Low German is an official language in West Germany. The language is a normalization of northwestern dialects of German, mostly based on Hamburg and Bremen dialects.
The language was recognized as an official language of West Germany in 1912, when the Language Status Act was approved, based mostly in the works of late 19th century linguists, predominantly Ludwig Warborg, who published a grammar and an orthography in 1889.
Since the Language Status Act of 1912, normalized Low German became the official language and L1 language in education for most of the northeastern states of West Germany, and co-official language in the Confederation.
The language was also made official in Rhineland, and other regions with predominant High German speakers, however the Language Status Act of 1984, recognized High German as co-official language in those regions, yet not an official language of the Confederation.
Currently Low German is the sole official language in Hanover, Oldenburg, Bremen, and Hamburg, and is cooficial in Luxembourg (with French and Luxembourgish), Rhineland (with High German), Trier (with High German), and Dutch East Africa (with Arabic and African languages).
Although not always using the standard West Germany orthography, Low German is also spoken in some northern and western places of the German Kingdom, in Poland and Denmark, as well as immigrant groups in many other countries.