Braunschweig (German: [ˈbʁaʊnʃvaɪk] ) or Brunswick (English: /ˈbrʌnzwɪk/ BRUN-zwik; from Low German Brunswiek, local dialect: Bronswiek [ˈbrɔˑnsviːk]) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser. In 2024, it has a population of 272,417. The urban agglomeration of Braunschweig has an estimate population 476,000 during the year 2024.

A powerful and influential centre of commerce in medieval Germany, Brunswick was a member of the Hanseatic League from the 13th until the 17th century. It was the capital city of three successive states: the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1269–1432, 1754–1807, and 1813–1814), the Duchy of Brunswick (1814–1918), and the Free State of Brunswick (1918–1946).

Today, Brunswick is the second-largest city in Lower Saxony and a major centre of scientific research and development.

The date and circumstances of the town's foundation are unknown. Tradition maintains that Brunswick was created through the merger of two settlements, one founded by Brun(o), a Saxon count who died in 880, on one side of the River Oker – the legend gives the year 861 for the foundation – and the other the settlement of a legendary Count Dankward, after whom Dankwarderode Castle (the "Castle of Dankward's clearing"), which was reconstructed in the 19th century, is named.

The town's original name of Brunswik may be a combination of the name Bruno and Low German wik (related to the Latin vicus), a place where merchants rested and stored their goods. The town's name, therefore, may indicate a resting place, consistent with its location by a ford across the Oker River. An alternative explanation of the city's name is that it comes from Brand, or burning, indicating a place which developed after the landscape was cleared through burning. The city was first mentioned in documents from the St. Magni Church from 1031, which give the city's name as Brunesguik.

Up to the 12th century, Brunswick was ruled by the Saxon noble family of the Brunonids; then, through marriage, the town fell to the House of Welf. In 1142, Henry the Lion of the House of Welf became duke of Saxony and made Braunschweig the capital of his state (which, from 1156 on, also included the Duchy of Bavaria). He turned Dankwarderode Castle, the residence of the counts of Brunswick, into his own Pfalz and developed the city further to represent his authority. Under Henry's rule, the Cathedral of St. Blasius was built and he also had the statue of a lion, his heraldic animal, erected in front of the castle. The lion subsequently became the city's landmark.

Henry the Lion became so powerful that he dared to refuse military aid to the Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, which led to his banishment in 1182. Henry went into exile in England. He had previously established ties to the English crown in 1168, through his marriage to King Henry II of England's daughter Matilda, sister of Richard the Lionheart. However, Henry's son Otto, who regained influence and was eventually crowned Holy Roman Emperor, continued to foster the city's development.

During the Middle Ages, Brunswick was an important center of trade, one of the economic and political centers in Northern Europe and a member of the Hanseatic League from the 13th century to the middle of the 17th century. By the year 1600, Brunswick was the seventh largest city in Germany. Although formally one of the residences of the rulers of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire, Brunswick was de facto ruled independently by a powerful class of patricians and the guilds throughout much of the Late Middle Ages and the Early modern period. Because of the growing power of Brunswick's burghers, the Princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who ruled over one of the subdivisions of Brunswick-Lüneburg, finally moved their Residenz out of the city and to the nearby town of Wolfenbüttel in 1432. The Princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel did not regain control over the city until the late 17th century, when Rudolph Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, took the city by siege.

In the 18th century Brunswick was not only a political, but also a cultural centre. Influenced by the philosophy of the Enlightenment, dukes like Anthony Ulrich and Charles I became patrons of the arts and sciences. In 1745, Charles I founded the Collegium Carolinum, predecessor of the Brunswick University of Technology, and in 1753 he moved the ducal residence back to Brunswick. With this he attracted poets and thinkers such as Lessing, Leisewitz, and Jakob Mauvillon to his court and the city. Emilia Galotti by Lessing and Goethe's Faust were performed for the first time in Brunswick.

In 1806, the city was captured by the French during the Napoleonic Wars and became part of the short-lived Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807. The exiled Duke Frederick William raised a volunteer corps, the Black Brunswickers, who fought the French in several battles.

After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Brunswick was made capital of the re-established independent Duchy of Brunswick, later a constituent state of the German Empire from 1871. In the aftermath of the July Revolution in 1830, in Brunswick duke Charles II was forced to abdicate. His absolutist governing style had previously alienated the nobility and bourgeoisie, while the lower classes were disaffected by the bad economic situation. During the night of 7–8 September 1830, the ducal palace in Brunswick was stormed by an angry mob, set on fire, and destroyed completely. Charles was succeeded by his brother William VIII. During William's reign, liberal reforms were made and Brunswick's parliament was strengthened.

During the 19th century, industrialisation caused a rapid growth of population in the city, eventually causing Brunswick to be for the first time significantly enlarged beyond its medieval fortifications and the River Oker. On 1 December 1838, the first section of the Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway line connecting Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel opened as the first railway line in Northern Germany, operated by the Duchy of Brunswick State Railway.

