Soldiers and other government employees make up the majority of its population, and the surrounding military zones restrict the town's growth, retaining its rural character.

Munster is situated in the central Lüneburg Heath region along the river Örtze between the towns of Soltau and Uelzen.

Over the course of World War II, large quantities of sulphur mustard gas and the new nerve agent, GA, were produced here.

At the end of the war, Germany had a continuous production line for GB nerve agent ready to go online; this plant was dismantled by the British Occupation Forces and later shipped to Porton Down, Great Britain.

(as of September 2011) The Oberpräsident of the Province of Hanover awarded the then municipality of Munster, in a decree of 4 March 1937, a coat of arms.

Firms of trans-regional significance are Meyer Breloh (construction materials and windows) and Abels Consulting and Technology.

An Intercity link from Magdeburg used to run nightly from Sunday to Monday until the timetable change on 9 December 2007.

[5] After the Bundeswehr took over Munster North Training Area, a testing facility for NBC defence was established from which the Wehrwissenschaftliches Institut für Schutztechnologien – ABC-Schutz emerged.

Since 1982 the WWD has operated an incineration site for the disposal of the large amount of contamination that resulted from the work on chemical weapons.

Since 17 December 1997 the operation of this and a second incineration site has been organised by Gesellschaft zur Entsorgung chemischer Kampfstoffe und Rüstungs-Altlasten (GEKA mbH), a company under private law that is 100 percent owned by the Federation.