Frankfurt am Main

Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its namesake Main River, it forms a continuous conurbation with the neighboring city of Offenbach am Main and its urban area has a population of over 2.3 million. The city is the heart of the larger Rhine-Main metropolitan region, which has a population of more than 5.6 million and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr region. Frankfurt's central business district, the Bankenviertel, lies about northwest of the geographic center of the EU at Gadheim, Lower Franconia. Like France and Franconia, the city is named after the Franks. Frankfurt is the largest city in the Rhine Franconian dialect area.

Frankfurt was a city state, the Free City of Frankfurt, for nearly five centuries, and was one of the most important cities of the Holy Roman Empire, as a site of Imperial coronations; it lost its sovereignty upon the collapse of the empire in 1806, regained it in 1815 and then lost it again in 1866, when it was annexed (though neutral) by the Kingdom of Prussia. It has been part of the state of Hesse since 1945. Frankfurt is culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse, with half of its population, and a majority of its young people, having a migrant background. A quarter of the population consists of foreign nationals, including many expatriates. In 2015, Frankfurt was home to 1909 ultra high-net-worth individuals, the sixth-highest number of any city. As of 2017, Frankfurt is the 14th wealthiest city in the world.

Frankfurt is a global hub for commerce, culture, education, tourism and transportation, and rated as an "alpha world city" according to GaWC. It is the site of many global and European corporate headquarters. In addition, Frankfurt Airport is the busiest in Germany, one of the busiest in both Europe and the world, the airport with the most direct routes in the world, and the primary hub for Lufthansa, the national airline of Germany. Frankfurt is one of the major financial centers of the European continent, with the headquarters of the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, KfW, Commerzbank, several cloud and fintech startups and other institutes. Automotive, technology and research, services, consulting, media and creative industries complement the economic base. Frankfurt's DE-CIX is the world's largest internet exchange point. Messe Frankfurt is one of the world's largest trade fairs. Major fairs include the Music Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest book fair.

Frankfurt is home to influential educational institutions, including the Goethe University, the UAS, the FUMPA and graduate schools like the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. Its renowned cultural venues include the concert hall Alte Oper, continental Europe's largest English theater and many museums (e.g. the Museumsufer ensemble with Städel and Liebieghaus, Senckenberg Natural Museum, Goethe House and the Schirn art venue at the old town). Frankfurt's skyline, especially that of its central business district, is shaped by some of Europe's tallest skyscrapers, which has led to the term ''Mainhattan''. The city has many notable various green areas and parks, including the central Wallanlagen, the City Forest, two major botanical gardens (the Palmengarten and the Botanical Garden Frankfurt) and the Frankfurt Zoo. In sports, the city is known as the home of the top-tier soccer club Eintracht Frankfurt, the Löwen Frankfurt ice hockey team, the basketball club Frankfurt Skyliners, the Frankfurt Marathon and the venue of Ironman Germany. It was also one of the host cities of the 1974 and 2006 FIFA World Cups.

Distinctions

Frankfurt is the largest financial hub in continental Europe. It is home to the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock Exchange and several large commercial banks.

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the world's largest stock exchanges by market capitalization and accounts for more than 90 percent of the turnover in the German market.

In 2010, 63 national and 152 international banks had their registered offices in Frankfurt, including Germany's major banks, notably Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, KfW and Commerzbank, as well as 41 representative offices of international banks.

Frankfurt is considered a global city (alpha world city) as listed by the GaWC group's 2012 inventory.The World According to GaWC
". GaWC. Retrieved 4 November 2014. Among global cities it was ranked tenth by the Global Power City Index 2011 and 11th by the Global City Competitiveness Index 2012. Among financial hubs it was ranked eighth by the International Financial Centers Development Index 2013 and ninth in the 2013 Global Financial Centres Index.

