North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is a German federal state. It borders on
the federal states of Lower Saxony in the north-east/east, Hesse in the
south-east and Rhineland-Palatinate in the south. It has international
borders with the Netherlands and Belgium in the west.
Most
travelers from other countries primarily associate NRW with large cities
and metropolitan areas such as the Ruhr area, the state capital of
Düsseldorf and Cologne, a city of over a million inhabitants. Düsseldorf
Airport is of international importance and Cologne is an important
railway junction. But there are also many rural and natural areas. While
one finds mainly lowland landscapes in the north of the country, there
are several low mountain ranges in the south.
Before 1815 there
were many smaller and somewhat larger dominions such as the
Archbishopric of Cologne or the Duchy of Berg in what is now North
Rhine-Westphalia. But then almost the entire area passed to Prussia as
the province of Westphalia and the Rhine province. The federal state of
North Rhine-Westphalia was not founded until 1946 under British
occupation. The following year, little Lippe decided to join NRW.
The Romans had primarily colonized the area to the left of the Rhine
since the 1st century BC. The most important cities in today's NRW were
the Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensum, today's Cologne, and the Colonia
Ulpia Traiana, right next to Xanten. The special feature of Xanten is
that this medieval town was not built on the old Colonia, but in the
immediate vicinity. Therefore there was the opportunity to set up a
large Archaeological Park Xanten on the old Colonia. Otherwise, the
Romans tried for a while to conquer the country up to the Lippe - the
late result of this is a Roman museum in Haltern.
Cities founded
on the right bank of the Rhine date back to the early and high Middle
Ages. The most important related saint who Christianized the country is
Liudger of the time of Charlemagne. Many churches in the region are
named after him, for example in Münster and Essen. Important imperial
cities in today's North Rhine-Westphalia were Aachen, Essen and
Dortmund; Cologne and Munster became important episcopal cities, which
also governed a large surrounding area.
In the 19th century,
almost all of today's NRW came to the Kingdom of Prussia, which had
previously owned individual areas there (Wesel, for example, where there
is a large Prussian Museum). The partly Protestant, but mainly Catholic
area experienced major modernization and industrialization under
Prussia. The first modern factory on the European continent was built in
1784, which is commemorated by the Industrial Museum in Ratingen. In the
1840s, major coal mining began north of the Ruhr, which flows into the
Rhine at Duisburg-Ruhrort; In the 1870s and 1880s, mining conquered what
is now the Ruhr area. It attracted many immigrants from all over Prussia
and became an industrial and metropolitan area of national and European
importance. The route of industrial culture is reminiscent of this time,
which slowly came to an end in the 1960s due to "structural change".
NRW consists of the greater Rhine-Ruhr area, with almost 10 million
inhabitants, and the more rural other areas of the northern Rhineland
and Westphalia-Lippe. Flat in the west, you meet the German low mountain
range in the south and east of the state. The Sauerland in the south is
a popular winter sports area.
Metropolises such as Cologne,
Düsseldorf, Essen and Dortmund, the other major cities and rural areas
correspond to what is typically expected in terms of tourism. The Ruhr
region is seen as a bit of a problem child, desolate, industrially
polluted, with big city problems and high unemployment. That should vary
greatly from city to city, or district to district. Above all, unlike in
Berlin or Hamburg, there is no real center with shopping areas, museums
and leisure facilities. These are much more spread out over the entire
area.
Düsseldorf
Aachen
Bonn
Cologne
Dortmund
Duisburg
Essen
Münster
Wuppertal
By plane
The main international airports are Düsseldorf Airport
(IATA: DUS), by far the busiest passenger airport in the country, and
Cologne-Bonn Airport (IATA: CGN), which is a popular destination for
low-cost airlines in particular.
Other national and international
airports are Dortmund Airport (IATA: FMO), Paderborn Lippstadt Airport
(IATA: PAD),
Weeze Airport (IATA: NRN) and Maastricht Aachen Airport
(IATA: MST) in neighboring Holland.
Hanover Airport (IATA: HAJ),
Frankfurt Airport (IATA: FRA) (ICE connection directly from the airport
to Cologne in less than an hour), Brussels-Zaventem Airport (IATA: BRU)
and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (IATA: AMS).
By train
A dense
railway network runs through the country. Cities with an IC/ICE
connection are: Aachen, Bielefeld, Bochum, Bonn, Dortmund, Düsseldorf,
Duisburg, Essen, Hagen, Hamm, Cologne, Münster, Oberhausen and
Wuppertal. The cities of Altenbeken, Bad Bentheim, Bad Oeynhausen,
Bünde, Geilenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen, Gütersloh, Herford, Herzogenrath,
Ibbenbüren, Krefeld, Lippstadt, Minden, Mönchengladbach, Paderborn,
Recklinghausen, Rheine, Rheydt and Siegburg are also served with a lower
IC/ICE clock frequency , Soest, Solingen, Viersen, Wanne-Eickel and
Warburg served; not all express trains stop here.
By bus
Due
to the liberalization of long-distance bus transport, there are
constantly new ways of getting there. The development of the
long-distance bus market is currently subject to rapid change, both in
terms of providers and routes.
In the street
As the most
populous federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia has a dense road
infrastructure. However, travelers always have to be prepared for
traffic jams, which delay the journey, especially at peak times and at
the beginning of the holiday season.
The main long-distance
connections are the federal motorways 1 (Puttgarden - Saarbrücken) and 3
(Emmerich - Passau) in a north-south direction. Shorter routes are the
Autobahns 31 (Emden - Bottrop), 33 (Osnabrück - Bad Wünnenberg), 43
(Münster-Wuppertal), 45 (Dortmund - Seligenstadt), 57 (Kleve - Cologne),
59 (Dinslaken - Bonn) and 61 ( Kaldenkirchen-Hockenheim). In the
east-west direction are the Autobahns 2 (Oberhausen-Berlin), 4 (Aachen -
Görlitz), 30 (Bad Oeynhausen - Bad Bentheim), 40 (Straelen - Dortmund),
52 (Mönchengladbach - Marl) as a connection to the Netherlands , 44
(Aachen - Kassel) as a connection to the Belgian road network and the 46
(Heinsberg - Bestwig) as a connection between the Netherlands and
Sauerland, important for long-distance traffic.
