North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is the state „deep in the West“ of Germany. It is home to nearly 20 million people who live in an area of over 34.000 km2. That not only makes NRW the most populous of the 16 German states, but means that more people live in this state than, for instance, in the Netherlands, Belgium or Switzerland. Nearly half of NRW‘s land area is used for agriculture, forests cover one quarter of the state‘s surface. In total NRW has 14 natural parks, some of which it shares with other states, and one national park.
On the other hand there are 29 cities with more than 100,000 residents. The largest city in NRW is Cologne – well known for its gothic cathedral – with about one million residents. The state‘s capital is Duesseldorf. NRW is Germany’s leading industrial region, 37 of Germany’s top 100 corporations are based here. At the same time NRW also hosts a significant small and medium business sector. Our state has an unparalleled concentration of museums, cultural centers, concert halls and theatres. All this and much more we in RID1900 (about 4.300 Rotarians in 81 clubs) are looking forward to present to your GSE-Team during their visit with us. There will be many opportunities to meet people, make new friends, gather information, gain valuable insight in our region and learn what makes us tick. We extend a warm welcome to your team. We are delighted to have the GSE participants with us next summer.