Its central location within Germany and Europe makes Frankfurt a major air, rail and road transport hub. Frankfurt Airport is one of the world's busiest international airports by passenger traffic and the main hub for Germany's flag carrier Lufthansa. Frankfurt Central Station is one of the largest rail stations in Europe and the busiest junction operated by Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway company, with 342 trains a day to domestic and European destinations.Bahnhof.de Frankfurt Hbf
. Retrieved 27 September 2011. Frankfurter Kreuz, the Autobahn interchange close to the airport, is the most heavily used interchange in the EU, used by 320,000 cars daily.Strassenwaerter
In 2011 human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Frankfurt as seventh in its annual 'Quality of Living' survey of cities around the world. According to ''The Economist'' cost-of-living survey, Frankfurt is Germany's most expensive city and the world's tenth most expensive.

Frankfurt has many downtown high-rise buildings that form its renowned Frankfurt skyline. In fact, it is one of the few cities in the European Union (EU) to have such a skyline, which is why Germans sometimes refer to Frankfurt as Mainhattan, combining the local river Main and "Manhattan". The other well-known nickname is Bankfurt. Before World War II the city was noted for its unique old town, the largest timber-framed old town in Europe. The Römer area was later rebuilt and is popular with visitors and for events such as Frankfurt Christmas Market. Other parts of the old town were reconstructed as part of the Dom-Römer Project from 2012 to 2018.

Etymology

''Frankonovurd'' (in Old High German) or ''Vadum Francorum'' (in Latin) were the first names mentioned in written records from 794. It transformed to ''Frankenfort'' during the Middle Ages and then to ''Franckfort'' and ''Franckfurth'' in the modern era. According to historian David Gans, the city was named 146 AD by its builder, a Frankish king named Zuna, who ruled over the province then known as Sicambri. He hoped thereby to perpetuate the name of his lineage. This is however chronologically incompatible with the archaeologically demonstrated Roman occupation of the area around Nida fortress in modern Heddernheim. The name is derived from the ''Franconofurd'' of the Germanic tribe of the Franks; ''Furt'' ( cf. English '' ford'') where the river was shallow enough to be crossed on foot.

By the 19th century, the name ''Frankfurt'' had been established as the official spelling. The older English spelling of ''Frankfort'' is now rarely seen in reference to Frankfurt am Main, although more than a dozen other towns and cities, mainly in the United States, use this spelling (e.g., Frankfort, Kentucky; Frankfort, New York; Frankfort, Illinois).

The suffix ''am Main'' has been used regularly since the 14th century. In English, the city's full name of ''Frankfurt am Main'' means "Frankfurt on the Main" (pronounced like English ''mine'' or German ''mein''). Frankfurt is located on an ancient ford (German: ') on the river Main. As a part of early Franconia, the inhabitants were the early Franks, thus the city's name reveals its legacy as "the ford of the Franks on the Main".

Among English speakers, the city is commonly known simply as Frankfurt, but Germans occasionally call it by its full name to distinguish it from the other (significantly smaller) German city of Frankfurt an der Oder in the ''Land'' of Brandenburg on the Polish border.

The city district Bonames has a name probably dating back to Roman times, thought to be derived from ' (good table).

The common abbreviations for the city, primarily used in railway services and on road signs, are ''Frankfurt (Main)'', ''Frankfurt (M)'', ''Frankfurt a. M.'', ''Frankfurt/Main'' or ''Frankfurt/M''. The common abbreviation for the name of the city is "FFM". Also in use is "FRA", the IATA code for Frankfurt Airport.

History

Early history and Holy Roman Empire

Roman settlements were established in the area of the Römer, probably in the first century. Nida (Heddernheim, Praunheim) was also a Roman civitas capital.

Alemanni and Franks lived there, and by 794, Charlemagne presided over an imperial assembly and church synod, at which ''Franconofurd'' (alternative spellings end with -furt and -) was first mentioned. It was one of the two capitals of Charlemagne's grandson Louis the German, together with Regensburg. Louis founded the collegiate church, rededicated in 1239 to Bartholomew the Apostle and now Frankfurt Cathedral.

Frankfurt was one of the most important cities in the Holy Roman Empire. From 855, the German kings were elected and crowned in Aachen. From 1562, the kings and emperors were crowned and elected in Frankfurt, initiated for Maximilian II. This tradition ended in 1792, when Franz II was elected. His coronation was deliberately held on Bastille Day, 14 July, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. The elections and coronations took place in St. Bartholomäus Cathedral, known as the (Emperor's Cathedral), or its predecessors.