By boat
North
Rhine-Westphalia has navigable inland waterways: the Rhine, Weser, Ruhr,
inland canals, including the Mittelland Canal.
By bicycle
North Rhine-Westphalia is reached by long-distance cycle routes, such as
the Rhine Cycle Route, the Weser Cycle Route, and the Lahn Valley Cycle
Route. The paths along the rivers are suitable for a journey with few
gradients; in addition, large parts of the country are rather flat to
hilly and therefore easily accessible.
By train
Within North Rhine-Westphalia you can travel with Thalys
(only Essen-Cologne-Aachen), ICE, IC and Flixtrain (formerly HKX)
(Cologne - Düsseldorf - Duisburg - Essen - Gelsenkirchen - Munster -
Osnabrück - Hamburg), in the regional DB service and its competitors
with RE, RB, the S-Bahn Rhein-Sieg (Cologne, Bonn) and Rhein-Ruhr
(Düsseldorf, Ruhr area) as well as the Stadtbahn in the conurbation
areas of Cologne-Bonn, Düsseldorf and the cities of the Ruhr area.
The regional transport plan (downloads → tickets, tariffs,
mobility), which the transport associations have published together,
gives an overview of the railway lines in NRW. Further information on
the network-wide NRW tariff can be found on the website mobil.nrw.
In NRW there are a total of four regional transport tariffs for
local public transport by bus and (regional) train. These are listed
clockwise: Westfalentarif, VRS (Rhein-Sieg), AVV (Aachen) and VRR
(Rhein-Ruhr). As long as you are in one of the associations, their
tickets are usually cheaper than the NRW ticket. Only when traveling
across more than one transport association do you need NRW tickets,
since the local tickets are then no longer valid.
TagesTicket NRW
A day ticket for 1 person (NRW single) costs e.g. time z. B. €30.60. (as
of timetable year 2022)
By bicycle
In NRW there is a dense
network of cycling routes and cycle paths. The total length is about
14,000 kilometers. There is a so-called junction network in more and
more regions in North Rhine-Westphalia. There is a network of cycle
routes whose crossings (junctions) are marked with individual numbers.
Since these numbers and routes are also taken into account in the
(country-wide uniform) cycle route signs (the nearest numbers are marked
on the signposts at the junctions), it is very easy to put together an
individual route. More information and further explanations can be found
on the website for the Rhineland region.
Shipping
Cologne-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt. From the beginning of
April to the end of October, the ships sail between Cologne and Mainz
several times a day. In addition to scheduled trips, event trips with
live music are also offered.
Bonn passenger shipping. Line and
excursion trips.
Excursions are also offered on the Weser.
World Heritage Sites in NRW
Aachen Cathedral was begun in the 8th
century at the time of Charlemagne, making it one of the oldest church
buildings in Germany. 30 Roman-German kings were crowned on the
coronation chair, the cathedral treasury is considered a historical
heritage of inestimable value. The Aachen Cathedral was one of the first
entries in the world heritage list.
Castles Augustusburg and
Falkenlust in Brühl - magnificent rococo castles of the Archbishops of
Cologne
Cologne Cathedral – the largest Gothic church in Germany and
a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Zollverein colliery and coking plant in
Essen - At that time it was the largest and most modern hard coal
conveyor system in the world. Today a vivid monument and museum of
industrial culture in the Ruhr area
Carolingian Westwork and Civitas
Corvey in Höxter
More top sights
Landscape
Drachenfels with
Drachenburg Castle in the Siebengebirge - At 321 meters high, the
Drachenfels is the most climbed mountain in the world. The
Drachenfelsbahn has been in operation since 1883, the oldest active rack
railway in Germany.
Historical buildings
Moated castles in the
Münsterland – The Münsterland is considered a “land of 100 castles”,
Vischering Castle near Lüdinghausen, for example, corresponds to the
ideal image of a medieval castle; Nordkirchen Castle, on the other hand,
is nicknamed the “Westphalian Versailles”; the Burg Anholt moated
castle, one of the largest and most beautiful of these complexes,
definitely belongs in this series.
Hermann Monument in Detmold -
during the period of romantic nationalism, larger than life statue of
the Cheruscan prince who defeated the Romans in the Battle of the
Teutoburg Forest.
mining and industrial culture
German Mining
Museum in Bochum - It is one of the most important mining museums in the
world.
Dortmund port: In the largest canal port in Europe, building
materials, coal, mineral oils, etc. are mainly handled today.
Gasometer in Oberhausen - The gasometer was built in 1929 as a disc
gasometer and, with a storage volume of 350,000 cubic meters, was the
largest gas holder in Europe and the second largest in the world. It is
an industrial monument and landmark of the city of Oberhausen. The
interior is now used for changing exhibitions, and you can also climb
the gasometer to enjoy the view.
Parks
ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen – remodeled former Ruhr Zoo. Visitor and
child-friendly designed adventure zoo. The four themed areas are: Alaska
(between icebergs and coastal rainforest, Africa (magic of vastness and
wilderness), Asia (the "Green Hell" of Asia) and the Grimberger Hof
petting zoo.
Means of transport
Cologne Cable Car – The
Rheinseilbahn is the only permanent cable car in Germany that crosses a
river. It connects the two banks of the Rhine near the Zoo Bridge, from
the Zoo to the Rheinpark.
Wuppertal Suspension Railway – One of the
oldest monorails
To go biking
There are a total of over 7,000 km of marked
long-distance cycle routes in North Rhine-Westphalia.
An overview
of long-distance cycle paths and regional routes can be found in the
article cycle routes in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Hike
There is
a very large selection of hiking trails in the low mountain ranges, not
least thanks to the great commitment of the hiking clubs. One of the
best known is probably the Rothaarsteig, which was opened in 2001. It
leads over 154km over the crest of the Rothaargebirge.
winter
sports
The Rothaargebirge is one of the northernmost winter sports
areas in western Germany, which is why many northern Germans and Dutch
people come here for whom the route to the Alps is too far. The No. 1
winter sports resort in North Rhine-Westphalia is Winterberg. In the
Rothaargebirge you will find a few more winter sports areas. An overview
can be found in the article Winter sports in the Sauerland and
Rothaargebirge.
