Berlin

:This article is about the city in Germany. For other uses, see Berlin (disambiguation).

Political Berlin

The state

Berlin used to be part of Brandenburg province of Prussia but was incorporated into Greater Berlin in 1920. Since German reunification on 3 October 1990 it has been one of the three city states, together with Hamburg and Bremen, that form the present 16 German Bundesländer.

Related Topics:
Brandenburg - Prussia - 1920 - 3 October - 1990 - City state - Hamburg - Bremen - Bundesländer

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Berlin is governed by the Senate of Berlin, which consists of the Regierender Bürgermeister (governing mayor) and up to eight senators holding ministerial portfolios. The governing mayor is mayor of the city and representative of the Bundesland (state) at the same time. The seat of office for the Berlin Mayor is the Rotes Rathaus. Presently, this office is held by Klaus Wowereit (SPD): for earlier mayors, see the list of Mayors of Berlin.

Related Topics:
Senate - Rotes Rathaus - Klaus Wowereit - List of Mayors of Berlin

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The city and state parliament is called the Abgeordnetenhaus or House of Representatives. The current Senate consists of a coalition of the social democrat SPD and the socialist Left Party.

Related Topics:
Parliament - Social democrat - SPD - Socialist - Left Party

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The boroughs

Berlin is subdivided into 12 boroughs, called Bezirke, which were created from the previously existing 23 boroughs, effective since 1 January 2001.

Related Topics:
Boroughs - 1 January - 2001

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For a map and a list of the old and new borough names, see Boroughs of Berlin.

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Each borough is governed by a Bezirksamt consisting of five Stadträte (town councillors) and a mayor. The Bezirksamt is elected by the district-parliament, the Bezirksverordnetenversammlung.

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The Boroughs of Berlin are not independent municipalities, and the political power of the district-parliaments is fairly minimal and dependent on the Senat of Berlin.

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The district mayors form the council of mayors, called Rat der Bürgermeister under the leadership of the Regierende Bürgermeister (governing mayor), to advise the Senat.

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Population

Berlin has 3,426,000 inhabitants (as of January 2005) on a surface of 891.75 square kilometers, thus, the population density of the region amounts to 3,811 inhabitants per square kilometer. Berlin citizens' average age is 41.7 years (as of 2004). 450,900 inhabitants are foreigners coming from 185 states (as of December 2004). Among them, approximately 36,000 citizens come from the nearest neighboring country, Poland and 119,000 are Turkish - Berlin has the largest Turkish municipality in Europe outside of Turkey. According to official statistics, in 2004, 22.3% of the population were Protestants, 9.1% were Catholics, 6.2% were Muslims, and 0.4% were Jews.

Related Topics:
January - 2005 - 2004 - December

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