The ('Frankfurt Trade Fair') was first mentioned in 1150. In 1240, Emperor Friedrich II granted an imperial privilege to its visitors, meaning they would be protected by the empire. The fair became particularly important when similar fairs in French Beaucaire lost attraction around 1380. Book trade fairs began in 1478.

In 1372, Frankfurt became a ( Imperial Free City), i.e., directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor and not to a regional ruler or a local nobleman.

In 1585, Frankfurt traders established a system of exchange rates for the various currencies that were circulating to prevent cheating and extortion. Therein lay the early roots for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Frankfurt managed to remain neutral during the Thirty Years' War, but suffered from the bubonic plague that refugees brought to the city. After the war, Frankfurt regained its wealth. In the late 1770s the theater principal Abel Seyler was based in Frankfurt, and established the city's theatrical life.

Impact of French revolution and the Napoleonic Wars

Following the French Revolution, Frankfurt was occupied or bombarded several times by French troops. It remained a Free city until the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1805/6. In 1806, it became part of the principality of Aschaffenburg under the ( Prince-Primate), Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg. This meant that Frankfurt was incorporated into the Confederation of the Rhine. In 1810, Dalberg adopted the title of a Grand Duke of Frankfurt. Napoleon intended to make his adopted son Eugène de Beauharnais, already (" prince of Venice", a newly established primogeniture in Italy), Grand Duke of Frankfurt after Dalberg's death (since the latter as a Catholic bishop had no legitimate heirs). The Grand Duchy remained a short episode lasting from 1810 to 1813 when the military tide turned in favor of the Anglo-Prussian-led allies that overturned the Napoleonic order. Dalberg abdicated in favor of Eugène de Beauharnais, which of course was only a symbolic action, as the latter effectively never ruled after the ruin of the French armies and Frankfurt's takeover by the allies.

Frankfurt as a fully sovereign state

After Napoleon's final defeat and abdication, the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) dissolved the grand-duchy and Frankfurt became a fully sovereign city-state with a republican form of government. Frankfurt entered the newly founded German Confederation (till 1866) as a free city, becoming the seat of its , the confederal parliament where the nominally presiding Habsburg Emperor of Austria was represented by an Austrian "presidential envoy".

After the ill-fated revolution of 1848, Frankfurt was the seat of the first democratically elected German parliament, the Frankfurt Parliament, which met in the (St. Paul's Church) and was opened on 18 May 1848. The institution failed in 1849 when the Prussian king, Frederick William IV, declared that he would not accept "a crown from the gutter". In the year of its existence, the assembly developed a common constitution for a unified Germany, with the Prussian king as its monarch.

Frankfurt after the loss of sovereignty

Frankfurt lost its independence after the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 when Prussia annexed several smaller states, among them the Free City of Frankfurt. The Prussian administration incorporated Frankfurt into its province of Hesse-Nassau. The Prussian occupation and annexation were perceived as a great injustice in Frankfurt, which retained its distinct western European, urban and cosmopolitan character. The formerly independent towns of Bornheim and Bockenheim were incorporated in 1890.

In 1914, the citizens founded the University of Frankfurt, later named Goethe University Frankfurt. This marked the only civic foundation of a university in Germany; today it is one of Germany's largest.

From 6 April to 17 May 1920, following military intervention to put down the Ruhr uprising, Frankfurt was occupied by French troops. The French claimed that Articles 42 to 44 of the peace treaty of Versailles concerning the demilitarization of the Rhineland had been broken. In 1924, Ludwig Landmann became the first Jewish mayor of the city, and led a significant expansion during the following years. During the Nazi era, the synagogues of the city were destroyed and the vast majority of the Jewish population fled or was killed.

Frankfurt was severely bombed in World War II (1939–1945). About 5,500 residents were killed during the raids, and the once-famous medieval city center, by that time the largest in Germany, was almost completely destroyed. It became a ground battlefield on 26 March 1945, when the Allied advance into Germany was forced to take the city in contested urban combat that included a river assault. The 5th Infantry Division and the 6th Armored Division of the United States Army captured Frankfurt after several days of intense fighting, and it was declared largely secure on 29 March 1945.

