North
Rhine-Westphalia (German: Nordrhein-Westfalen, usually shortened to
NRW, official short form NW) is the westernmost and - in terms of
population and economic output - the largest Federal State of Germany.
North Rhine-Westphalia has
over 18 million inhabitants, contributes about 22% of Germany's gross
domestic product and comprises a land area of 34,083 km² (13,158 square
miles). North Rhine-Westphalia is situated in the Western part of
Germany and shares borders with Belgium and
the Netherlands. It has borders with the
German states of Lower Saxony
to the North and Northeast, Rhineland-Palatinate to the Southwest and Hesse to the Southeast.
The
capital city is Düsseldorf,
and the largest city is Cologne
(Köln). Other major cities are Dortmund,
Essen, Duisburg, Oberhausen, Aachen,
Bielefeld, Bonn, Bochum, Bottrop,
Bergisch Gladbach, Mönchengladbach, Mülheim, Münster, Gelsenkirchen,
Krefeld, Hagen, Hamm, Herne, Leverkusen, Neuss, Paderborn,
Recklinghausen, Remscheid, Siegen, Solingen, Witten and Wuppertal.
top
|
