North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a state (Land) in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state in Germany. Apart from the city-states, it is also the most densely populated state in Germany. Covering an area of 34,084 square kilometres (13,160 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest German state by size.
The Lippe is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine and 220.3
Ratingen is a town in the district of Mettmann in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies in the northwestern part of Berg about 12 km northeast of Düsseldorf.
Euskirchen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted town status in 1302. As of December 2007, it had a population of 55,446. Its local football club is called TSC Euskirchen.
Peer Steinbrück is a German politician who was the Chancellor-candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the 2013 federal election. Steinbrück served as the eighth Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2002 to 2005, a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2016, and as Federal Minister of Finance in the first Cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2009.
WestLB was a major German bank based in Düsseldorf, mainly controlled by the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. As a Landesbank, WestLB's core business was wholesale banking on behalf of the region's Sparkassen, but it expanded into numerous risky activities that ultimately led to its restructuring and dismantlement in the late 2000s. As of 30 June 2012, the residual operations of WestLB were transferred to a legacy non-bank entity, Portigon Financial Services AG.
Dortmund Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The station's origins lie in a joint station of the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn and Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn which was built north of the city centre in 1847. That station was replaced by a new station, erected in 1910 at the current site. It featured raised embankments to allow a better flow of traffic. At the time of its opening, it was one of the largest stations in Germany. It was, however, destroyed in an Allied air raid on 6 October 1944.
The North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) State Police Force is the largest of the 16 German state police forces with around 50,000 personnel.
Christian Wolfgang Lindner is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as the Federal Minister of Finance since 8 December 2021. He has been the party leader of the liberal FDP since 2013 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) for North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017, previously holding a seat from 2009 until 2012.
Oliver Krischer is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens who has been serving as State Minister for Environment, Nature Protection, and Transport in the government of Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst since 2022.
North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has always been Germany's powerhouse with the largest economy among the German states by GDP figures. If NRW were a sovereign country, it would have an economy comparable to that of Switzerland in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP) as of 2020. Of all German states, most money from abroad is invested in NRW.
The Left of North Rhine-Westphalia is the chapter of the Left Party in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Andreas Pinkwart is a German politician and academic who served as State Minister for Economic Affairs, Digitization, Innovation and Energy in the governments of Ministers-President Armin Laschet and Hendrik Wüst of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2017 to 2022. He previously was the Dean of HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management and holder of the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship.
NRW.Bank is the state development bank of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) based in Düsseldorf and Münster. Its status is that of a public agency. It is owned by the North Rhine-Westphalia state and supports its structural policy.
Svenja Schulze is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). She serves as Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development in the cabinet of Olaf Scholz. Schulze has been serving as member of the German Bundestag since 2021, representing North Rhine-Westphalia.
Dirk Wiese is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2013.
Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from Rhein-Sieg-Kreis I in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2005.
Nyke Slawik is a German politician and member of the Bundestag representing the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the Alliance 90/The Greens list. Upon her election in the 2021 German federal election, Slawik and fellow politician Tessa Ganserer together became the first openly transgender people elected to the German parliament.
Hendrik Josef Wüst is a German politician currently serving as Minister-President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is a member of the Christian democratic and liberal-conservative CDU. In October 2021, he succeeded Armin Laschet as state chairman of his party. Under Wüst's leadership, his party won the highest vote share in the 2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election.