After the end of the war, Frankfurt became a part of the newly founded state of Hesse, consisting of the old Hesse-(Darmstadt) and the Prussian Hesse provinces. The city was part of the American Zone of Occupation of Germany. The Military Governor for the United States Zone (1945–1949) and the United States High Commissioner for Germany (HICOG) (1949–1952) had their headquarters in the IG Farben Building, intentionally left undamaged by the Allies' wartime bombardment.

Frankfurt was the original choice for the provisional capital city of the newly founded state of West Germany in 1949. The city constructed a parliament building that was never used for its intended purpose (it housed the radio studios of Hessischer Rundfunk). In the end, Konrad Adenauer, the first postwar Chancellor, preferred the town of Bonn, for the most part because it was close to his hometown, but also because many other prominent politicians opposed the choice of Frankfurt out of concern that Frankfurt would be accepted as the permanent capital, thereby weakening the West German population's support for a reunification with East Germany and the eventual return of the capital to Berlin.

Postwar reconstruction took place in a sometimes simple modern style, thus changing Frankfurt's architectural face. A few landmark buildings were reconstructed historically, albeit in a simplified manner (e.g., Römer, St. Paul's Church, and Goethe House). The collection of historically significant Cairo Genizah documents of the Municipal Library was destroyed by the bombing. According to Arabist and Genizah scholar S.D. Goitein, "not even handlists indicating its contents have survived."

The end of the war marked Frankfurt's comeback as Germany's leading financial hub, mainly because Berlin, now a city divided into four sectors, could no longer rival it. In 1948, the Allies founded the Bank deutscher Länder, the forerunner of Deutsche Bundesbank. Following this decision, more financial institutions were re-established, e.g. Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank. In the 1950s, Frankfurt Stock Exchange regained its position as the country's leading stock exchange.

Frankfurt also reemerged as Germany's transportation hub and Frankfurt Airport became Europe's second-busiest airport behind London Heathrow Airport in 1961.

During the 1970s, the city created one of Europe's most efficient underground transportation systems. That system includes a suburban rail system (S-Bahn) linking outlying communities with the city center, and a deep underground light rail system with smaller coaches ( U-Bahn) also capable of travelling above ground on rails.

In 1998, the European Central Bank was founded in Frankfurt, followed by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and European Systemic Risk Board in 2011.

Geography

Frankfurt is the largest city in the state of Hesse in the western part of Germany.

Site

Frankfurt is located on both sides of the river Main, south-east of the Taunus mountain range. The southern part of the city contains the Frankfurt City Forest, Germany's largest city forest. The city area is and extends over east to west and north to south. Its downtown is north of the river Main in Altstadt district (the historical center) and the surrounding Innenstadt district. The geographical center is in Bockenheim district near Frankfurt West station.

Frankfurt at the heart of the densely populated Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region with a population of 5.5 million. Other important cities in the region are Wiesbaden (capital of Hesse), Mainz (capital of Rhineland-Palatinate), Darmstadt, Offenbach am Main, Hanau, Aschaffenburg, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Rüsselsheim, Wetzlar and Marburg.

Districts

The city is divided into 46 city districts (''Stadtteile''), which are in turn divided into 121 city boroughs (''Stadtbezirke'') and 448 electoral districts (''Wahlbezirke''). The 46 city districts combine into 16 area districts ('' Ortsbezirke''), which each have a district committee and chairperson.

The largest city district by population and area is Sachsenhausen, while the smallest is Altstadt, Frankfurt's historical center. Three larger city districts (Sachsenhausen, Westend and Nordend) are divided for administrative purposes into a northern (''-Nord'') and a southern (''-Süd'') part, respectively a western (''-West'') and an eastern (''-Ost'') part, but are generally considered as one city district (which is why often only 43 city districts are mentioned, even on the city's official website).

Some larger housing areas are often falsely called city districts, even by locals, like Nordweststadt (part of Niederursel, Heddernheim and Praunheim), Goldstein (part of Schwanheim), Riedberg (part of Kalbach-Riedberg) and Europaviertel (part of Gallus). The Bankenviertel (''banking district''), Frankfurt's financial district, is also not an administrative city district (it covers parts of the western Innenstadt district, the southern Westend district and the eastern Bahnhofsviertel district).