On 8 November 1918, at the end of World War I, a socialist workers' council forced Duke Ernest Augustus to abdicate. On 10 November, the council proclaimed the Socialist Republic of Brunswick under one-party government by the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD); however, the subsequent Landtag election on 22 December 1918 was won by the Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (MSPD), and the USPD and MSPD formed a coalition government. An uprising in Braunschweig in 1919, led by the communist Spartacus League, was defeated when Freikorps troops under Georg Ludwig Rudolf Maercker took over the city on order of the German Minister of Defence, Gustav Noske. An MSPD-led government was subsequently established; in December 1921, a new constitution was approved for the Free State of Brunswick, now a parliamentary republic within the Weimar Republic, again with Braunschweig as its capital.

After the Landtag election of 1930, Brunswick became the second state in Germany where the Nazis participated in government, when the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) formed a coalition government with several conservative and right-wing parties. With the support of Dietrich Klagges, Brunswick's minister of the interior, the NSDAP organized a large SA rally in Braunschweig. On 17–18 October 1931, 100,000 SA stormtroopers marched through the city; street fights between Nazis, socialists, and communists left several dead or injured. On 25 February 1932, the state of Brunswick granted Adolf Hitler German citizenship to allow him to run in the 1932 German presidential election. In Braunschweig, Nazis carried out several attacks on political enemies, with the acquiescence of the state government.

After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, several state institutions were placed in Braunschweig, including the Luftfahrtforschungsanstalt in Völkenrode, the Hitler Youth Academy for Youth Leadership, and the SS-Junkerschule Braunschweig. With the Reichswerke Hermann Göring in Salzgitter and the Stadt des KdF-Wagens, as well as several factories in the city itself (including Büssing and the Volkswagenwerk Braunschweig), the Braunschweig region became one of the centres of the German arms industry.

During the Second World War, Braunschweig was a sub-area headquarters of Wehrkreis XI (one of Germany's military districts), and was the garrison city of the 31st Infantry Division that took part in the invasions of Poland, Belgium, and France, largely being destroyed during its retreat following the invasion of Russia. In this period, thousands of Eastern workers were brought to the city as forced labor, and in the 1943–1945 period at least 360 children taken away from such workers died in the Entbindungsheim für Ostarbeiterinnen ("Maternity Ward for Eastern Workers").

In 1944, two subcamps of the Neuengamme concentration camp were established in Braunschweig. The subcamp Schillstraße or Büssing-NAG/Schillstraße, located where the BraWo Park's parking lot is today, held about 800 male prisoners, who were forced to work in the arms production at Büssing-NAG. After about 300 had died due to disease, hunger, and maltreatment over the course of just a few months, a further 200 were transferred to the infirmary of a nearby subcamp in early January 1945 in order to reduce the number of deaths. However, this was only effective to some degree, as another 80 bodies landed in the city's crematory until the subcamp's closing in March 1945, when Büssing-NAG had to halt production due to severe bombing damages. Today the Gedenkstätte Schillstraße, located very close to the former premises of the subcamp, documents Braunschweig's history during the Third Reich. Büssing-NAG also had another subcamp in the nearby Vechelde, which held a further 400 male prisoners.

The subcamp SS-Reitschule, named so as it was located on the former premises of the SS-Junker School's riding school, held approximately 800 prisoners, all female, who were tasked with clearing away rubble. This subcamp was commissioned by the city of Braunschweig. Although it was only open for two months - from December 1944 until February 1945, there were at least 17 deaths and a transfer of about 50 prisoners to a nearby subcamp's infirmary. The number of survivors is unknown.

Piera Sonnino (1922–1999), an Italian author, writes of her imprisonment in Braunschweig in her book, This Has Happened, published in English in 2006 by MacMillan Palgrave.

The Allied air raid on October 15, 1944, destroyed most of the city's churches, and the Altstadt (old town), the largest homogeneous ensemble of half-timbered houses in Germany. 100 out of 800 half-timbered houses survived as well as the most important places and streets, preserved in 5 areas of the old town.

The city's cathedral, which had been converted to a Nationale Weihestätte (national shrine) by the Nazi government, still stood.

About 10% of the inner city survived Allied bombing and remain to represent its distinctive architecture. The cathedral was restored to its function as a Protestant church. Outside the old town city centre large historic quarters remain like Östliches Ringgebiet with its Gründerzeit architecture.

Politically, after the war, the Free State of Brunswick was dissolved by the Allied occupying authorities, Braunschweig ceased to be a capital, and most of its lands were incorporated in the newly formed state of Lower Saxony.

During the Cold War, Braunschweig, then part of West Germany, suffered economically due to its proximity to the Iron Curtain. The city lost its historically strong economic ties to what was then East Germany; for decades, economic growth remained, on average, below the rest of the country while unemployment was above-average for West Germany.

On 28 February 1974, as part of a district reform in Lower Saxony, the rural district of Braunschweig, which had surrounded the city, was disestablished. The major part of the former district was incorporated into the city of Braunschweig, increasing its population by roughly 52,000 people.

