Germany Divided

Fun facts

Fun fact · Our own analysis of OpenStreetMap data, not official statistics. How we measured it

Nudist beaches

Beaches, lidos and bathing spots marked for nude bathing (FKK), per million inhabitants, OpenStreetMap, September 2026

52% of the 346 nude bathing spots mapped in Germany are in the five eastern states, home to 15% of its people: 14.7 per million inhabitants against 2.3 in the West. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern leads with 59.1. The GDR's FKK culture lives on.

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Inner-German border 1949–1990 ·16 states · September 2026

Former West

2.3

excl. Berlin

Former East

14.7

excl. Berlin

Berlin

2.4

Figures in nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants

The East's figure is 6.4× the West's (September 2026).

By state

Former WestFormer EastBerlin
  1. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern59.1
  2. Brandenburg16.9
  3. Schleswig-Holstein12.5
  4. Sachsen6.7
  5. Thüringen4.8
  6. Sachsen-Anhalt3.8
  7. Rheinland-Pfalz3.2
  8. Baden-Württemberg2.9
  9. Bayern2.8
  10. Berlin2.4
  11. Hessen2.1
  12. Niedersachsen2.0
  13. Bremen1.4
  14. Hamburg0.5
  15. Nordrhein-Westfalen0.3
  16. Saarland0.0

September 2026

How we measured this

We counted every beach, lido, bathing place and swimming area in OpenStreetMap whose nudism tag says nude bathing is allowed, designated or customary, and divided by the population on 31 December 2025. We counted with the QLever SPARQL service (University of Freiburg) on the OpenStreetMap planet file of 21 September 2026; each place is assigned to the state or district whose boundary contains it. Rates are our calculation with official denominators.

  • Nude bathing is often tolerated on unmarked stretches of beach; we only count places someone has tagged.
  • OpenStreetMap is compiled by volunteers. Coverage in Germany is good but not complete, and it varies with how active local mappers are.
  • Our counts are released under the Open Database License (ODbL), as OpenStreetMap requires.

Notes & caveats

  • Part of the gap is geography: the East also has more mapped bathing spots of any kind per head (lakes and the Baltic coast). As a share of all bathing spots, 5.7% are marked for nude bathing in the East against 3.5% in the West.
Show the table
StateSideSeptember 2026
Saarlandwest0.0 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Berlinberlin2.4 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Brandenburgeast16.9 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Mecklenburg-Vorpommerneast59.1 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Sachseneast6.7 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Sachsen-Anhalteast3.8 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Thüringeneast4.8 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Schleswig-Holsteinwest12.5 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Hamburgwest0.5 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Niedersachsenwest2.0 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Bremenwest1.4 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Nordrhein-Westfalenwest0.3 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Hessenwest2.1 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Rheinland-Pfalzwest3.2 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Baden-Württembergwest2.9 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants
Bayernwest2.8 nudist bathing spots per million inhabitants