Many city districts are incorporated suburbs ('' Vororte'') or were previously independent cities, such as Höchst. Some like Nordend and Westend arose during the rapid growth of the city in the Gründerzeit following the Unification of Germany, while others were formed from territory which previously belonged to other city , such as Dornbusch and Riederwald.

History of incorporations

Until the year 1877 the city's territory consisted of the present-day inner-city districts of Altstadt, Innenstadt, Bahnhofsviertel, Gutleutviertel, Gallus, Westend, Nordend, Ostend and Sachsenhausen.

Bornheim was part of an administrative district called ''Landkreis Frankfurt'', before becoming part of the city on 1 January 1877, followed by Bockenheim on 1 April 1895. Seckbach, Niederrad and Oberrad followed on 1 July 1900. The ''Landkreis Frankfurt'' was finally dispersed on 1 April 1910, and therefore Berkersheim, Bonames, Eckenheim, Eschersheim, Ginnheim, Hausen, Heddernheim, Niederursel, Praunheim, Preungesheim and Rödelheim joined the city. In the same year a new city district, Riederwald, was created on territory that had formerly belonged to Seckbach and Ostend.

On 1 April 1928 the City of Höchst became part of Frankfurt, as well as its city districts Sindlingen, Unterliederbach and Zeilsheim. Simultaneously the ''Landkreis Höchst'' was dispersed with its member cities either joining Frankfurt ( Fechenheim, Griesheim, Nied, Schwanheim, Sossenheim) or joining the newly established ''Landkreis'' of Main-Taunus-Kreis.

Dornbusch became a city district in 1946. It was created on territory that had formerly belonged to Eckenheim and Ginnheim.

On 1 August 1972, Hesse's smaller suburbs of Harheim, Kalbach, Nieder-Erlenbach, and Nieder-Eschbach became districts while other neighboring suburbs chose to join the Main-Taunus-Kreis, the Landkreis Offenbach, the Kreis Groß-Gerau, the Hochtaunuskreis, the Main-Kinzig-Kreis or the Wetteraukreis.

Bergen-Enkheim was the last suburb to become part of Frankfurt on 1 January 1977.

Flughafen became an official city district in 1979. It covers the area of Frankfurt Airport that had belonged to Sachsenhausen and the neighboring city of Mörfelden-Walldorf.

Frankfurt's youngest city district is Frankfurter Berg. It was part of Bonames until 1996.

Kalbach was officially renamed Kalbach-Riedberg in 2006 because of the large residential housing development in the area known as Riedberg.

Neighboring districts and cities

To the west Frankfurt borders the administrative district ('' Landkreis'') of Main-Taunus-Kreis with towns such as Hattersheim am Main, Kriftel, Hofheim am Taunus, Kelkheim, Liederbach am Taunus, Sulzbach, Schwalbach am Taunus and Eschborn; to the northwest the Hochtaunuskreis with Steinbach, Oberursel (Taunus) and Bad Homburg vor der Höhe; to the north the Wetteraukreis with Karben and Bad Vilbel; to the northeast the Main-Kinzig-Kreis with Niederdorfelden and Maintal; to the southeast the city of Offenbach am Main; to the south the Kreis Offenbach with Neu-Isenburg and to the southwest the Kreis Groß-Gerau with Mörfelden-Walldorf, Rüsselsheim and Kelsterbach.

Together with these towns (and some larger nearby towns, e.g., Hanau, Rodgau, Dreieich, Langen) Frankfurt forms a contiguous built-up urban area called ''Stadtregion Frankfurt'' which is not an official administrative district. The urban area had an estimated population of 2.3 million in 2010, and is the 13th-largest urban area in the EU.

Climate

Frankfurt has a temperate-oceanic climate ( Köppen: ''Cfb''). Its average annual temperature is , with monthly mean temperatures ranging from in January to in July (Data from between 1981 and 2010).

