Lower Rhine
Lower Rhine: A region with a diverse industrial landscape
More than two million people live in the Lower Rhine region. To the east, it borders the Ruhr area and the state capital Düsseldorf, to the south the Cologne/Bonn region and the Benelux triangle around Aachen, and to the west the Netherlands. Approximately 120,000 companies employ more than 650,000 people, producing goods and services worth around 63 billion Euros annually. Gross value added reaches approximately 65,000 Euros per employee.
The region's economy is primarily commercial. Key sectors include logistics, mechanical engineering, chemicals, energy, agribusiness, electrical engineering, textiles and clothing, as well as tourism.
A broad range of sectors, from agrobusiness to mechanical engineering
The economic structure is based on medium-sized companies, including many family businesses that have grown over generations. But size also plays a role in the Lower Rhine region: More than 20 of North Rhine-Westphalia's 250 highest-revenue companies are headquartered here, and numerous global corporations operate branches here.
Industry networks along the value chains and connections to a practice-oriented university landscape keep the engines of innovation running. One of the many positive consequences: Companies here are creative, innovative, and globally competitive. The export quota is over 50 percent, and goods and products from the Lower Rhine region can be found on all five continents. The Lower Rhine is, so to speak, everywhere.
But there are also good things right on our doorstep. Within a 100-kilometer radius, 16 million consumers can be reached, and within a day's truck journey, even 40 percent of the EU population.
The cities of Krefeld and Mönchengladbach, the districts of Kleve, Viersen, Wesel and Rhein-Kreis Neuss, as well as the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) of the Middle Lower Rhine, have joined forces under the umbrella brand of Standort Niederrhein GmbH.
Innovation fields
Lower Rhine overview
1,553,984
residents
42.6%
Share of employees subject to social security contributions in future-oriented industries
555,025
Employees subject to social security contributions
71,420 €
GDP per employed person
6%
Share of digital drivers among all employees subject to social security contributions
31.1
Startups per 10,000 employed persons
Innovation and startups in Lower Rhine
Photo credits
The photographic material was kindly provided by:
© AdobeStock, hespasoft