Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony’s stallion - symbol of the federal state

Before 1989 a full 550 kilometres of the border between East and West Germany was to be found in Lower Saxony, the longest stretch of this border in any federal state. Since the fall of the Wall, Lower Saxony has become a key link between the east and west of the continent. The second-largest state in the Federal Republic of Germany was created in 1946 by merging the states of Braunschweig, Oldenburg, Schaumburg-Lippe and Hannover. To the west, Lower Saxony borders on the Netherlands, and cultivates close ties to this country, its only immediate foreign neighbour.

Mobility for the world

Mobility on land, water and in the air plays a particular role in Lower Saxony’s economy. On the business front, the Wolfsburg-Hannover-Braunschweig area is one of the largest automobile industry clusters in Europe.

Lower Saxony: the Automobile State

Thanks to its central location, Lower Saxony is a vital crossroads for trans-European trade. Lower Saxony’s sea ports are a gateway to the US, the Far East and indeed the whole world. The state capital, Hannover, hosts the top international industrial trade fairs. As a major energy producer, Lower Saxony has a long tradition in oil extraction and production of natural gas: over 90 per cent of Germany’s oil output, and a good third of the natural gas, comes from this federal state. Lower Saxony is also a key player in Germany’s renewable energy sector, in particular for wind energy and biomass. Agriculture and food processing traditionally also play a major role; more than 50 per cent of the land in this federal state is used for agricultural production, with around 60,000 farms.

Culture and landscape

Research and education in Lower Saxony can boast a long history – and play a pioneering role as the state looks to the future. The long-established yet modern universities in Braunschweig and Göttingen, the Medical College in Hannover and numerous institutions outside the university context, working for example on solar energy research, have close links to the world of business.

Shaped by the landscape and technology

Amongst the many cultural events organised here, increasingly valued for their economic contribution too, there is a particular emphasis on fostering a diverse range of musical activities, as encapsulated in the motto “Lower Saxony, Land of Music”.

Largely free of urban sprawl, Lower Saxony offers marvellous countryside, framed between the Elbe and Ems, with the peaks of the Harz mountains, the North Sea’s bracing maritime climate and the Lüneburg Heath. The seven East Frisian islands – Borkum, Juist, Norderney, Baltrum, Langeoog, Spiekeroog and Wangerooge – are also popular holiday destinations.

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