Due to its location at the northern tip of the Upper Rhine Valley in the Southwest of Germany, Frankfurt is one of the warmest and driest bigger German cities together with cities like Darmstadt, Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Freiburg im Breisgau. Summers in Frankfurt can get very warm, when compared to the rest of the country. Between the years 1981 and 2010 there have been 52 days in Frankfurt with a maximum temperature over 25 °C and 13 days with a maximum over 30 °C on average per year.

Climate change elevates the number of hot days. In the year of 2018, there have been recorded 108 days with a maximum of over 25 °C and 43 days with a maximum of over 30 °C (compared to 52 and 13 days on average per year between 1981 and 2010). The overall tendency for higher temperatures can be seen when comparing the climate data from 1981 to 2010 with the data from 2010 to 2020. It is getting sunnier, drier and warmer and the climate resembles more a humid subtropical climate (Cfa).

Being an urban heat island, Frankfurt is sometimes affected by tropical nights, where the temperature does not drop under 20 °C between May and September. This occurs because the density of the city causes it to store all the heat.

The growing season is longer when compared to the rest of Germany, thus resulting in an early arrival of springtime in the region.

Winters in Frankfurt are generally mild or at least not freezing with a small possibility of snow, especially in January and February but dark and often overcast. Frankfurt is, on average, covered with snow only for around 10 to 20 days per year. The temperatures fell at about 70 days under 0 °C and daily maximum has stayed under 0 °C for about 13 days on average per year between 1981 and 2010. Some days with lows under −10 °C can occur more often here than at the coasts of Northern Germany, but not that frequently like in Bavaria or the eastern parts of Germany.

Because of the mild climate in the region, there are some well-known wine regions not far away such as Rhenish Hesse, Rheingau, Franconia (wine region) and Bergstraße (route). There is also a microclimate on the northern bank of the river Main which is responsible for palms, fig trees, lemon trees and southern European plants growing in that area. The area is called the "Nizza" (the German word for the southern French town Nice) and is one of the biggest parks with a Mediterranean vegetation north of the Alps.

Demographics

Population

With a population of 763,380 (2019) within its administrative boundaries and of 2,300,000 in the actual urban area,European Union: State of European Cities Report Retrieved 22 April 2014 Frankfurt is the fifth-largest city in Germany, after Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne. Central Frankfurt has been a '' Großstadt'' (a city with at least 100,000 residents by definition) since 1875. With 414,576 residents in 1910, it was the ninth largest city in Germany and the number of inhabitants grew to 553,464 before World War II. After the war, at the end of the year 1945, the number had dropped to 358,000. In the following years, the population grew again and reached an all-time-high of 691,257 in 1963. It dropped again to 592,411 in 1986 but has increased since then. According to the demographic forecasts for central Frankfurt, the city will have a population up to 813,000 within its administrative boundaries in 2035 and more than 2.5 million inhabitants in its urban area.

As of 2015, Frankfurt had 1909 ultra high-net-worth individuals, the sixth-highest number of any city.

During the 1970s, the state government of Hesse wanted to expand the city's administrative boundaries to include the entire urban area. This would have made Frankfurt officially the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin with up to 3 million inhabitants. However, because local authorities did not agree, the administrative territory is still much smaller than its actual urban area.

Immigration and foreign nationals

According to data from the city register of residents, 51.2% of the population had a ''migration background'' as of 2015, which means that a person or at least one or both of their parents was born with foreign citizenship. For the first time, a majority of the city residents had an at least part non-German background. Moreover, three of four children in the city under the age of six had immigrant backgrounds, and 27.7% of residents had a foreign citizenship.

According to statistics, 46.7% of immigrants in Frankfurt come from other countries in the EU; 24.5% come from European countries that are not part of the EU; 15.7% come from Asia (including Western Asia and South Asia); 7.3% come from Africa; 3.4% come from North America (including the Caribbean and Central America); 0.2% come from Australia and New Zealand; 2.3% come from South America; and 1.1% come from Pacific island nations. Because of this the city is often considered to be a multicultural city, and has been compared to New York City, London, and Toronto.