If the weather doesn't play along, there are two
ski halls in the state:
Ski hall Neuss. The largest indoor ski slope
in Germany with the highest artificial climbing facility in Europe.
Alpine Center Bottrop. Run length: 640m at 30m width.
Several of the largest and best-known musical theaters in Germany are
located in North Rhine-Westphalia: the Starlight Express Theater in
Bochum, the Capitol Theater in Düsseldorf, the Colosseum Theater in
Essen, the Musical Dome in Cologne and the Metronom Theater in
Oberhausen.
"Beacons" of high culture in NRW are the Theater
Aachen, Theater Bielefeld, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Theater Bonn,
Landestheater Detmold, Theater Dortmund, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus,
Aalto-Theater in Essen, Musiktheater Gelsenkirchen, Staatshaus and
Schauspiel Köln , the Oberhausen Theater, the Wuppertal Opera House and
the Deutsche Oper am Rhein with venues in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The
Ruhr Festival in Recklinghausen (every year in May and June) is one of
the largest and most renowned theater festivals in Europe and the
Ruhrtriennale is a cross-art festival of international standing.
Astrological city tour in Cologne. The "new learning"
association offers city tours on the subject of astrology and its
connection with architecture.
Cologne scent tour:. The participants
of the tour should rely entirely on their sense of smell and thus
experience stories of old Cologne in a different way.
Love stories in
Cologne:. A city tour for those who are interested in real and invented
love stories in Cologne. For example, for Casanova's adventures.
Witcher, hangman, hangman's meal in Arnsberg:. The city tour of the
Arnsberg tourist office provides incomprehensible and horrible facts
about medieval law, Feme, shameful punishments, etc.
Historical city
review in Bonn. Actors play parts of Bonn's history at original
locations.
Ludwig van Beethoven tour in Bonn:. During the city tour
"Ludwig, the music fox", the young Beethoven personally guides the
participants through Bonn and tells them about his youth.
Architecture and art tours in Cologne:. City tour to the art city of
Cologne.
378 meters - mountain experiences. Under the name "Bergische
Erlebnis" 378meter offers guided tours & tours as well as events where
you can experience Bergisch culture in a new way.
Standard German is also the standard language in NRW. The important
Benrather line runs through the federal state: north of this line people
say or said maken, south of it make. This important dialect boundary is
considered the boundary between Low German and the rest of German. It is
named after a place that today belongs to Düsseldorf. The line crosses
the Rhine near Benrath.
Even if some people use Low German (Low
German), the people in NRW all speak Standard German or a dialect of
Standard German. This also applies to the so-called Ruhr German, which
is used to summarize most of the dialects in the Ruhr area. Popular
cabaret artists and actors of this dialect were or are Jürgen von Manger
(as Adolf Tegtmeier), Tana Schanzara, Uwe Lyko (as Herbert Knebel) and
the Missfits.
The west of the country has many dialect
differences: It belongs to the Rhenish fan, where the transition from
Central German to Low German has several important dialect boundaries.
Lower Rhine belongs to Lower Franconian and is very similar to Low
German. A well-known cabaret artist from Niederhein was Hanns-Dieter
Hüsch.
One of the best-known city dialects in Germany is probably
that of Cologne and the surrounding area. It belongs to Middle
Franconian and sounds much more like the Middle German dialects,
although there is also a lot of Low German (such as “dat” and “wat”).
Kölsch is known for its carnival, the Millowitsch Theater, cabaret
artists such as Jürgen Becker and music groups such as the Bläck Fööss.
There are universities and colleges in the following
cities:
Aachen, Alfter, Bad Honnef, Bad Münstereifel, Bielefeld,
Bochum, Bonn, Brühl, Detmold (music), Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Duisburg,
Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen (Fern-Universität), Hamm, Herford, Iserlohn,
Kleve, Cologne, Krefeld, Lemgo, Minden, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Münster,
Neuss, Nordkirchen, Paderborn, Rheine, Siegen, St. Augustin, Unna,
Witten/Herdecke and Wuppertal
The safest cities in Germany are in North Rhine-Westphalia: Twelve of the 20 cities with over 200,000 inhabitants with the lowest crime rate are in the most populous federal state. According to statistics from the Federal Criminal Police Office for 2006, Wuppertal is the safest city in Germany, followed by Bielefeld in second place. With Mönchengladbach (4th place), Essen (5th), Gelsenkirchen (6th) and Aachen (10th), four other NRW cities are among the ten first place finishers. Duisburg (12), Münster (15), Krefeld (16), Oberhausen (18), Bonn (19) and Dortmund (20) follow in the nationwide list of cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants. The other side of the coin: the state capital Düsseldorf has to contend with the second highest crime rate in Germany, only Frankfurt am Main is an even more unsafe place.
Occasionally there are subliminal negative vibrations between Rhinelanders and Westphalia, or Westphalia and Lippern. Travelers had better not pick at the wound if they don't want to hear hours of lectures about disadvantages compared to the other region.
North Rhine-Westphalia is located in western Germany and borders
Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Belgium and the Netherlands
clockwise. The country extends from southwest to northeast about 260
kilometers. The north of the country lies in the North German Plain and
is roughly divided into the Westphalian Bight, through which the rivers
Lippe, Ems and Ruhr flow, and the Lower Rhine Plain on both sides of the
Rhine, which is the largest river in the country (and also in Germany).
as well as the Westphalian lowlands in the very north north of the low
mountain range, where the country extends relatively far into the actual
North German lowlands in two places. There, in the "far north" is also
the North Point of North Rhine-Westphalia. The lowest point is 9.2 m
above sea level. NHN in the northwest of the country. The remaining
areas of the country are part of the German low mountain range regions.
The Weserbergland on the upper Weser characterizes the east of the
country. The mountains of the Rhenish Slate Mountains occupy the south.
The Rhenish Slate Mountains are roughly divided into the Eifel on the
left bank of the Rhine in the southwest and Bergisches Land and
Sauerland to the east of the Rhine. The Langenberg in the Sauerland
belonging Rothaargebirge is at 843.2 m above sea level. NHN the highest
mountain in the country. The geographic center of the state is in
Dortmund in the Aplerbecker Mark; near Selfkant is the westernmost point
of North Rhine-Westphalia and at the same time of Germany.