In the 1990s, efforts increased to reconstruct historic buildings that had been destroyed in the air raid. The façade of the Braunschweiger Schloss was rebuilt, and buildings such as the Alte Waage (originally built in 1534) now stand again.

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1330	16,000	—
1758	22,500	+40.6%
1788	26,000	+15.6%
1811	27,600	+6.2%
1830	35,300	+27.9%
1849	39,000	+10.5%
1880	75,000	+92.3%
1890	100,000	+33.3%
1900	128,200	+28.2%
1925	146,900	+14.6%
1939	196,068	+33.5%
1951	231,091	+17.9%
1956	240,431	+4.0%
1961	246,085	+2.4%
1966	234,665	−4.6%
1971	222,805	−5.1%
1976	268,519	+20.5%
1981	260,342	−3.0%
1986	247,836	−4.8%
1990	258,833	+4.4%
2001	245,516	−5.1%
2011	242,537	−1.2%
2021	252,816	+4.2%
Population size may be affected by changes in administrative divisions.

Braunschweig has a population of 272,000 and is the 2nd largest city in Lower Saxony. Braunschweig is considered as one of the oldest cities in Germany, founded in 1031 by Henry the Lion. Braunschweig first reached its peak of over 100,000 in 1890. In the 1960s and 1970s industrialization boomed in Braunschweig due to automobile and other companies coming to Braunschweig and surrounding cities like Wolfsburg and Salzgitter. Braunschweig's population reached its highest peak of population in 1975 with population of about 273,000. Braunschweig's population started to decline in the 1980s. In the 1990s - after the German reunification - it began to grow again as many East Germans moved there due to its close close proximity to former East Germany. Currently, Braunschweig has a strong focus on research and development. According to 2019 data, it has the highest R&D intensity (ratio of R&D expenditure to GDP) in the entire EU and over 4% of all employed people are R&D personnel.

In 2015, 91,785 people (or 36.3% of the population) were Protestant and 34,604 (13.7%) people were Roman Catholic; 126,379 people (50.0%) either adhered to other denominations or followed no religion.

Roughly 17,000 Muslims (6.2% of the population) live in Braunschweig. Mosques like DMK Moschee, Fatih Moschee Braunschweig and cultural clubs are present throughout the city but mosque buildings with minerates have not been built in Braunschweig but can be seen in its urban area for example the Grüne Moschee in Wolfenbüttel, Fatih Moschee Salzgitter and the Albanischer-Kulturverein in Gifhorn.

A total of 84,994 of Braunschweig's residents, including citizens with second passport, had a migration background in 2023 (31.2% of the total population). Weststadt has the highest migration percentage being 63%. Majority of the ethnic groups come from Asia, Africa and Eastern European nations. Among those, 39,785 were non-German citizens (15%); the following table lists up the largest minority groups, including citizens with a migration background from a specific nation or region:

Rank	Nationality	Population (2024-03-31)
Poland	13,303
Turkey	10,665
Russia	8,278
Vietnam	6,092
Syria	5,770
Ukraine	4,235
Italy	3,630
Kazakhstan	3,462
China	3,100
India	3,087
Cameroon	2,233
Tunisia	2,136
Croatia	2,073
Portugal	2,028
Romania	1,502
Iran	1,382
Greece	1,307
Spain	1,278
Kosovo	1,226
Algeria	1,207
Ghana	1,100
Afghanistan	1,003
Nigeria	871
Brazil	786
Thailand	776
Japan	723

Numbers of people from Continents:

Rank	Continent	Population (2024-03-31)
Europe	39,495
Asia	36,160
Africa	7,582
South America	891
North America	623
Oceania	122

The estimated migration population in 2025 is 95,961 (35% of 274,233).

The urban agglomeration area of Braunschweig is approximately 475,000 in 2024, making it one of the largest regiopolis in Germany and the largest one in Lower Saxony. This area includes Wolfenbüttel, Meine, Salzgitter-Thiede, Salzgitter-Lebenstedt, Weddel, Sickte, Timmerlah, Lengede and other towns and regions within a 15 kilometer radius. Braunschweig's urban area makes it a bigger city compared to others with a similar size e.g. Aachen, Wiesbaden or Gelsenkirchen, and since the urban area is not significantly smaller than Hanover, it makes itself an important and major city in Lower Saxony. Companies like New Yorker, Salzgitter AG, Jägermeister, Siemens, Bosch, Volkswagen, Nordzucker, Continental, Kosatec [de] and others are headquartered or have a branch in this area.

