were to ask some Germans in the street how similar they think Bavaria in the south is to Hamburg in the north or North Rhine-Westphalia in the west is to Saxony in the east, I’m fairly certain almost all of them will tell you that they are very different.
The names of these German states are as follows (in alphabetical order):
| English name | German name |
| Bavaria | Bayern |
| Berlin | Berlin |
| Brandenburg | Brandenburg |
| Bremen | Bremen |
| Hamburg | Hamburg |
| Hesse | Hessen |
| Lower Saxony | Niedersachsen |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | Mecklenburg-Vorpommern |
| North Rhine-Westphalia | Nordrhein-Westfalen |
| Rhineland-Palatinate | Rheinland-Pfalz |
| Saarland | Saarland |
| Saxony | Sachsen |
| Saxony-Anhalt | Sachsen-Anhalt |
| Schleswig-Holstein | Schleswig-Holstein |
| Thuringia | Thüringen |