The
climate of North Rhine-Westphalia shows balanced temperature and
precipitation patterns. The mean annual temperatures are between 5 °C
and 10 °C, depending on the altitude. The annual precipitation is
between 600 millimeters in the lowlands and 1400 millimeters in the low
mountain ranges.
By virtue of occupation law, the occupying power Great Britain
founded the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on August 23, 1946 from the
northern part of the Prussian Rhine Province (Province of North Rhine)
and the also Prussian Province of Westphalia. The political preparation
for this ran under the code word Operation Marriage. After the
incorporation of the state of Lippe, which had been independent for
centuries, in 1947, today's territorial layout was achieved.
On
its territory, North Rhine-Westphalia has become the legal successor to
the Free State of Prussia and the State of Lippe. In contrast to some
other German states, North Rhine-Westphalia as a whole did not have a
strong identity-establishing predecessor state. When the state of North
Rhine-Westphalia was founded, the focus was not on the idea of merging
homogeneous areas, but on the British government's desire to embed the
Ruhr area and its important industrial resources as a whole in one
country.
In 1949, North Rhine-Westphalia founded the Federal
Republic of Germany together with other states. The greatest challenges
in the post-war period were the reconstruction of the war-ravaged
country and the establishment of a democratic state. In particular as a
result of the decline of the mining industry as a result of the coal and
steel crises and the trend towards tertiarisation, the design of the
necessary structural change has become a central topic in state
politics.
From 1966 to 1976 there was a municipal area reform,
which reduced the number of independent towns, municipalities and
districts. The number of governmental districts has been reduced from 6
to 5 districts. The former government district of Aachen was merged with
the government district of Cologne to form the new government district
of Cologne.
Bonn was the capital of the Federal Republic of
Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the sole seat of government until 1999.
Since then, government functions have been shared between Berlin and
Bonn, making Bonn the second seat of government and today the seat of
numerous federal authorities.
According to the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany and
the constitution for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, North
Rhine-Westphalia is a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
According to its constitution, the country is organized according to the
principles of a republican, social and democratic constitutional state.
The legislative power lies primarily with the state parliament, which is
elected by the electorate for a period of five years. Elements of direct
democracy hardly play a role in practice. The CDU and Bündnis 90/Die
Grünen have held the state government since 2022. The executive, which
is tied to parliament, is headed by the Prime Minister – since October
27, 2021 by Hendrik Wüst (CDU) (until 2022 Cabinet Wüst I, since 2022
Cabinet Wüst II). The state administration is subordinate to the state
government. The district governments for the districts of Düsseldorf,
Cologne, Münster, Detmold and Arnsberg are a middle level of the state
administration. The state constitutional jurisdiction lies with the
constitutional court for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Due to its
partial sovereignty, North Rhine-Westphalia, as a limited state subject
under international law, can conclude international treaties in certain
areas. Through the Bundesrat, the state participates in federal
legislation and in affairs of the European Union. As a federal city,
Bonn is the seat of numerous federal institutions and also the location
of various United Nations organizations.
The towns and
municipalities of the state have the right to local self-government and
take on tasks of the state administration on behalf of the state or by
way of organ loan. At the municipal level, the state of North
Rhine-Westphalia is divided into 30 districts and one city region. The
districts and the city region include 374 district (regional)
communities and cities. In addition, there are 22 independent towns in
North Rhine-Westphalia. The city of Aachen is both independent of a
district and part of the Aachen city region. Overall, the country is
divided into 396 municipalities. The country has 29 major cities. The
two regional associations in North Rhine-Westphalia and other municipal
associations such as the Ruhr regional association or the Lippe state
association are of particular importance in the cultural and social area
and for other tasks of local government.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia has 17,924,591 (as of December
31, 2021) inhabitants, making it the most populous German state. At the
same time, the area with a population density of 526 inhabitants per
square kilometer is by far the most densely populated country among the
non-city states. However, the population is distributed quite unequally.
The Münsterland, the Tecklenburger Land, the more mountainous regions in
the south of the state and parts of Ostwestfalen-Lippe are rather
sparsely populated. With around ten million inhabitants, the Rhine-Ruhr
metropolitan region is one of the most densely populated and densely
populated regions in Europe. The following table shows the country's
population development.
In 2006, the proportion of people over 65
was around 19.7 percent (1950: 8.8 percent). The proportion of under-15s
was 14.7 percent in 2006 (1950: 22.6 percent).
In 2006 there were
around 8.5 million households in the country. The average household size
is therefore 2.12 people. However, only one person lives in 37 percent
of these households. In 1950 the average household size was over 3
people. The proportion of single-person households was only 16.9 percent
in 1950. The proportion of single people is even higher than the
proportion of single-person households. In 2006, around 39 percent of
the population were single. Only around a quarter of North
Rhine-Westphalians live in a “classic” couple relationship with
children.
In 2006, North Rhine-Westphalia had the third highest
fertility rate among the federal states of Germany, with 1.36 children
per woman. In 2007, this rose to 1.39. However, there are strong
regional differences. Comparatively high values of over 1.5 can be found
in the north and east of the country. The district of Lippe took the top
spot with 1.61 (2007). Low values can be found in the Ruhr area, e.g. B.
Bochum with 1.15 or Dortmund with 1.33. Duisburg has the highest value
in the Ruhr area at 1.45. Remscheid is the independent city in North
Rhine-Westphalia with the highest fertility rate, 1.56. The state
capital of Düsseldorf has very low values at 1.29 and the most populous
city of Cologne at 1.26. By 2017, the number of children in North
Rhine-Westphalia had risen to 1.60 per woman.
Average life
expectancy in 2015/17 was 78.1 years for men and 82.7 years for women.
Men thus rank 7th among the German federal states, while women rank
13th. Regionally, in 2013/15 Münster (expectation of the total
population: 82.43 years), Bonn (82.23) and Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
(81.81) had the highest, as well as Oberhausen (78.86), Herne (78.62)
and Gelsenkirchen (78.49) the lowest life expectancy.