Information about the Urban Agglomeration in 2024:

Population: 476,257

Area size: 585.16

Population Density: 814 people per square kilometer

Migration background percentage: 46.4%

Largest cities, districts and towns: Braunschweig, Salzgitter, Kreis Wolfenbüttel, Lehrte, Kreis Cremlingen, Kreis Gifhorn, Vechelde, Lengede

The population of the urban aggomeration with a migration background is 220,983 in 2024, making it 46.4% of the population. This makes the agglomeration one of the most diverse in Germany and the most in Lower Saxony. The city is unique because unlike most cities with migrant populations concentrated inside the city itself, higher number of migrant populations are also found in surrounding areas. Braunschweig's urban agglomeration has a higher migration percentage compared to its city due to industrialization and other major factors since 2011. One of the largest Vietnamese, Cameroonian, Russian, Polish and Tunisian communities in Germany are located in the surroundings and within Braunschweig.

These are the biggest groups of nationalities in the urban aggomeration (these include the citizens with a migration background and a second passport):

Rank	Countries predominant in the urban area	Population (2024-03-31)
Germany	255,274
Turkey	21,578
Poland	20,439
Russia	17,783
Ukraine	14,045
Syria	9,346
Italy	7,210
Kazakhstan	6,543
Romania	6,423
Albania	6,322
Croatia	5,741
Iran	5,238
Iraq	4,565
Bulgaria	4,389
China	4,212
India	4,087
Tunisia	3,780
Cameroon	3,678
Spain	3,430
Algeria	3,234
Kosovo	3,200
Afghanistan	2,760

Braunschweig's climate is classified as oceanic (Köppen: Cfb; Trewartha: Dobk). The average annual temperature in Braunschweig is 9.9 °C (49.8 °F). The average annual rainfall is 614.8 mm (24.20 in) with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 18.7 °C (65.7 °F), and lowest in January, at around 1.8 °C (35.2 °F).

The Braunschweig weather station has recorded the following extreme values:

• Highest Temperature 38.3 °C (100.9 °F) on 20 July 2022.
• Warmest Minimum 22.6 °C (72.7 °F) on 10 July 2010.
• Coldest Maximum −17.5 °C (0.5 °F) on 11 February 1929.
• Lowest Temperature −26.3 °C (−15.3 °F) on 11 February 1929.
• Highest Daily Precipitation 79.9 mm (3.15 in) on 17 July 2002.
• Wettest Month 212.6 mm (8.37 in) in July 2002.
• Wettest Year 989.3 mm (38.95 in) in 2002.
• Driest Year 295.7 mm (11.64 in) in 1959.
• Earliest Snowfall: 4 October 1925.
• Latest Snowfall: 22 April 1929.
• Longest annual sunshine: 2,128.2 hours in 2018.
• Shortest annual sunshine: 1,270.4 hours in 1960.

• The Burgplatz (Castle Square), comprising a group of buildings of great historical and cultural significance: the Cathedral (St Blasius, built at the end of the 12th century); the Burg Dankwarderode (Dankwarderode Castle) (a 19th-century reconstruction of the old castle of Henry the Lion); the Neo-Gothic Town Hall (built in 1893–1900); as well as some picturesque half-timbered houses, such as the Gildehaus (Guild House), today the seat of the Craftsman's Association. In the centre of the square stands a copy of the Burglöwe (Brunswick Lion), a Romanesque statue of a lion, cast in bronze in 1166. The original statue can be seen in the museum of Dankwarderode Castle. The lion remains the symbol of Braunschweig today.
• The Altstadtmarkt ("Old Town market"), surrounded by the Old Town town hall (built between the 13th and the 15th centuries in Gothic style), and the Martinikirche (Church of Saint Martin, from 1195), with important historical houses including the Gewandhaus (the former house of the drapers' guild, built sometime before 1268) and the Stechinelli-Haus (built in 1690) and a fountain from 1408.
• The Kohlmarkt ("coal market"), a market with many historical houses and a fountain from 1869.
• The Hagenmarkt ("Hagen market"), with the 13th-century Katharinenkirche (Church of Saint Catherine) and the Heinrichsbrunnen ("Henry the Lion's Fountain") from 1874.
• The Magniviertel (St Magnus' Quarter), a remainder of ancient Braunschweig, lined with cobblestoned streets, little shops and cafés, centred on the 13th-century Magnikirche (St Magnus' Church). Here is also the Rizzi-Haus, a highly distinctive, cartoonish office building designed by architect James Rizzi for the Expo 2000.
• The Romanesque and Gothic Andreaskirche (Church of Saint Andrew), built mainly between the 13th and 16th centuries with stained glass by Charles Crodel. Surrounding the church are the Liberei, the oldest surviving freestanding library building in Germany, and the reconstructed Alte Waage.
• The Gothic Aegidienkirche (Church of Saint Giles), built in the 13th century, with an adjoining monastery, which is today a museum.
• The Staatstheater (State Theatre), newly built in the 19th century, goes back to the first standing public theatre in Germany, founded in 1690 by Duke Anthony Ulrich.
• The ducal palace of Braunschweig was bombed in World War II and demolished in 1960. The exterior was rebuilt to contain a palace museum, a library and a shopping centre, which opened in 2007.
• The baroque palace Schloss Richmond ("Richmond Palace"), built between 1768 and 1769 with a surrounding English garden for Princess Augusta of Great Britain, wife of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, to remind her of her home in England.
• The BraWoPark is a shopping and a business center near Braunschweig Hauptbahnhof ("Braunschweig Central Station") and contains three office towers, with the tallest having a height of 80 meters.
• Riddagshausen Abbey (German: Kloster Riddagshausen), a former Cistercian monastery, with the surrounding nature reserve and arboretum. The nature reserve Riddagshäuser Teiche is designated as an Important Bird Area and Special Protection Area.
• Gründerzeit quarters like östliches Ringgebiet, westliches Ringgebiet and Nordstadt-Schunteraue.