Religion

Frankfurt was historically a Protestant-dominated city. However, during the 19th century, an increasing number of Catholics moved to Frankfurt. , the largest Christian denominations were Catholicism (22.7% of the population) and Protestantism, especially Lutheranism (19.4%).

The Jewish community has a history dating back to medieval times and has always ranked among the largest in Germany. Over 7,200 inhabitants are affiliated with the Jewish community, making it the second largest in Germany after Berlin. Frankfurt has four active synagogues.

Due to the growing immigration of people from Muslim countries beginning in the 1960s, Frankfurt has a large Muslim community. Estimations put the share of Muslim inhabitants at approximately 12% (as of 2006).
According to calculations based on census data for 21 countries of origin, the number of Muslim migrants in Frankfurt amounted to about 84,000 in 2011, making up 12.6 percent of the population. The most prevalent countries of origin were Turkey and Morocco.

Government and politics

Mayor

The current Mayor is Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg of the Alliance 90/The Greens. She took the office on an interim basis in November 2022 following the recall of the previous mayor Peter Feldmann.

The most recent mayoral election was held on 25 February 2018, with a runoff held on 11 March, and the results were as follows:

! rowspan=2 colspan=2, Candidate
! rowspan=2, Party
! colspan=2, First round
! colspan=2, Second round
, -
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Peter Feldmann
, align=left, Social Democratic Party
, 86,823
, 46.0
, 106,699
, 70.8
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Bernadette Weyland
, align=left, Christian Democratic Union
, 48,032
, 25.4
, 44,080
, 29.2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg
, align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens
, 17,648
, 9.3
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Janine Wissler
, align=left, The Left
, 16,669
, 8.8
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Volker Stein
, align=left, Independent
, 11,218
, 5.9
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Michael Weingärtner
, align=left, Free Voters
, 2,832
, 1.5
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Nico Wehnemann
, align=left, Die PARTEI
, 2,097
, 1.1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Karsten Schloberg
, align=left, Independent
, 1,585
, 0.8
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Ming Yang
, align=left, Independent
, 938
, 0.5
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Juli Wünsch
, align=left, Independent
, 409
, 0.2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Felicia Herrschaft
, align=left, Independent
, 340
, 0.2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Hein Fischer
, align=left, Independent
, 169
, 0.1
, -
! colspan=3, Valid votes
! 188,760
! 99.4
! 150,779
! 98.7
, -
! colspan=3, Invalid votes
! 1,156
! 0.6
! 2,025
! 1.3
, -
! colspan=3, Total
! 189,916
! 100.0
! 152,804
! 100.0
, -
! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout
! 505,275
! 37.6
! 505,268
! 30.2
, -
, colspan=7, Source
City of Frankfurt am Main

