North Rhine-Westphalia
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The flag of North Rhine-Westphalia features the state coat of arms on a green, white, and red horizontal tricolor. The shield is divided into three fields: a green wavy bend on white for the Rhine region, a white horse on red for Westphalia (the Saxon Steed), and a red rose on white for the Lippe region. The tricolor stripes correspond to these three historic territories that were merged by British occupation forces in 1946 to create Germany's most populous state. The green represents the Rhineland, white stands for Westphalia, and red for Lippe.
North Rhine-Westphalia alone has a larger population than the Netherlands, with over 18 million inhabitants making it Germany's demographic heavyweight.
Adopted: 1953