• 
  Burgplatz, with Castle, Cathedral, lion, and Town Hall
• 
  Brunswick Lion, original on display in castle museum
• 
  Town Hall
• 
  Veltheimsches Haus (left) and Gildehaus (right)
• 
  Gewandhaus
• 
  Altstadtmarkt, with Old Town town hall (left) and Stechinelli-Haus
• 
  Church of St. Martin
• 
  Altstadt ("Old Town")
• 
  Haus zum Stern on Kohlmarkt
• 
  Church of St. Catherine and Henry the Lion's Fountain
• 
  St. Magnus' Church
• 
  Magniviertel
• 
  Happy Rizzi House
• 
  Andreaskirche
• 
  Alte Waage
• 
  Church of St. Giles
• 
  State Theatre
• 
  Rebuilt exterior of Brunswick Palace
• 
  Schloss Richmond (Richmond Palace)
• 
  Building BraWoPark
• 
  Business Center BraWoPark
• 
  Riddagshausen Abbey
• 
  Östliches Ringgebiet
• 
  Nördliches Ringgebiet
• 
  Wolfenbüttel Castle in nearby Wolfenbüttel with its around 1.000 timber-framed buildings
• 
  Botanischer Garten
• 
  Bürgerpark
• 
  Löwenwall
• 
  Inselwallpark
• 
  Museumpark

Parks and gardens in the city include the botanical garden Botanischer Garten der Technischen Universität Braunschweig, founded in 1840 by Johann Heinrich Blasius, the Bürgerpark, the Löwenwall with an obelisk from 1825, the Prinz-Albrecht-Park, and the Inselwallpark. Other parks and recreation areas are Stadtpark, Westpark, Theaterpark, Museumpark, Heidbergsee, Südsee, Ölpersee, the zoological garden Arche Noah Zoo Braunschweig and the nearby Essehof Zoo.

Braunschweig is made up of 19 boroughs (German: Stadtbezirke), which themselves may consist of several quarters (German: Stadtteile) each. The 19 boroughs, with their official numbers, are:

• 
  Boroughs of Braunschweig
• 
  Stadtteile of Braunschweig
• 
  Innenstadt
• 
  Östliches Ringgebiet
• 
  Westliches Ringgebiet
• 
  Weststadt
• 
  Riddagshausen (Wabe-Schunter-Beberbach)

Notes

The current mayor of Braunschweig is Thorsten Kornblum of the Social Democratic Party (SPD); he has been mayor since 2021. The most recent mayoral election was held on 12 September 2021, with a runoff held on 26 September, and the results were as follows:

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Thorsten Kornblum	Social Democratic Party	41,734	38.4	79,861	65.9
	Kaspar Haller	Christian Democratic Union	29,011	26.7	41,401	34.1
	Tatjana Schneider	Alliance 90/The Greens	24,802	22.8
	Mirco Hanker	Alternative for Germany	4,704	4.3
	Birgit Huvendieck	Citizens' Initiative Braunschweig	3,215	3.0
	Anke Schneider	The Left	2,827	2.6
	Thomas Hofmann	Die PARTEI	1,904	1.7
	Erdmann Gust	Independent	614	0.6
Valid votes			108,811	99.3	121,262	98.1
Invalid votes			721	0.7	2,407	1.9
Total			109,532	100.0	123,669	100.0
Electorate/voter turnout			197,728	55.4	197,414	62.6
Source: City of Braunschweig

The Braunschweig city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 12 September 2021, and the results were as follows:

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	93,546	29.5	3.5	16	2
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	71,880	22.7	10.6	12	5
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	69,670	22.0	4.2	12	2
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	18,704	5.9	1.4	3	1
	Citizens' Initiative Braunschweig	16,778	5.3	0.7	3	±0
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	13,512	4.3	4.6	2	3
	The Left (Die Linke)	12,428	3.9	0.7	2	1
	Volt Germany (Volt)	6,467	2.0	New	1	New
	Die PARTEI (PARTEI)	6,302	2.0	0.5	1	±0
	Pirate Party (Piraten)	3,261	1.0	1.4	1	±0
	Grassroots Democratic Party (dieBasis)	2,999	0.9	New	1	New
	Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG)	1,646	0.5	New	0	New
Total		317,193	100.0
Valid votes		107,850	98.5
Invalid votes		1,606	1.5
Total		109,456	100.0		54	±0
Electorate/voter turnout		197,728	55.4	0.2
Source: City of Braunschweig

Braunschweig's city centre is mostly a car-free pedestrian zone.