In 2014, the proportion of residents with a migration background
(registered residents with non-German citizenship or people born outside
Germany who have immigrated since 1950 and their children) was 23.6
percent. The proportion of foreigners (registered residents without
German citizenship) in the total population was 10.6 percent on December
31, 2006.
The proportion of citizens with a migration background
is 29.3 percent (2018).
According to various forecasts, the population of North
Rhine-Westphalia will shrink significantly in the coming decades. The
country's statistics agency's population projection predicts a total
population of just 16.16 million by 2050. According to forecasts, the
proportion of people over 65 in the total population will rise to almost
30 percent by 2050. The German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis)
forecasts a population decline of around one million people every 20
years for NRW. In 2011, the Bertelsmann Foundation published the
"Wegweiser Kommune" forecast. By 2030, a population decline of around
one million inhabitants is forecast.
Lt. According to the
forecast by IT.NRW from 3/2016, the population decline goes hand in hand
with the decline in the labor force for the period 2014 to 2040. A
decline of around 7.9% or 693,000 labor force is expected (5.2% for men
or 248,000 from 4,739,000 to 4,491,000 or for women by 11.1% or 445,000
from 4,013,000 to 3,568,000).
In mid-2019, the State Statistical
Office presented a new model calculation. According to this, North
Rhine-Westphalia will probably have 18.08 million inhabitants in 2040
and will therefore grow faster than previously assumed. Accordingly, the
population will increase by 0.9 percent by 2040. The population is
expected to develop very differently from region to region. While the
number of inhabitants in the Rhineland with its agglomerations from the
Lower Rhine to Bonn is growing noticeably, it is declining in
structurally weaker regions such as the Sauerland, Siegerland and large
parts of the Ruhr area.
North Rhine-Westphalia is referred to as a "hyphenated state" because
it was formed from three historically different parts of the state under
the decisive influence of the occupying power Great Britain in 1946 and
1947 and since then no strong identification with the state has emerged.
When the state was founded, cultural considerations took a back seat to
geopolitical and economic considerations of embedding the Ruhr area as a
whole. Economically, the regions of the country were intertwined early
on, sometimes closely.
The inhabitants of the three parts of the
state of Westphalia, Lippe and Rhineland have developed a certain
identification with the state since 1946. Especially since the 1980s, a
breakthrough towards a clear national identity could be observed.
However, this awareness is often secondary to the awareness of belonging
to a part of North Rhine-Westphalia. Above all, the historical, cultural
and linguistic differences between the Rhineland and Westphalia-Lippe
have a separating effect. Large parts of Westphalia-Lippe, especially in
the north and east, feel culturally and historically connected to the
neighboring regions of Lower Saxony. But there are also other distinct
regional identities within the other regions of North Rhine-Westphalia,
which can often be traced back to the territories formed in the Middle
Ages and modern times, their ruling houses and the associated
denominational ties. The 285 km long Rhenish-Westphalian internal border
between the former Prussian provinces within today's state is regarded
throughout the Prussian period as an ancient cultural border that can be
traced back to the Franconian-Saxon tribal border of the 8th century.
The regional awareness of the Lipper people is mainly based on their
long independence, because culturally the Lipperland can hardly be
separated from the rest of Westphalia, especially the neighboring
Minden-Ravensberg. The identity of the Rhinelanders also reaches beyond
the borders of North Rhine-Westphalia in their imagination and mostly
refers to a historical cultural area along the Rhine, which roughly
corresponds to the former Rhine province, i.e. also includes parts of
today's Rhineland-Palatinate and peripheral areas of East Belgium.
Another characteristic of the self-image of the Rhinelanders is their
awareness of the ties with and proximity to Western Europe.
While
in the 19th century individual territories in what later became North
Rhine-Westphalia (such as the Duchy of Kleve, the County of Mark and
Minden-Ravensberg) had been associated with Brandenburg-Prussia for
centuries, many residents (especially in the secularised, former
clerical territories such as Kurköln and the Bishoprics of Münster and
Paderborn) as "Musspreußen" had a largely distanced relationship with
the Prussian state. This was expressed, for example, during the Cologne
turmoil, which culminated in the arrest of the Cologne Archbishop
Clemens August Droste zu Vischering and which promoted the emergence of
political Catholicism in the Rhineland and in Westphalia, as well as in
the Cologne-Düsseldorf fraternity festival in the summer of 1843, when
Rhenish citizens committed themselves to maintaining their Rhenish law.
The gap widened for many as a result of the failure of the March
Revolution and the Kulturkampf, the repressive measures against the ties
of many Rhinelanders and Westphalians to the Roman Catholic Church and
to Ultramontanism. The Rhenish and Westphalian identity development was
promoted by the contrasts of the Prussian state, which was centrally
controlled in “distant Berlin”. A further major influence was that
Prussia not only united the Rhinelanders, who until then had been spread
over different dominions, in the Rhine Province, but also promoted the
Rhine romanticism that shaped the Rhenish self-image, especially in the
Middle Rhine area. The same can be said about the Westphalians, which
were also united by Prussia in the 19th century in the province of
Westphalia.
In the case of the residents of the state with a
foreign migration history, the proportion of which is not small,
especially in the urbanized and industrialized regions, the fact that
their culture and identity is shaped by the living environment of their
different cultures of origin is an identity-forming factor, for example
in the case of so-called Ruhr Poles, emigrants and late emigrants,
Turkish people and their descendants. Not small is also the proportion
of those residents who have moved here from other federal states or as
so-called expellees and have thus “brought along” an identity that was
pre-formed in other German or formerly German regions. The
characteristic of the mixture and absorption of different people,
cultures and traditions in the Rhineland had led the writer Carl
Zuckmayer to his metaphor of the Rhine as the “Mill of Nations” in 1946
– i.e. long before the labor migration of the so-called guest workers.
The old contrasts between the parts of the country are only slowly
fading away. The two regional associations for Westphalia-Lippe and the
Rhineland are responsible for the regional cultivation of culture and
thus to a certain extent institutionalize the cultural-spatial
separation of the state. With Ostwestfalen-Lippe and in particular the
industrial-cultural Ruhr area, however, cross-state and new
identity-forming regions have also emerged. As a result of the process
of European integration, a European identity has also become more
pronounced as a further identity level - above the prevailing self-image
of North Rhine-Westphalia as Germans.
