With a population of about 20,000, Salzgitter-Bad is the second biggest quarter of the German city Salzgitter in Lower Saxony. Salzgitter's name derives from it; the quarter is regarded as the historical and cultural centre of Salzgitter.HistoryToday's quarter Salzgitter-Bad was called "Salzgitter" until 1951 when the city "Watenstedt-Salzgitter" was renamed into "Salzgitter". In 1929, that original Salzgitter was chartered. Until 1942 when the City of Salzgitter was formed, it belonged to the then Landkreis Goslar being a small town. More information about its history can be found at Salzgitter.Population developmentca. 650 (1539), 1550 (around 1790), 1481 (1823), 1778 (1885), 2000 (1905), 2190 (1925), 3500 (1937), ca. 23 000 (2005), ca. 20 800 (2015).Commerce and infrastructureBeing close to Goslar, Braunschweig and Hildesheim, Salzgitter-Bad shows increasing infrastructure decline. The number of cinemas, bars and discos has declined throughout the decades. There is neither an outdoor pool any more nor a department store. Instead there have appeared some shopping centres and super markets on the area of the former goods station that fill the gap of consumer goods which was left after the closing of the department store. However, the concentration of purchasing power outside the pedestrian zone is leading to more and more shops leaving the latter. Some authorities of Salzgitter are located at Salzgitter-Bad at the Small Townhall, where there is also the Public Library of Salzgitter-Bad. Moreover, the city's archive is settled at Salzgitter-Bad.