The reform involved a reduction in the number of rural districts in the state from 21 to 11, in anticipation of a continued population decline.

Dessau-Roßlau is the third largest town of Saxony-Anhalt by population, after Magdeburg and Halle (Saale).

With the famous art and architecture school Bauhaus, located in Dessau between 1925 and 1932, and the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, the town features two UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

As the western shore of the Elbe-Mulde rivers was the stopping point for U.S. troops in World War II, the capture of the town allowed the U.S. Army to evacuate Junkers employees to the west before Russia occupied the area on 1 July 1945.

It is located on the right bank of the Elbe, near its confluence with the Mulde, about 7 kilometers north of the centre of Dessau.