Overall, more than 70 years
after the founding of North Rhine-Westphalia, it can be stated that the
awareness of the state, promoted through publications, events (e.g.
through the North Rhine-Westphalia Day), awards, national emblems and
state symbols, museums with state-specific themes, the construction and
the presence of representative government buildings and institutions
such as B. Westdeutscher Rundfunk, is developing and that the identity
of the country's residents is increasingly oriented towards the
country's borders. The respective prime ministers and state governments
tried to promote and use the North Rhine-Westphalian identity of the
state residents in different ways and intensity, for example Franz
Meyers (foundation of the art collection North Rhine-Westphalia),
Johannes Rau (election slogan We in NRW, later name of a blog) and
Jürgen Rüttgers (slogan We in the West, later foundation of the North
Rhine-Westphalia Day). However, one cannot yet speak of a particularly
strong general awareness of the country. The state of North
Rhine-Westphalia wants to convey the development of the state up to the
present to a broad audience with a house of the history of North
Rhine-Westphalia, which is to be set up in the Mannesmann-Haus on the
Rhine promenade in the government district of Düsseldorf by the 75th
state anniversary in 2021 and invite you to actively engage with the
past, present and future of the country. This should also promote a
sense of state and a self-confident national identity.
In the “Mitte Study” from 2015, approval of xenophobic statements in individual German federal states was examined. 78.8% of North Rhine-Westphalians rejected xenophobic statements. This was the highest rejection rate for xenophobic statements in a non-city state (national average: 75.7%).
In the Happiness Atlas, which has been collected since 2011, the residents of the federal state regularly occupy one of the top places. In 2022, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia took third place among the 16 federal states. On average, residents rated their life satisfaction as 6.98 on a scale from 0 to 10 (national average: 6.68). Münsterland and Westphalia in particular achieved high values.
The largest religious group are the Roman Catholic Christians with
around 37.5 percent of the total population in 2018. The second largest
group are Protestant residents with 23.8 percent, also for 2018.
Evangelical Free Churches make up 1.1 percent and Orthodox 1.5 percent
of the population. The largest non-Christian population group with a
religious confession are Muslims with about 8 percent of the population,
who predominantly belong to the Sunni faith of Islam. There are also
Alevis and other groups. Jews make up about 0.1 percent. The state
constitution grants the churches a special role in society, especially
in the area of education, and guarantees the right to freely practice a
religion.
The proportion of non-denominationals is accordingly
around 28 percent.
The colloquial and official language is German. The dialects and
languages in North Rhine-Westphalia vary due to the cultural
inconsistency of the state area. In the Rhenish part of the country
there are predominantly Rhenish regiolects, in Westphalia and Lippe
mainly Westphalian regiolects of High German, which have their roots in
Westphalian dialects of Low German. The Ruhr German that arose under the
influence of immigration is an example of a regiolect. Due to language
teaching and immigration, the multilingualism of the residents has
increased considerably over the past few decades. The pronunciation is
in Low German Noordrhien-Westfalen
Personalities
North Rhine-Westphalia and the area of today's state has produced
numerous important personalities. The composer Ludwig van Beethoven, the
painter Peter Paul Rubens and the racing driver Michael Schumacher are
likely to be at the forefront of international fame. Five Federal
Presidents alone were born in what later became North Rhine-Westphalia:
Gustav Heinemann, Heinrich Lübke, Johannes Rau, Walter Scheel and
Frank-Walter Steinmeier. With Konrad Adenauer and Gerhard Schröder, two
Federal Chancellors also come from North Rhine-Westphalia. Other
well-known personalities are Otto III, Friedrich Engels, Joseph Beuys,
Heinrich Böll, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Heinrich Heine, Wilhelm
Conrad Röntgen and Alfred Krupp.
schools
The North Rhine-Westphalian school system provides for
attending one of the following types of school after a four-year
standard period at primary school: Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium,
comprehensive school or secondary school. The highest school-leaving
exam is the general higher education entrance qualification, which is
usually taken as a central high school diploma after three years of
completing the upper level of a secondary school.
Since 2010
(with the exception of 2015), North Rhine-Westphalia has spent the least
amount on education per pupil at general and vocational schools compared
to the other federal states.
Universities and research
institutions
The state has a total of 14 universities and 16
technical colleges, seven state art and music colleges, 26 recognized
private and church colleges and five administrative colleges. Around
770,000 students were enrolled at the universities in North
Rhine-Westphalia in the 2020/2021 winter semester, 98,000 of them in the
first semester.
In the 1950s there were only a few universities
in North Rhine-Westphalia, including the Westphalian Wilhelms University
in Münster, the University of Cologne and the Rheinische
Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn. Since the 1960s, more and more
new universities have been founded. The universities in Bochum,
Duisburg/Essen, Hagen, Cologne and Münster as well as the RWTH Aachen
are the universities with the largest number of students in the state
and are among the ten largest universities in Germany.
The most
important research institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia include the
Research Center Jülich, institutions of the Helmholtz Association of
German Research Centers, the Max Planck Society and the Fraunhofer
Society.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the land of coal and steel was an apt
description of North Rhine-Westphalia both for itself and for others.
The mining and industrial area on the Rhine and Ruhr was one of the most
important industrial regions in Europe and made a decisive contribution
to the reconstruction and the economic miracle not only in the state but
in the entire Federal Republic. After the Second World War, his future
was initially politically controversial on an international level due to
the Ruhr issue. From the end of the 1940s, the Ruhr Statute and the
Schuman Plan paved the way towards a European communitization of the
coal and steel sector in the form of the European Coal and Steel
Community. At the latest since the 1960s, the strong focus of the Ruhr
area on the mining industry has had a negative impact as a
monostructure. Recurring steel and coal crises caused the coal and steel
industry to melt together more and more. On the other hand, companies in
the manufacturing sector outside the Ruhr area, especially in mechanical
engineering and in the metal and iron processing industry, experienced a
significant upswing. The structural change in North Rhine-Westphalia
varied greatly from region to region. While parts of the old district
still have high unemployment rates, a structural change has taken place
from a predominantly industrial society to a knowledge society.
