Hamburg in Profile

A Dynamic Metropolis

Second largest city of the fourth largest national economy in the world, major port, seat of The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, home to Nivea and Montblanc, an Airbus production site, birthplace of the Federal German Chancellors Angela Merkel and Helmut Schmidt, metropolis by the water offering a high quality of life – all this is Hamburg and so much more!

Population

Hamburg is a growing city, largely as a result of the positive balance in domestic and international migration. At the end of 2015, 1.787 million people lived in Hamburg (2,366 inhabitants /per square km), comprising around 2.2 per cent of the entire German population. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany after Berlin (3.52 million inhabitants) and ahead of Munich (1.45 million inhabitants). The population of the Hanseatic City is distinctly multicultural, nearly all nationalities being represented. In 2015, 288,338 residents of Hamburg (16.1 per cent) held a foreign passport and about twice as many have a migrant background.

Working Population

In 2015, Hamburg had a working population of 1.2 million (2.8 per cent of all gainfully employed in Germany). 338,431 of the employees in Hamburg (subject to social security contributions) live outside the city limits. On the other hand, there are 111,010 employees who live in Hamburg but work outside the boundaries of the city. This results in a ratio of three to one commuting into and out of the city.

Economic Power

With a gross domestic product of 109.3 billion euro in 2015, the city of Hamburg achieved 3.6 per cent of the German economic output. In 2015, with a gross domestic product of 90,905 euro per employed person, Hamburg again significantly exceeded the national average of 70,317 euro. In comparison with the other German Federal States, Hamburg continues to rank first. Although twice as many people live in Berlin as in the Hanseatic City, the gross value added of the German capital is only slightly higher than in Hamburg (111.7 billion in comparison to 98.3 billion euro in 2015). The economic power of Hamburg extends far beyond the city limits. The metropolitan area of Hamburg which spans into sections of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has currently more than five million residents. In 2014, this area’s working population of 2,634 million attained a gross domestic product of 191 billion euro. Hamburg’s economic strength and international weight is also reflected in the links of the city within the field of international direct investment. Not only the investment of Hamburg companies abroad, but also the investment of foreign companies in Hamburg has risen dramatically since the mid-nineties. In the ranking of “European Cities and Regions of the Future 2016/2017” compiled by fDi magazine, the Hanseatic City of Hamburg is listed as one of the five most attractive European cities for direct investment.

Economic Structure

The service sector contributes more than four fifths of Hamburg’s gross value added (82.9 per cent in 2105). With two thirds, the national average of the respective ratio is significantly lower (69.0 per cent). In the past 23 years, the sectors “trade, transportation and storage, , information and communication” as well as “,
education and healthcare” have gained in importance in the Hanseatic City. Compared to the current economic structure of Germany, it stands out that the relative contribution of “agriculture, forestry and fishing”, as well as of the “construction industry” to gross value added in the city state of Hamburg is lower than the national average. This also applies to the contribution of “manufacturing”, even though well-known companies in this sector are located in Hamburg.
Hamburg offers a great potential for innovation with its diverse higher education landscape and numerous basic and applied research facilities, such as the Deutsche Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, several Max Planck Institutes, the CAN (Centre for Applied Nanotechnology), the ZAL Centre for Applied Aviation Research, the LZN Laser Zentrum Nord and some institutions of the Frauenhofer-Gesellschaft.

Important Sectors of the Economy in Detail

One of the strengths of the local economy is its diversity. Hamburg as a centre for economic activity can be described in the following ways.