Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern or known by its anglicized name: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania or Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (Low German: Mäkelborg-Vörpommern) is one of the 16 States of Germany. The capital is Schwerin.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
State of Germany
Schwerin Palace, seat of the Landtag, is one of more than 2000 palaces and castles in the state.
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 53°37′N 12°42′E
Country	Germany
Capital	Schwerin
Government
• Minister-President	Manuela Schwesig (SPD)
• Governing parties	SPD / Left
• Votes in Bundesrat	3 (of 69)
Area
• City	23,179 km2 (8,949 sq mi)
Population  (2014)[1]
• City	1,599,100
• Density	69/km2 (180/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	DE-MV
Vehicle registration	formerly: MP (1945–1947), SM (1948–1953)[2]
GDP/ Nominal	€ 40 / $45 billion (2015) [3]
GDP per capita	€ 25,000 / $28,000 (2015)
NUTS Region	DE8
Website	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.eu

As of 2016, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had about 1,612,000 people.

It made part of former East Germany.

It is the most northeastern state of Germany. It borders the Baltic Sea in the north, Poland in the east, Brandenburg in the south, Lower Saxony in the southwest and Schleswig-Holstein in the west.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is low-lying and has many rivers, canals and lakes. The Stettin Lagoon lies partly in this state and partly in Poland.

The state hosts the biggest German island called Rügen, and the second biggest German lake called Müritz.

Politics

Seats in the state parliament (Landtag) since 2016:

• SPD: 26
• AfD: 18
• CDU: 16
• Linke: 11

Total: 71 seats

Schloss Schwerin

Cities

The largest cities/towns in the state are:

• Rostock
• Greifswald
• Stralsund
• Schwerin
• Neubrandenburg
• Güstrow

Besides Rostock all have a population of less than 200,000. Schwerin, the state capital, is the smallest state capital in Germany. Usually Schwerin would not be called a city. In Germany a city has over 100,000 people.

Districts

Former districts

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was going to change the borders of all of its urban districts (towns) and rural districts (kreise or "counties"). The state supreme court stopped the changes.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was divided into twelve rural districts (Landkreise):

Bad Doberan Demmin Güstrow Ludwigslust Mecklenburg-Strelitz Müritz

Nordvorpommern Nordwestmecklenburg Ostvorpommern Parchim Rügen Uecker-Randow

Also there were six independent urban districts:

1. Greifswald (HGW)
2. Neubrandenburg (NB)
3. Rostock (HRO)
4. Schwerin (SN)
5. Stralsund (HST)
6. Wismar (HWI)

Current districts

Mecklenburg & Pomerania

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has been divided into six rural districts (Landkreise) and two independent urban districts (kreisfreie Städte) since 4 September 2011:

Rural districts:

1. Ludwigslust-Parchim
2. Mecklenburgische Seenplatte
3. Nordwestmecklenburg
4. Rostock
5. Vorpommern-Greifswald
6. Vorpommern-Rügen

Urban districts:

1. Rostock
2. Schwerin