With a gross domestic product (GDP) of 711.419 billion euros in 2019,
North Rhine-Westphalia was the economically strongest state in Germany
and one of the most important economic centers in the world. In terms of
gross domestic product per inhabitant, North Rhine-Westphalia is in the
middle of the western German states. The unemployment rate is 7.2%
(February 2023). This value is higher than the federal German and well
above the western German unemployment rate. The North Rhine-Westphalian
unemployment rate is the highest of all West German non-city states. In
the period from 2005 to 2019, the at-risk-of-poverty rate increased the
most in North Rhine-Westphalia of all federal states, namely from 14.4
to 18.5%.
According to surveys by the American business magazine
Fortune, four of the hundred top-selling companies in the world are
based in North Rhine-Westphalia. According to a survey by
Wirtschaftsblatt newspaper in 2009, the ten top-selling companies in
North Rhine-Westphalia were E.ON (utilities), Metro (retail), Deutsche
Telekom (telecommunications), Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd (retail), Rewe
(retail), RWE (utilities ), Deutsche Post AG (logistics and transport),
Thyssenkrupp (mechanical and plant engineering), Deutsche BP (utilities)
and Bayer AG (pharmaceuticals and chemicals). Across Germany, the
country can book the highest foreign direct investments of all German
states with around 135 billion euros (around 29 percent of all direct
investments in Germany, both as of the end of 2009).
Along with the central location in the most important European
economic area, the high population density, the strong urbanization and
the numerous business locations, North Rhine-Westphalia has one of the
densest transport networks in the world. In 2015, every third traffic
jam report in Germany was in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Cologne
Eifeltor train station is Germany's largest container transhipment
station for combined rail/road freight traffic. Hagen-Vorhalle station
is one of the largest marshalling yards in Germany for freight traffic.
The Port of Duisburg is regarded as a traffic hub for German inland
shipping. The most important inland waterway in North Rhine-Westphalia
is the Rhine. In addition, the Rhine-Herne Canal (RHK), the
Wesel-Datteln Canal (WDK), the Datteln-Hamm Canal (DHK) and the
Dortmund-Ems Canal (DEK) play an important role for inland shipping.
The two most important hubs in international air traffic are the
airports in Düsseldorf (third largest German airport in terms of
passenger numbers) and Cologne/Bonn (third largest German airport in
terms of freight volume). Other airports with regular scheduled and
charter flights are Dortmund Airport, Niederrhein Airport,
Münster/Osnabrück Airport and Paderborn/Lippstadt Airport.
The promotion of art and culture in North Rhine-Westphalia is
stipulated in the state constitution as a national goal. North
Rhine-Westphalia supports a large number of artistic and cultural
projects and institutions, almost exclusively in the state, at federal
level the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the Cultural Foundation
of the Federal States, the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal
Republic of Germany and the Goethe Institute. Due to the sheer number of
inhabitants of the country, numerous cultural workers live in the
country, according to an estimate around 30,000 artists. The North
Rhine-Westphalia Film and Media Foundation plays an important role in
the national and international promotion of film and the media. The
Kunststiftung NRW does something similar in the field of art and
culture.
Characteristic of the art and culture scene in North
Rhine-Westphalia is its diversity and polycentrism. The reasons for this
include the pronounced regional differences in the state in terms of
cultural space, the most striking cultural border running between
Westphalia-Lippe and the Rhineland, and in the state's history, which
did not allow the emergence of a culturally dominant metropolis or
residential city. Important cultural institutions are therefore spread
across the country. Impulses for cultural and artistic developments in
today's country rarely came "from above". The working class culture in
the Ruhr area is a particularly good example of this. The workers'
culture formed one of the roots of the transformation of the Ruhr area
from an industrially dominated region to a "cultural metropolis" which -
like other industrial regions of North Rhine-Westphalia - continues to
see its industrial culture as an important part of its cultural
identity. In 2010 the Ruhr area was the European Capital of Culture.
With the Art Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia is home to the largest
art fair in Germany and the oldest in the world. Other well-known art
fairs are the Art Düsseldorf, the Great Art Exhibition NRW Düsseldorf
and the tour of the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Düsseldorf and Cologne are
known as centers of art and art trade as well as locations of important
art collections and exhibition halls, including in Düsseldorf the
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, the Museum
Kunstpalast and the NRW-Forum, in Cologne the picture gallery
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud as well as the Museum
Ludwig. The Ostwall Museum is located in Dortmund. The Folkwang Museum
is located in Essen and the LWL Museum for Art and Culture is in
Münster. The Museum Mile in Bonn is home to two of the most important
art museums in the country, the Bonn Art Museum and the Art and
Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany. Among the most
important theaters in Germany are the Schauspielhaus Bochum and the
Schauspiel Köln. The only state theater in North Rhine-Westphalia is the
Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. The best-known opera houses are the Cologne
Opera, the Dortmund Opera House, the Aalto Theater in Essen and the
Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The Dortmund Theater
is one of the largest three-section houses in Germany. The Dortmund
Concert Hall, the Düsseldorf Tonhalle, the Essen Philharmonic and the
Cologne Philharmonic are the best-known concert halls in the country.
The best-known art schools are the Düsseldorf Art Academy, the Detmold
University of Music and the Folkwang University of the Arts.
The biggest tourist attraction in the country and at the same time in the Federal Republic is the Cologne Cathedral with around six million visitors a year. In addition to the Cologne Cathedral, the Aachen Cathedral and the castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust, since 2001 the Zollverein colliery and coking plant and since 2014 the Corvey Monastery are also among the UNESCO World Heritage sites in the country. In the Westphalian-Lippe part of the country, half-timbered construction is still very common and often forms part of the cityscape. The currently oldest, dated half-timbered houses (including the so-called Eckmännekenhaus from 1471) are in the Hanseatic city of Warburg in southern East Westphalia. The Sauerland and Eifel regions are also architecturally characterized by half-timbered construction, here in particular with the brick covering using slate. The colliery architecture is the most outstanding example of numerous industrial monuments in the cities on the Rhine and Ruhr, whose historic inner city areas were often destroyed in World War II or during industrialization. As a state, North Rhine-Westphalia expresses itself through a large number of state buildings, in particular through the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia and the state government buildings in the government district of Düsseldorf. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is probably the world's best-known architect from what is now North Rhine-Westphalia.
