Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

In Germany, a settlement with 2,000 inhabitants already counts as a town. (Town rights are to be distinguished from this.) Many services simply are not worthwhile for 2,000 inhabitants. Even my hometown with about 50,000 inhabitants feels more like a village than a town because everything spreads out so much.

Exactly, compared to large cities, these are villages with the problems of rural areas.

If you do the math, you get the solution. Statista defines everything over 10,000 inhabitants as a "city".

If you calculate it, you get the solution. Statista defines everything over 10,000 inhabitants as a "city".

I lived in such a "city" with 12,000 inhabitants until recently. It somehow consisted of various districts that were all added together, and in the most central of these districts, a bus ran once every leap year.

Even if we define "city" as starting from 20,000, it is still just under 60%. I lived for a long time in a city with 32,000 inhabitants, and during rush hour, an S-Bahn ran every 15 minutes to the nearest large city...

PS: And with all due respect, even 10,000 inhabitants are no longer a "village"...

Our community has 8,000 inhabitants spread across 12 localities. The largest just over 1,000, the smallest around 400. Both are very rural. Village has nothing to do with the picture-book images. In our core area (3 villages separated only by village signs, about 2,200 inhabitants) we have almost everything for daily life. What is not available is delivered by online retailers. In addition, a Bullerbü mix of small, quiet, idyllic.

I believe most politicians do not distinguish between small towns and large cities. A town of 50,000 inhabitants has very different problems than a city of 500,000 inhabitants. I am thinking of a left-wing party that put up posters during the last state election, where we country bumpkins can only say, "and what does that matter to me? What about us?"
That is what many now think in discussions as well. Not only us 25% negligible rural population, but well about half of the 75% city population feel the same way.

Therefore, the division of politics into federal and local levels is quite good. The state level could be quite well eliminated ;)