D�sseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.
D�sseldorf is an international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the city is headquarters to five Fortune Global 500 and several DAX companies. Messe D�sseldorf organizes nearly one fifth of all world�s premier trade shows.
Culturally, D�sseldorf is known for its academy of fine arts (Kunstakademie D�sseldorf, e.g. Joseph Beuys, Emanuel Leutze, August Macke, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke and Andreas Gursky), its pioneering influence on electronic music (Kraftwerk) and its large Japanese community. As a city by the river Rhine, D�sseldorf is a stronghold for Rhenish Carnival celebrations. Every year in July more than 4.5 million people visit the city's Largest Fair on the Rhine funfair.
As the seventh most populous city in Germany by population within city limits and an urban population of 1.5 million, D�sseldorf is one of the country's five global cities. The Mercer's 2011 Quality of Living survey of cities with the highest quality of life ranked D�sseldorf fifth worldwide and second in Germany