Two main autobahns serve Braunschweig, the A2 (Berlin—Hanover—Dortmund) and the A39 (Salzgitter—Wolfsburg). City roads are generally wide, as they were built after World War II to support the anticipated use of the car. There are several car parks in the city.

Many residents travel around town by bicycle using an extensive system of bicycle-only lanes. The main train station includes a bicycle parking area.

The city is on the main rail line between Frankfurt and Berlin. Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) serves the city with local, inter-city and high-speed InterCityExpress (ICE) trains, with frequent stops at Braunschweig Central Station (German: Braunschweig Hauptbahnhof).

The Braunschweig tramway network is an inexpensive and extensive 35 km (22 mi) long electric tramway system. First opened in 1897, it has been modernized, including a 3.2 km (2.0 mi) extension in 2007. The network has an 1,100 mm (3 ft 7+5⁄16 in) gauge, unique for a European railway or tramway network. However, it is being supplemented in stages by a third rail, to allow future joint working with the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge main railway network.

The municipally owned Braunschweiger Verkehrs-AG currently operates five tram lines and several bus lines. The tram lines are:

Line	from	to
Tram 1	Wenden	Stöckheim
Tram 2	Siegfriedviertel	Heidberg
Tram 3	Volkmarode	Weststadt Weserstraße
Tram 4	Radeklint	Helmstedter Straße
Tram 5	Hauptbahnhof	Broitzem
Tram 10	Hauptbahnhof	Rühme

Braunschweig Airport (BWE / EDVE) is located north of the city at 52°19′N 10°33′E / 52.317°N 10.550°E / 52.317; 10.550, elev. 295 ft (90 m).

Many other geographical locations around the world are named Brunswick, after the historical English name of Braunschweig. Between 1714 and 1837, the House of Hanover ruled Great Britain in personal union with the Electorate of Hanover. The House of Hanover was formally known as the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Hanover line. As a result, many places in the British colonies were named after Brunswick, such as the province of New Brunswick in Canada.

Ironically, the city of Braunschweig was not ruled by the Hanoverians while its name was being given to other Brunswicks around the world. Starting in 1269, the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg underwent a series of divisions and mergers, with parts of the territory being transferred between various branches of the family. The city of Braunschweig went to the senior branch of the house, the Wolfenbüttel line, while Lüneburg eventually ended up with the Hanover line. Although the territory had been split, all branches of the family continued to style themselves as the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1884, the senior branch of the House of Welf became extinct. The Hanover line, being the last surviving line of the family, subsequently held the throne of the Duchy of Brunswick from November 1913 until November 1918.

The offices of the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA, "Federal Aviation Office") and the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) are located in Braunschweig.

Braunschweig has been an important industrial area. Today it is known for its University and research institutes, mainly the Johann Heinrich von Thuenen Institute, the Julius Kühn-Institut, and the Institute for Animal Food of the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, until the end of 2007 all part of the Federal Agricultural Research Centre, the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). The PTB Braunschweig maintains the atomic clock responsible for the DCF77 time signal and the official German time. In 2006 the region of Braunschweig was the most R&D-intensive area in the whole European Economic Area, investing 7.1% of its GDP for research & technology. In 2019, the figure had risen to 7.79%, making Braunschweig retain its ranking as the most R&D-intensive region in Germany. In 2007 Braunschweig was presented the City of Science award by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.

Braunschweig University of Technology (German: Technische Universität Braunschweig) was founded in 1745 and is the oldest member of TU9, an incorporated society of the nine most prestigious, oldest, and largest universities focusing on engineering and technology in Germany. With approximately 18,000 students, Braunschweig University of Technology is the third largest university in Lower Saxony.

Also located in Braunschweig is the Martino-Katharineum [de], a secondary school founded in 1415. It has had several notable pupils, such as Carl Friedrich Gauss, Hoffmann von Fallersleben, Richard Dedekind and Louis Spohr. Since 2004, Braunschweig also has an International School. Other notable secondary schools include the Gymnasium Neue Oberschule, Gymnasium Gaussschule, Gymnasium Kleine Burg [de], Hoffmann-von-Fallersleben-Schule Braunschweig [de], Integrierte Gesamtschule Franzsches Feld [de], and Wilhelm-Gymnasium [de].

Lower Saxony's only university of art, founded in 1963, can be found in Braunschweig, the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig (Braunschweig College of Fine Arts). The HBK is an institution of higher artistic and scientific education and offers the opportunity to study for interdisciplinary artistic and scientific qualifications. Additionally, one of the campuses of the Eastphalia University of Applied Sciences (German: Ostfalia Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften, formerly Fachhochschule Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel) was located in the city until 2010.

In 2015, the German weekly business news magazine Wirtschaftswoche ranked Braunschweig as one of the most dynamic economic spaces in all of Germany.

