Germany · state
Hesse population 2026
Hessen
Hesse has 6,280,793 people on the latest official figure, for 1 January 2025, 13,247 more than a year earlier (+0.21%). It is 5th of Germany’s 16 states by population, home to 7.5% of Germany’s people.
If last year’s change continues: about 6.3 million by 1 July 2026. That is our arithmetic, not an official figure.
Hesse in numbers
- Population
- 6.3 million 1 January 2025
- Change in a year
- +0.21% +13,247 people
- Change since 2020
- −0.12% from 6.3 million
- Share of Germany
- 7.5% 5th of 16 states
- Population density
- 298per km² 21,100 km²
That is about as many people as El Salvador (6.4 million).
Population of Hesse by year
› Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 5,993,771 |
| 2014 | 6,045,425 |
| 2015 | 6,093,888 |
| 2016 | 6,176,172 |
| 2017 | 6,213,088 |
| 2018 | 6,243,262 |
| 2019 | 6,265,809 |
| 2020 | 6,288,080 |
| 2021 | 6,293,154 |
| 2022 | 6,295,017 |
| 2023 | 6,236,933 |
| 2024 | 6,267,546 |
| 2025 | 6,280,793 |
| Year | Population | Change | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6,280,793 | +13,247 | +0.21% |
| 2024 | 6,267,546 | +30,613 | +0.49% |
| 2023 | 6,236,933 | −58,084 | −0.92% |
| 2022 | 6,295,017 | +1,863 | +0.03% |
| 2021 | 6,293,154 | +5,074 | +0.08% |
| 2020 | 6,288,080 | +22,271 | +0.36% |
| 2019 | 6,265,809 | +22,547 | +0.36% |
| 2018 | 6,243,262 | +30,174 | +0.49% |
| 2017 | 6,213,088 | +36,916 | +0.60% |
| 2016 | 6,176,172 | +82,284 | +1.35% |
| 2015 | 6,093,888 | +48,463 | +0.80% |
| 2014 | 6,045,425 | – | – |
| 2012 | 5,993,771 | – | – |
Hesse among Germany’s states
Full ranking →| # | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Rhine-Westphalia | 18,034,454 | +0.09% | 21.6% | 529 |
| 2 | Bavaria | 13,248,928 | +0.55% | 15.9% | 188 |
| 3 | Baden-Württemberg | 11,245,898 | +0.14% | 13.5% | 315 |
| 4 | Lower Saxony | 8,004,489 | −0.05% | 9.6% | 168 |
| 5 | Hesse | 6,280,793 | +0.21% | 7.5% | 298 |
| 6 | Rhineland-Palatinate | 4,129,569 | +0.11% | 4.9% | 208 |
| 7 | Saxony | 4,042,422 | −0.30% | 4.8% | 220 |
| 8 | Berlin | 3,685,265 | +0.63% | 4.4% | 4,136 |
| 9 | Schleswig-Holstein | 2,959,517 | +0.21% | 3.5% | 187 |
| 10 | Brandenburg | 2,556,747 | +0.09% | 3.1% | 87 |
| 11 | Saxony-Anhalt | 2,135,597 | −0.42% | 2.6% | 104 |
| 12 | Thuringia | 2,100,277 | −0.69% | 2.5% | 130 |
| 13 | Hamburg | 1,862,565 | +0.59% | 2.2% | 2,467 |
| 14 | Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 1,573,597 | −0.28% | 1.9% | 68 |
| 15 | Saarland | 1,012,141 | −0.19% | 1.2% | 394 |
| 16 | Bremen | 704,881 | +0.32% | 0.8% | 1,681 |
Largest cities in Hesse
City proper, not the wider metro area; latest figure in GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), so years differ.
- Frankfurt am Main650,000
- Wiesbaden288,850
- Kassel197,230
- Darmstadt167,029
- Offenbach119,192
- Gießen89,179
Air quality in Hesse today
Hourly AQI and a 48-hour forecast.
Questions
What is the population of Hesse in 2026?
Is Hesse’s population growing or shrinking?
How does Hesse rank in Germany?
What is the population density of Hesse?
What is the largest city in Hesse?
Source and method
Eurostat, population on 1 January by NUTS region (demo_r_d2jan). Eurostat reuse policy (CC BY 4.0). Total area, Wikidata. Eurostat updates regional populations once a year. Ranks, shares and changes are our arithmetic on the published figures. National figures can differ from the UN’s projection for Germany, which uses a different method. The 2026 figure above carries last year’s change forward; it does not come from the source.
Cite this page: Hesse population, Eurostat, 1 January 2025. GlobeMetrics, https://globemetrics.org/world-population/germany/hesse/
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