Rhine-Ruhr

The Rhine-Ruhr Area ( _de. Rhein-Ruhr) in Germany is one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe, with about 11,800,000 inhabitants. It lies completely within the federal state North Rhine-Westphalia and spreads from the Dortmund-Essen-Duisburg (Ruhr area) megalopolis in the north, to the urban areas of the cities of Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf (the state capital), Wuppertal, Cologne (the region's largest city), and Bonn in the south.

There are many different definitions of what belongs to the Rhine-Ruhr area, but the metropolitan area itself has officially defined borders with Hamm in the east, Mönchengladbach in the west and Bonn in the south and the small city Wesel as its northernmost point. The northern border is similar to the one of the Ruhr area. The map at right spans approximately 130 kilometers (80 miles) from north to south.

Largest and most important cities of the Rhine-Ruhr Area

Cologne 989,766
Dortmund 587,830
Düsseldorf 581,858 (state capital)
Essen 581,406
Duisburg 502,522

Cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants

Ruhr area (Westphalian part)

Dortmund (population: 587,830)

Ruhr area (Rhenish part)

Duisburg (population: 502,522)

Essen (population: 581,406)

Rhine Valley

Düsseldorf (provincial capital) (population: 581,858)

Cologne (population: 989,766)

Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants

Ruhr area (Westphalian part)

Bochum, Bottrop, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Hamm, Herne, Iserlohn, Recklinghausen, Witten

Ruhr area (Rhenish part)

Moers, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Oberhausen

Bergisches Land

Bergisch Gladbach, Remscheid, Solingen, Wuppertal

Rhine Valley

Bonn, Krefeld, Leverkusen, Mönchengladbach, Moers, Neuss

Sources

*http://www.megacities.uni-koeln.de