Saxony

The Free State of Saxony Freistaat Sachsen Swobodny Stata Sakska
—  State of Germany  —
Flag Coat of arms
Position of Saxony within Germany
Coordinates: 50.9283°N 13.4567°E / 50.9283; 13.4567
Country	Germany
Capital	Dresden
Government
• Minister President	Stanislaw Tillich (CDU)
• Governing parties	CDU / FDP
Area
• Total	18,415 km2 (7,110 sq mi)
Population (December 2008)
• Total	4,192,700
• Density	227.679/km2 (589.685/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
NUTS Region
Website	sachsen.de

The Free State of Saxony (German: Freistaat Sachsen Sorbian: Swobodny Stata Sakska), is one of 16 states of Germany. It is in the southeast, north of Czech Republic. To the east of Saxony is Poland. The biggest city is Leipzig. The capital is called Dresden. It was founded in 1990.

Geography

Saxony is the border of Germany to the two countries Poland and Czech Republic. In the north of Saxony is Brandenburg, another German state. Saxony's west border is to Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Bavaria. A big part of the border to the Czech Republic are the Ore Mountains in the south of Saxony.

Cities and towns

City	District	Number of people 31 December 2000	Number of people 31 December 2006	Number of people 30 June 2008
Leipzig	Leipzig (city)	493,208	506,260	511,676
Dresden	Dresden (city)	477,807	504,635	508,398
Chemnitz	Chemnitz (city)	259,246	245,739	244,310
Zwickau	Zwickau Rural District	103,008	96,878	95,322
Plauen	Vogtlandkreis	71,543	68,317	67,309
Görlitz	Görlitz Rural District	61,599	57,201	56,608
Hoyerswerda	Bautzen Rural District	50,203	41,515	39,835
Freiberg	Mittelsachsen Rural District	45,428	42,772	42,120
Bautzen	Bautzen Rural District	43,353	41,766	41,354
Pirna	Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Rural District	42,108	39,748	39,291
Freital	Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Rural District	40,129	39,059	39,139
Riesa	Riesa-Großenhain Rural District	39,367	36,145	35,139
Radebeul	Meißen Rural District	32,246	33,205	33,284
Meißen	Meißen Rural District	29,398	28,091	27,846
Limbach-Oberfrohna	Zwickau Rural District	27,552	26,591	26,113
Zittau	Görlitz Rural District	27,454	24,892	29,093
Glauchau	Zwickau Rural District	27,285	25,744	25,159
Delitzsch¹	Nordsachsen Rural District	26,331	27,448	27,111
Weißwasser/O.L.	Görlitz Rural District	26,107	21,797	20,298
Werdau	Zwickau Rural District	26,077	23,976	23,565
Annaberg-Buchholz	Erzgebirgskreis	24,495	22,817	22,514
Coswig	Meißen Rural District	24,035	22,365	22,514
Reichenbach im Vogtland	Vogtlandkreis Rural District	23,469	22,164	21,210
Crimmitschau	Zwickau Rural District	23,305	22,330	21,684
Markkleeberg	Leipzig Rural District	23,157	23,718	23,962
Döbeln	Mittelsachsen Rural District	23,128	21,356	20,726
Schwarzenberg/Erzgeb.	Erzgebirgskreis	20,201	18,517	19,187
Auerbach	Vogtlandkreis Rural District	20,042	21,246	20,620
Borna	Leipzig Rural District	20,010	22,657	21,539

Districts

Saxony is divided into 3 administrative districts (Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig). These are subdivided into 10 districts:

(The car licence plate of the areas are in brackets)

Bautzen (BZ) Erzgebirgskreis (ERZ) Leipzig (L) Meißen (MEI) Mittelsachsen (FG) Görlitz (GR) Nordsachsen (TDO) Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge (PIR) Vogtlandkreis (V) Zwickau (Z)

Districts of Saxony

Urban districts

Saxony has three urban districts which do not belong to the rural districts.

• Chemnitz (C)
• Dresden (DD)
• Leipzig (L)

History

The first Free State of Saxony was founded in 1918, after the first World War. After the second World War, in 1945, the "country of Saxony" was founded. Later the Country was divided into 3 administrative divisions of the German Democratic Republic, and thus robbed of its sovereignty.

In 1990 the Free State of Saxony was officially re-founded as a part of Germany.

Population development

The number of people in Saxony since 1905:

Year People 1905 4,508,601 1946 5,558,566 1950 5,682,802 1964 5,463,571 1970 5,419,187 1981 5,152,857 1990 4,764,301 1995 4,566,603

Year People 2000 4,425,581 2001 4,384,192 2002 4,349,659 2003 4,321,437 2004 4,296,284 2005 4,273,754 2006 4,249,774 2007 4,220,200 2008 4,192,700

Other websites

• Official governmental portal (german)
• Nature of Saxony (german)
• Facts about Saxony (Statistisches Landesamt) (german)
• Saxony at the Open Directory Project
• Christmas time in Saxony
• some facts about Saxony