Hanover is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. It serves as a major urban center in northern Germany, ranking as the fourth-largest city in the region following Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen.
As of 2021, the city has a population of 535,932, making it the 13th-largest city in Germany. The broader urban area includes the towns of Garbsen, Langenhagen, and Laatzen, with a combined population of approximately 791,000 as of 2018.
The Hanover Region is home to some 1.16 million inhabitants as of 2019. It constitutes the largest portion of the Hanover–Braunschweig–Göttingen–Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region, which ranks as the 17th largest metropolitan area by GDP in the European Union.