Braunschweig was one of the centres of the industrialization in Northern Germany. During the 19th and early 20th century the canning and railroad industries and the sugar production were of great importance for Braunschweig's economy, but eventually other branches such as the automotive industry became more important, while especially the canning industry began to vanish from the city after the end of World War II. The defunct truck and bus manufacturer Büssing was headquartered in Braunschweig. Current factories in the city include Volkswagen, Siemens, Bombardier Transportation, and Bosch.

The fashion label NewYorker, the publishing house Westermann Verlag, Nordzucker, Volkswagen Financial Services and Volkswagen Bank have their headquarters in the city as well as the Volkswagen utility vehicle holding. Also two major optical companies were headquartered in Braunschweig: Voigtländer and Rollei.

During the 1980s and early 1990s the computer companies Atari and Commodore International both had branches for development and production within the city.

Braunschweig is the home of two piano companies, both known worldwide for the high quality of their instruments: Schimmel and Grotrian-Steinweg. Both companies were founded in the 19th century. Additionally Sandberg Guitars is based in Braunschweig.

Braunschweig is famous for Till Eulenspiegel, a medieval jester who played many practical jokes on its citizens. It also had many breweries, and still a very peculiar kind of beer is made called Mumme, first quoted in 1390, a malt-extract that was shipped all over the world. Two major breweries still produce in Braunschweig, the Hofbrauhaus Wolters [de], founded in 1627, and the former Feldschlößchen [de] brewery, founded in 1871, now operated by Oettinger Beer.

Braunschweiger Mettwurst, a soft, spreadable smoked pork sausage, is named after the city. Other traditional local dishes include white asparagus, Braunschweiger Lebkuchen, Braunkohl (a variant of kale served with Bregenwurst), and Uhlen un Apen (Low German for "Owls and Guenons", a pastry).

Braunschweig's major local newspaper is the Braunschweiger Zeitung, first published in 1946. Papers formerly published in Braunschweig include the Braunschweigische Anzeigen/Braunschweigische Staatszeitung (1745–1934), the Braunschweigische Landeszeitung (1880–1936) and the Braunschweiger Stadtanzeiger/Braunschweiger Allgemeiner Anzeiger (1886–1941), and the social-democratic Braunschweiger Volksfreund [de] (1871–1933).

Near Braunschweig at Cremlingen-Abbenrode, there is a large medium wave transmitter, which transmits the program of Deutschlandfunk on 756 kHz, the Cremlingen transmitter.

Schoduvel, a medieval Northern German form of carnival was celebrated in Braunschweig as early as the 13th century. Since 1979 an annual Rosenmontag parade is held in Braunschweig, the largest in Northern Germany, which is named Schoduvel in honour of the medieval custom.

An annual Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) is held in late November and December on the Burgplatz in the centre of Braunschweig. In 2008 the market had 900,000 visitors.

The city's most important museum is the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, a well known art museum and the oldest public museum in Germany, founded in 1754. It houses a collection of masters of Western art, including Dürer, Giorgione, Cranach, Holbein, Van Dyck, Vermeer, Rubens, and Rembrandt.

The State Museum of Brunswick (Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum), founded in 1891, houses a permanent collection documenting the history of the Brunswick area ranging from its early history to the present.

The Municipal Museum of Brunswick (Städtisches Museum Braunschweig), founded in 1861, is a museum for art and cultural history, documenting the history of the city of Braunschweig.

The State Natural History Museum is a zoology museum founded in 1754.

Other museums in the city include the Museum of Photography (Museum für Photographie), the Jewish Museum (Jüdisches Museum), the Museum for Agricultural Technology Gut Steinhof, and the Gerstäcker-Museum. Frequent exhibitions of contemporary art are also held by the Art Society of Braunschweig (German: Kunstverein Braunschweig), housed in the Villa Salve Hospes, a classicist villa built between 1805 and 1808.

The Braunschweig Classix Festival was an annual classical music festival. It is the largest promoter of classical music in the region and one of the most prominent music festivals in Lower Saxony.

From 2001 to 2009, and again since 2013, the annual finals of the international breakdance competition Battle of the Year have been held at the Volkswagen Halle in Braunschweig.

Braunschweiger TSC is among the leading competitive formation dance teams in the world and has won multiple World and European championship titles.

Braunschweig's major local football team is Eintracht Braunschweig. Founded in 1895, Eintracht Braunschweig can look back on a long and chequered history. Eintracht Braunschweig won the German football championship in 1967, and currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football, and attracts a large number of supporters. Braunschweig was also arguably the city in which the first ever game of football in Germany took place. The game had been brought to Germany by the local school teacher Konrad Koch, also the first to write down a German version of the rules of football, who organized the first match between pupils from his school Martino-Katharineum in 1874. The 2011 German drama film Lessons of a Dream is based on Koch.

Eintracht Braunschweig also fields a successful women's field hockey team that claimed nine national championship titles between 1965 and 1978. In the past, the club also had first or second-tier teams in the sports of ice hockey, field handball, and water polo.

