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.svg) Flag of Bavaria | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 15 million | |
| Languages | |
| Bavarian German | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Catholic Church with a Protestant minority) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Germanic peoples (especially Germans), Slavs, (romanized) Celtic peoples |
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Bavarians (Bavarian: Boarn/Bayern; Standard German: Bayern) are an ethnographic group of Germans of the Bavaria region, a state within Germany. The group's dialect or speech is known as the Bavarian language, native to Altbayern ("Old Bavaria"), roughly the territory of the Electorate of Bavaria in the 17th century.
Like the neighboring Austrians, Bavarians are traditionally Catholic. In much of Altbayern, membership in the Catholic Church remains above 70%,[1] and the center-right Christian Social Union in Bavaria (successor of the Bavarian People's Party of 1919–1933) has traditionally been the strongest party in the Landtag,[2] and also the party of all minister-presidents of Bavaria since 1946, with the single exception of Wilhelm Hoegner, 1954–1957.
- ^ 2011 data
- ^ in 10 of 17 elections 1946–2013 receiving the absolute majority of the popular vote, and in all but one receiving the largest fraction of the popular vote, with the sole exception of the 1950 election (beaten by the Social Democrats 28.0% to 27.4%).
