Situated in northwestern Germany, Lower Saxony is the second-largest federal state in Germany, by land area, and the fourth-largest in population. It is bordered by more states than any other, including Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. The state of Bremen also forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony.