Other divisions · Land
The livestock belt
In 2020 farms in western Germany kept 0.89 livestock units per hectare of farmland, more than twice the 0.39 in the East (2.3×). The densest districts form one belt in north-west Lower Saxony and the Münsterland: Vechta has 3.43 livestock units per hectare, Cloppenburg 2.83, against 0.72 for Germany.
| Zone | Districts | People | Share | Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very high 2.0 livestock units per hectare or more | 5 | 1.2 m | 1.4% | 7,521 km² |
| High 1.2 to under 2.0 | 45 | 8.6 m | 10.3% | 43,370 km² |
| Above average 0.8 to under 1.2 | 59 | 11.1 m | 13.3% | 54,756 km² |
| Around average 0.4 to under 0.8 (Germany: 0.72) | 159 | 33.9 m | 40.6% | 140,935 km² |
| Low Under 0.4 | 119 | 25.9 m | 31% | 107,295 km² |
| No figure Confidential or no livestock, mostly cities | 14 | 2.9 m | 3.4% | 3,712 km² |
A livestock unit (Großvieheinheit) is the statistical offices' standard measure for adding up different kinds of farm animals, each converted with a fixed key. Divided by a district's farmland it shows how many animals are kept per hectare.
Five districts reach 2.0 or more, all of them in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia: Vechta (3.43), Cloppenburg (2.83), Borken (2.50), Grafschaft Bentheim (2.49) and Emsland (2.19) lead among rural districts. No eastern district reaches 0.8; the highest are Erzgebirgskreis (0.78), Vogtlandkreis (0.66) and Oberspreewald-Lausitz (0.65).
The East is the low-density half of the map despite its large farms. The average farm there worked 222 hectares in 2020, against 47 in the West, but 42 of the 75 eastern districts with a figure stay below 0.4 livestock units per hectare, and none reach 0.8. Saxony-Anhalt (0.35) is the lowest state, North Rhine-Westphalia (1.17) the highest.
Low density is not only an eastern trait: 77 western districts are also below 0.4, among the rural ones Alzey-Worms (0.03), Wolfenbüttel (0.06), Mainz-Bingen (0.07), Südliche Weinstraße (0.07) and Helmstedt (0.08).
Does the line still show?
Today's figures on each side, as population-weighted averages of the district values (our calculation from the live themes on this site).
| Indicator | Very high | High | Above average | Around average | Low | No figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AfD vote 2025 | 16.6% | 18.7% | 19.5% | 21.5% | 20.9% | 16.1% |
| Green vote 2025 | 8.4% | 10.9% | 10.7% | 11.5% | 13.0% | 13.6% |
| Unemployment 2025 | 4.0% | 5.7% | 5.5% | 6.5% | 6.4% | 9.3% |
| Gross monthly salary € 31.12.2025 | 3,795 | 3,970 | 4,051 | 4,148 | 4,313 | 4,366 |
| Young people 31.12.2025 | 13.3% | 12.6% | 12.8% | 12.8% | 13.8% | 14.9% |
| Childcare 1 March 2025 | 39.3% | 32.3% | 32.5% | 39.6% | 43.0% | 31.7% |
| Foreign population 31.12.2025 | 14.9% | 14.1% | 15.0% | 17.0% | 17.8% | 22.8% |
How we drew the line
Livestock units (Großvieheinheiten, GV) divided by the utilised agricultural area (LF, hectares) of all farms in each district, both from the Landwirtschaftszählung 2020 as published in Regionaldatenbank table 41141-04-02-4 (livestock on 1 March 2020; GV are computed by the statistical offices with their standard conversion key). 2020 is the newest year published at district level: the 2023 Agrarstrukturerhebung is available only for Germany and the states. Zones are round-number bands: under 0.4 (about half the German average of 0.72 or less), 0.4–0.8, 0.8–1.2, 1.2–2.0 and 2.0 or more (close to three times the average). East and West figures are totals of the states (East = the five eastern states, without Berlin). Districts whose livestock or area figure is confidential (".") are shown as "No figure". Hanau, a separate district since 1 January 2026, was part of Main-Kinzig-Kreis in 2020 and shows its figure.
- Reference year 2020, the last full agricultural census; livestock numbers, above all pigs, have fallen since. Newer district counts exist only for cattle.
- Animals and land are counted where the farm has its seat (Betriebsprinzip), not where a field or barn lies. Small district-free cities with few farms can therefore show extreme ratios on very little land.
- Confidential figures leave 14 districts without a value, among them Oberallgäu and Olpe, where the farm area is withheld.
- Farms below the census thresholds (e.g. under 5 ha and fewer than 10 cattle or 50 pigs) are not counted.