The New Yorker Lions (formerly Braunschweig Lions) are the city's American football team, winning a record number of 12 German Bowl titles, as well as five Eurobowls (a shared record).

The city's professional basketball team, the Basketball Löwen Braunschweig, plays in the Basketball Bundesliga, the highest level in Germany. The Löwen's predecessor SG Braunschweig had previously played in the Bundesliga as well. Eintracht Braunschweig's women's basketball team plays in the 2. Damen-Basketball-Bundesliga [de], the second tier of women's basketball in Germany.

In handball, MTV Braunschweig, the city's oldest sports club (founded in 1847), plays in the semi-professional 3. Liga.

Other sports clubs from Braunschweig that play or have played at the Bundesliga or 2nd Bundesliga level include Spot Up 89ers [de] (baseball), Braunschweiger THC [de] (field hockey), SV Süd Braunschweig [de] (handball), Rugby-Welfen Braunschweig (rugby union), and USC Braunschweig [de] (volleyball).

Annual sporting events held in Braunschweig include the international equestrian tournament Löwen Classics, Rund um den Elm, Germany's oldest road bicycle race, and the professional tennis tournament Sparkassen Open.

Braunschweig is twinned with:

Alphabetical list of some notable people associated with Braunschweig:

• Hannover–Braunschweig–Göttingen–Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region

• Richard Andree: Braunschweiger Volkskunde. 2nd edition. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1901.
• Reinhard Bein, Ernst-August Roloff (eds.): Der Löwe unterm Hakenkreuz. Reiseführer durch Braunschweig und Umgebung 1930–1945. MatrixMedia Verlag, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 3-93231336-4.
• Luitgard Camerer, Manfred Garzmann, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (eds.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5.
• Oskar Doering: Braunschweig. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1905.
• Hermann Dürre: Geschichte der Stadt Braunschweig im Mittelalter. Grüneberg, Braunschweig 1861.
• Reinhard Dorn: Mittelalterliche Kirchen in Braunschweig. Niemeyer, Hameln 1978, ISBN 3-87585-043-2.
• F. Fuhse (ed.): Vaterländische Geschichten und Denkwürdigkeiten der Lande Braunschweig und Hannover, Band 1: Braunschweig. 3rd edition. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 1925.
• Manfred Garzmann, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (eds.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Ergänzungsband. Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1996, ISBN 3-926701-30-7.
• Otto Hohnstein: Braunschweig am Ende des Mittelalters. Ramdohr, Braunschweig 1886.
• Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Gerhard Schildt (eds.): Die Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte. Jahrtausendrückblick einer Region. 2nd edition. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2001, ISBN 3-930292-28-9.
• Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Dieter Lent et al. (eds.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon – 8. bis 18. Jahrhundert. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7.
• Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Günter Scheel (eds.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon – 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8.
• Jörg Leuschner, Karl Heinrich Kaufhold, Claudia Märtl (eds.): Die Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte des Braunschweigischen Landes vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. 3 vols. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-487-13599-1.
• Richard Moderhack (ed.): Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte im Überblick. 3rd edition, Braunschweigischer Geschichtsverein, Braunschweig 1979.
• Richard Moderhack: Braunschweiger Stadtgeschichte. Wagner, Braunschweig 1997, ISBN 3-87884-050-0.
• E. Oppermann: Landeskunde des Herzogtums Braunschweig. Geschichte und Geographie. E. Appelhans, Braunschweig 1911.
• Rudolf Prescher: Der Rote Hahn über Braunschweig. Waisenhaus-Buchdruckerei und Verlag, Braunschweig 1955.
• Birte Rogacki-Thiemann: Braunschweig. Eine kleine Stadtgeschichte. Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2005, ISBN 3-89702-837-9.
• Ernst-August Roloff: Braunschweig und der Staat von Weimar. Waisenhaus-Buchdruckerei und Verlag, Braunschweig 1964.
• Ernst-August Roloff: Wie braun war Braunschweig? Hitler und der Freistaat Braunschweig. Braunschweiger Zeitung, Braunschweig 2003.
• Gerd Spies (ed.): Braunschweig – Das Bild der Stadt in 900 Jahren. Geschichte und Ansichten. 2 vols., Städtisches Museum Braunschweig, Braunschweig 1985.
• Gerd Spies (ed.): Brunswiek 1031 – Braunschweig 1981. Die Stadt Heinrichs des Löwen von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. 2 vols., Städtisches Museum Braunschweig, Braunschweig 1982.
• Werner Spieß: Geschichte der Stadt Braunschweig im Nachmittelalter. Vom Ausgang des Mittelalters bis zum Ende der Stadtfreiheit 1491–1671. 2 vols., Waisenhaus-Buchdruckerei und Verlag, Braunschweig 1966, OCLC 7495150.
• Henning Steinführer, Gerd Biegel (eds.): 1913 – Braunschweig zwischen Monarchie und Moderne. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2015, ISBN 978-3-944939-12-4.

• Official website Archived 2009-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
• Braunschweig – 360° Panoramas
• Daily newspaper Braunschweiger Zeitung