The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (German: Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr) is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants.^[2] A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers an area of 7,110 square kilometres (2,750 sq mi), entirely within the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region spreads from the Ruhr area (Dortmund-Bochum-Essen-Duisburg) in the north to the urban areas of the cities of Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf (the state capital), Wuppertal, Leverkusen, Cologne (the region's largest and Germany's fourth largest city), and Bonn in the south. The location of the Rhine-Ruhr at the heart of the European Blue Banana makes it well connected to other major European cities and metropolitan areas such as the Randstad, the Flemish Diamond and the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region.

Quick Facts Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr, Country ...

Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region of Germany
Coordinates: 51°27′N 6°53′E
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Largest cities	Cologne Düsseldorf Dortmund Essen Duisburg Bochum Wuppertal Bonn
Area
• Metro	7,110 km2 (2,750 sq mi)
Highest elevation	494 m (1,621 ft)
Lowest elevation	20 m (70 ft)
Population  (2021)
• Metro	11,300,000
• Metro density	1,600/km2 (4,100/sq mi)
GDP [1]
• Metro	€501.718 billion (2020)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)

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The metropolitan area is named after the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, which are the region's defining geographical features and historically its economic backbone.

The largest cities in the Rhine-Ruhr area are Cologne, with over one million inhabitants, followed by Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Essen, each of which has slightly more than 575,250.

Many unofficial compositions of the Rhine-Ruhr area differ from one another, while the officially defined border of the metropolitan area itself comprises Hamm in the east, Mönchengladbach in the west, Bonn in the south, with the small city of Wesel as its northernmost point. The northern border is similar to that of the Ruhr Area.

This first unofficial table here characterizes the Rhine-Ruhr area as comprising three regions, which together constitute an area much larger than officially defined.

Eurostat's Urban Audit splits the Rhine-Ruhr region into six Larger Urban Zones (LUZ). None of these six Urban Zones includes the cities of Remscheid and Solingen or the district of Rhein-Kreis Neuss.

Historically, most of the Ruhr area was for the most part characterized by heavy industry since the age of industrialisation in the late 19th and early 20th century. Since the Middle Ages, Cologne, Dortmund, and other cities were important regional trading cities, but during the 19th century the city of Düsseldorf grew to become the administrative center of the region and since 1945, its political capital.

Today, the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region accounts for roughly 15% of the GDP of the German economy, which would place it as the 2nd largest metropolitan area GDP in the European Union. Despite this size, the Rhine-Ruhr region as a whole often lacks international competitiveness because it lacks a unified presentation. Cities and urban areas within it often pursue separate investment policies against each other.^[17]

From within, Düsseldorf, Essen, and Cologne are by far the largest economic centers,^[18] with specialisation in financial/high tech and insurance/multi media services respectively. Other major economic centers are Bonn and Dortmund. The region is home to twelve Fortune Global 500 companies,^[19] among them E.ON AG (Essen), Deutsche Post AG (Bonn), Metro AG (Düsseldorf), Deutsche Telekom AG (Bonn), ThyssenKrupp AG (Essen), RWE AG (Essen), Bayer AG (Leverkusen), Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH (Duisburg), Evonik Industries (Essen), Hochtief AG, (Essen), and the Henkel Group, (Düsseldorf).

The Rhine-Ruhr area's climate is characterized by having the warmest winters in Germany, especially its western part at the Lower Rhine area. Classified by Köppen-Geiger climate classification to be oceanic (Cfb).

The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is home to nine universities and over 30 partly postgraduate colleges, with a total of over 300.000 students. The largest and oldest university is the University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln), founded in 1388 AD. Other universities include:

• the Ruhr University Bochum,
• the University of Bonn,
• the German Sport University Cologne,
• the Technical University of Dortmund,
• the University of Duisburg-Essen,
• the University of Düsseldorf,
• the FernUniversität Hagen and
• the University of Wuppertal.

The following register lists all municipalities that officially belong to Rhine-Ruhr area. Demographically, these municipalities include 20 cities (German: Kreisfreie Städte) each with more than 100,000 inhabitants, and 11 districts (German: Kreis), each with a population of more than 250,000 inhabitants. Some districts only belong partly to Rhine-Ruhr area. In such a case only the municipalities that belong to the metro area are listed.

^[25]

• History of the Ruhr
• List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population
• List of metropolitan areas in Germany
• Ruhr Valley
• Upper Silesian-Moravian metropolitan area