With about 8% of the national territory, the Hamburg Metropolitan Region (HMR) is the second largest in Germany, just behind the metropolitan region of Berlin-Brandenburg. Home to almost 5.4 million inhabitants, it encompasses the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (which is also a federal state) and parts of 3 states surrounding it: Schleswig-Holstein (51% of its territory lies within the HMR), Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (30%), and Lower Saxony (26%). The metropolitan region brings together 20 districts and more than 1 100 municipalities.