North Rhine-Westphalia (German language: Nordrhein-Westfalen) is the largest in population (though only fourth in area) among Germany's 16 States of Germany. It has about 18 million inhabitants and comprises 34,080 km² (13,158 square miles) in western-northwestern Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia contributes about 22 percent of Germany's gross domestic product; its capital is Düsseldorf.
== Geography ==
North Rhine-Westphalia borders on (from the west and clockwise) Belgium, the Netherlands, and the German states of Lower Saxony, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.
The state is centred on the sprawling Rhine-Ruhr urbanised region, which contains the cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Bonn, as well as the Ruhr area industrial complex. The Ruhr area consists, among others, of the cities of Essen, Germany, Dortmund, Duisburg, Bochum and Gelsenkirchen.
For many people North Rhine-Westphalia is synonymous with industrial areas and agglomerating cities. But the largest part of the state is covered with forests and fields. The southern parts of the Teutoburg Forest are located in the northeast. In the southwest, North Rhine-Westphalia shares in a small part of the Eifel, located on the borders with Belgium and Rhineland-Palatinate. The southeast is occupied by the sparsely populated regions of Sauerland and Siegerland. The northwestern areas of the state are part of the Northern European Lowlands.
The most important rivers that run at least partially through North Rhine-Westphalia include: Rhine, Ruhr, Ems, Lippe River and Weser.
See also List of places in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The state consists of 5 Regierungsbezirk (''Regierungsbezirke''), divided into 31 districts (''List of German districts'') and 23 List of German urban districts (''kreisfreie Städte''). In total, North Rhine-Westphalia has 396 municipalities (1997), including the urban districts, which are municipalities by themselves.
The districts of North Rhine-Westphalia:
I deleted the sentence:
:The northern part of the former Westphalia including Osnabrueck|Osnabrück is a part of Lower Saxony.
Osnabrück was a part of Westphalia before 1815, but afterwards these northern parts were divided between Oldenburg and Hanover and did never become a part of the Prussian province of Westphalia. I will add more details on this to the Westphalia article. -- User:Cordyph
Shouldn't this article be either called Northrhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine-Westphalia? Or does the English language allow to write things like that (it looks rather strange)? -- User:Sandman 10:04, 21 Sep 2003 (UTC)
== Someone was too fast! ==
Minister President Peer Steinbrück is still in office! The Jürgen Rüttgers will be elected by the new Landtag soon - there is no direct election of the Minister President in NorthRine-Westphalia! --User:85.74.154.165 20:20, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
