List of towns and cities in Germany by historical population

The list of the largest German cities provides an overview of the most populous cities that were located in contemporary German territory at the time of the individual statistics.

Industrialization in the 19th century, especially since the Gründerzeit and the foundation of the German Empire in 1871, brought with it increased urbanization in Germany, leading to a largely urbanized society.

The following tables show historical population figures of German cities according to the respective area status. Also listed is the superordinate administrative unit (state, country, kingdom, province, district) to which the city belonged in the corresponding year. The following historical and current German state entities were taken into account:


 * Holy Roman Empire (962–1806)
 * German Confederation (1815–1866)
 * German Reich (1871–1949)
 * German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)
 * Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present)

Current information can be found in the list of cities in Germany by population.

Antiquity
Ancient Rome developed from 200 B.C. and spread from Italy to northern Italy, northern Africa (Tunisia) and central Europe in the following period. The heyday of the ancient Romans can be seen in the 1st to 3rd century A.D., many ancient ruins date from this period.

Roman cities in Germany were mainly built along the Rhine and Danube:


 * Augsburg
 * Bonn
 * Koblenz
 * Cologne
 * Mainz
 * Neuss
 * Nida
 * Passau
 * Regensburg
 * Straubing
 * Trier, already in the 3rd and 4th century the largest city north of the Alps with an estimated 80,000 inhabitants
 * Xanten

Middle Ages to modern times
With the migration of peoples in the 5th century, the ancient cities on the territory of present-day Germany were largely decayed. Only Augsburg, Regensburg, Trier and Cologne have been preserved as cities. The number of cities in Central Europe remained very small until about 1100 with a few hundred. By far the largest number of new cities was created in the following 250 years, when numerous cities were founded from 1120 onwards, mostly by an act of foundation and town planning. Around the beginning of the modern era, at the beginning of the 16th century, the free and imperial cities as well as the residence cities were the most important cities (among others, today mainly Dutch, French and Belgian cities):


 * Cologne and Prague with over 40,000 inhabitants,
 * Augsburg, Lübeck, Magdeburg and Nuremberg with about 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants,
 * Aachen, Basel, Braunschweig, Bremen, Breslau, Erfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Lüneburg, Metz, Trier, Ulm and Vienna, with about 10,000–20,000 inhabitants.

1500
The population figures are estimates.

1700
The population figures are estimates.

1750
The population figures are estimates.

1800
The population figures are estimates.

1849
The population and area status refer to the census of 3 December 1849.

1880
The population and area status refer to the census of 1 December 1880.

1910
The population and area status refer to the census of 1 December 1910.

1919
The population and area status refer to the census of 8 October 1919.

1939
The population and area status refer to the census of 17 May 1939.

1946
The population and area status refer to the census of 29 October 1946.

1975
The population figures for the year 1975 are estimates. 1: East Berlin (1,098,174) and West Berlin (1,984,837)

2000
The population figures for the year 2000 are estimates.

2015
The population figures for the year 2015 are estimates.

2020
The population figures for the year 2020 are estimates.

2022
The population figures for the year 2022 are estimates.