The nature in North Rhine-Westphalia is typical of the Central European natural area. Most widespread in North Rhine-Westphalia are species that are adapted to cleared cultural landscapes or wooded low mountain ranges. However, the original, species-rich flora and fauna is threatened more than in almost any other region in Europe due to the high settlement density, the country's large industrial centres, mining, almost all-encompassing agricultural and forestry use and the almost complete transport infrastructure. The structural change in the Ruhr area and environmental protection measures led to a significant overall improvement in air and water quality in the Rhine-Ruhr region. North Rhine-Westphalia is about 25 percent forested. The forested low mountain range regions of the state therefore play an important role in nature conservation and local recreation for the inhabitants of the densely populated Rhine-Ruhr region. North Rhine-Westphalia has a share in 14 nature parks. The largest of these parks is the Teutoburg Forest/Eggegebirge Nature Park in Ostwestfalen-Lippe. With the Eifel National Park, the state has had a national park since 2004.
The country's accommodation facilities had around 20 million guests in 2012, who stayed a total of around 45.4 million times. Most overnight stays in 2012 were recorded in the Teutoburg Forest travel region (6.5 million), followed by Sauerland and the “Cologne and Rhein-Erft-Kreis” travel region, each with 6.2 million overnight stays. The number of overnight stays by foreign guests was over 9.2 million in 2012. Guests from the Netherlands are the most important group with around 25.2 percent of overnight stays. Tourists from the United Kingdom (7.7 percent), Belgium (6.3 percent), the USA (5.2 percent) and France (4.1 percent) follow at a clear distance.
With regard to the North Rhine-Westphalian cuisine, the division into a Rhenish and Westphalian-Lippe part can be seen again. The Rhenish cuisine also includes the cuisines of the Lower Rhine and the Bergisches Land. The Westphalian cuisine and the associated Lippe cuisine are part of the North German cuisine in a broader sense. The Westphalian cuisine is above all hearty, an example is Westphalian ham on pumpernickel. Other meat, sausage and bread specialties also play an important role there. Rhenish cuisine is also down-to-earth, but appears a bit more refined compared to Westphalian cuisine. A well-known example of Rhenish cuisine is the Rhenish Sauerbraten. In the southwest of the state on the Rhine, wine is grown in the Middle Rhine wine-growing region (large area Petersberg). Otherwise, North Rhine-Westphalia is a "beer country". In addition to Pils, which is particularly widespread in Westphalia, which in the 1970s pushed back the export beer that had previously been the dominant beer, there are two types of top-fermented beer, Altbier and Kölsch, which are particularly widespread in the Rhineland.
Sport in North Rhine-Westphalia is primarily characterized by football. The Rhine-Ruhr region has a particularly high density of successful football clubs, which cannot be explained solely by its size and population density. Football has always been part of the tradition of the miners in the mining area. Measured by the number of inhabitants, North Rhine-Westphalia is usually over-represented in the Bundesliga. Clubs in the first Bundesliga are currently Borussia Dortmund, FC Schalke 04, Borussia Mönchengladbach, VfL Bochum, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and 1. FC Köln. The largest football stadium in Germany is the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund with over 80,000 seats. In addition to football, many other sports are practiced in North Rhine-Westphalia. Handball, ice hockey and basketball attract a particularly large number of spectators.
In addition to the national holidays New Year, Good Friday, Easter,
Labor Day, Ascension Day, Pentecost, German Unity Day and Christmas,
Corpus Christi and All Saints' Day are public holidays in North
Rhine-Westphalia.
In 2017, Reformation Day was celebrated as a
public holiday.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia awards or endows the following
awards:
Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
State Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Female Artist
Award of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Promotional prize of the
state of North Rhine-Westphalia for young artists
Graphics prize of
the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
Rhenish-Westphalian State Prize
for the Preservation of Monuments
Sports plaque of the state of North
Rhine-Westphalia
Children's Book Prize of the State of North
Rhine-Westphalia
Straelen Translation Prize of the Art Foundation NRW
Fire brigade badge of honor of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
Civil Protection Medal of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Rescue
Medal of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Flag ribbon of the state
of North Rhine-Westphalia
Well-known prizes awarded by private
organizations in North Rhine-Westphalia are:
Charlemagne Prize
International Prize of the Peace of Westphalia
Ulrich von Alemann: North Rhine-Westphalia. A country looks ahead.
Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-3-17-024191-6.
Jürgen Brautmeier
and others: (Hrsg.): Heimat North Rhine-Westphalia. Identities and
regionality in transition. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2010, ISBN
978-3-8375-0155-1.
Georg Cornelissen: Small language history of North
Rhine-Westphalia. Greven-Verlag, Cologne 2015, ISBN 978-3-7743-0654-7.
Winfrid Halder, Michael Serrer (ed.): The long way west. Fled - expelled
- arrived at the Rhine and Ruhr. Schöningh, Paderborn 2008, ISBN
978-3-506-76683-0.
Susanne Hilger: Small economic history of North
Rhine-Westphalia. Of model boys and problem children. Greven-Verlag,
Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-7743-0498-7.
State Center for Civic
Education (ed.): NRW Lexicon. Politics, society, economy, law, culture.
2nd Edition. Leske + Budrich, Leverkusen 2000, ISBN 3-8100-2336-1.
Helge Matthiesen (text), Florian Monheim (photos): North
Rhine-Westphalia. The pictures. Greven-Verlag, Cologne 2021, ISBN
978-3-7743-0940-1.
Sabine Mecking: Local government reform and the
will of the people. Development of democracy and reorganization of state
and society in North Rhine-Westphalia 1965-2000 (= studies on
contemporary history. Volume 85). Oldenbourg, Munich 2012, ISBN
978-3-486-70314-6.
Christoph Nonn: History of North Rhine-Westphalia.
C.H. Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58343-8.
Christoph Nonn: Small
migration history of North Rhine-Westphalia. Greven-Verlag, Cologne
2011, ISBN 978-3-7743-0479-6.
Christoph Nonn: Environmental history
of North Rhine-Westphalia. Greven-Verlag, Cologne 2015, ISBN
978-3-7743-0691-2.