Bavarians
Flag of Bavaria | |
| Total population | |
| c. 15 million | |
| Languages | |
| Native and historic Bavarian Predominant German | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Catholic Church with a Protestant minority) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Germanic peoples (especially Slavs, Celts, Other Germans) |
.svg){kind=link}
Bavarians are an ethnographic group of Germans native to Bavaria, a state in Germany. The group's dialect or language is known as Bavarian, native to Altbayern ("Old Bavaria"), roughly the territory of the historic 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%, 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, and also the party of all minister-presidents of Bavaria since 1946, with the single exception of Wilhelm Hoegner, 1954–1957.