City council

The Frankfurt am Main city council (''Stadtverordnetenversammlung'') governs the city alongside the mayor. It is located in the city's medieval town hall, Römer, which is also used for representative and official purposes. The most recent city council election was held on 14 March 2021, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2, Party
! Lead candidate
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
, align=left, Martina Feldmayer
, 4,894,339
, 24.6
, 9.3
, 23
, 9
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
, align=left, Nils Kößler
, 4,361,942
, 21.9
, 2.2
, 20
, 2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Social Democratic Party (SPD)
, align=left, Mike Josef
, 3,385,017
, 17.0
, 6.8
, 16
, 6
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, The Left (Die Linke)
, align=left, Dominike Pauli
, 1,572,333
, 7.9
, 0.1
, 7
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP)
, align=left, Annette Rinn
, 1,515,646
, 7.6
, 0.1
, 7
, ±0
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Alternative for Germany (AfD)
, align=left, Patrick Schenk
, 902,412
, 4.5
, 4.4
, 4
, 4
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Volt Germany (Volt)
, align=left, Eileen O'Sullivan
, 745,418
, 3.7
, New
, 4
, New
, -
, bgcolor=#FF8E57,
, align=left, Citizens for Frankfurt (BFF)
, align=left, Mathias Mund
, 395,905
, 2.0
, 0.7
, 2
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=#93A7BB,
, align=left, Ecological Left – Anti-Racist List (ÖkoLinX-ARL)
, align=left, Jutta Ditfurth
, 359,304
, 1.8
, 0.3
, 2
, ±0
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Die PARTEI (PARTEI)
, align=left, Nico Wehnemann
, 361,932
, 1.8
, 0.4
, 2
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=#484EAB,
, align=left, Europe List for Frankfurt (ELF)
, align=left, Luigi Brillante
, 265,914
, 1.3
, 0.1
, 1
, ±0
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Free Voters (FW)
, align=left, Eric Pärisch
, 162,122
, 0.8
, 0.2
, 1
, ±0
, -
, bgcolor=#0000FC,
, align=left, I am a Frankfurter (IBF)
, align=left, Jumas Medoff
, 166,573
, 0.8
, 0.4
, 1
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=#87CEEB,
, align=left, Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG)
, align=left, Haluk Yıldız
, 128,846
, 0.6
, New
, 1
, New
, -
,
, align=left, Garden Party Frankfurt am Main (Gartenpartei)
, align=left, Tilo Schwichtenberg
, 126,991
, 0.6
, New
, 1
, New
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)
, align=left, Herbert Förster
, 123,772
, 0.6
, 0.2
, 1
, ±0
, -
, colspan=8 bgcolor=lightgrey,
, -
,
, align=left, Polish Dialogue Initiative for Frankfurt
, align=left, Barbara Lange
, 88,771
, 0.4
, New
, 0
, New
, -
,
, align=left, The Frankfurters (dFfm)
, align=left, Bernhard Ochs
, 73,026
, 0.4
, 0.4
, 0
, 1
, -
,
, align=left, International Vote Frankfurt (ISF)
, align=left, Kerry Reddington
, 61,772
, 0.3
, New
, 0
, New
, -
,
, align=left, Climate List Frankfurt (Klimaliste)
, align=left, Beate Balzert
, 61,526
, 0.3
, New
, 0
, New
, -
,
, align=left, Free Party Frankfurt (FPF)
, align=left, Benjamin Klinger
, 40,621
, 0.2
, New
, 0
, New
, -
,
, align=left, United Democrats (VD)
, align=left, André Leitzbach
, 30,691
, 0.2
, New
, 0
, New
, -
,
, align=left, The Social Liberals (SL)
, align=left, Christian Bethke
, 18,563
, 0.1
, New
, 0
, New
, -
,
, align=left, Frankfurt Free Voter Group (FFWG)
, align=left, Thomas Schmitt
, 16,587
, 0.1
, New
, 0
, New
, -
,
, align=left, Romanians for Frankfurt (RF)
, align=left, Ionut-Vlad Plenz
, 15,884
, 0.1
, New
, 0
, New
, -
, bgcolor=#110077,
, align=left, Party of Humanists (Die Humanisten)
, align=left, Rüdiger Gottschalk
, 11,680
, 0.1
, New
, 0
, New
, -
,
, align=left, Bulgarian Association of Frankfurt (BGF)
, align=left, Daniela Spasova-Mischke
, 11,488
, 0.1
, New
, 0
, New
, -
,
, align=left, Sven Junghans, We Frankfurters (WF)
, align=left, Sven Junghans
, 9,627
, 0.0
, New
, 0
, New
, -
! colspan=3, Valid votes
! 221,487
! 96.0
!
!
!
, -
! colspan=3, Invalid votes
! 9,196
! 4.0
!
!
!
, -
! colspan=3, Total
! 230,683
! 100.0
!
! 93
! ±0
, -
! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout
! 512,034
! 45.1
! 6.1
!
!
, -
, colspan=8, Source
Statistics Hesse

Landtag election

For elections to the Hesse State Parliament, Frankfurt am Main is split up into six constituencies. In total 15 delegates represent the city in the Landtag in Wiesbaden. The last election took place in October 2018. Six members of parliament were directly elected in their respective constituencies: Uwe Serke (CDU, Frankfurt am Main I), Miriam Dahlke (Greens, Frankfurt am Main II), Ralf-Norbert Bartel (CDU, Frankfurt am Main III), Michael Boddenberg (CDU, Frankfurt am Main IV), Markus Bocklet (Greens, Frankfurt am Main V) and Boris Rhein (CDU, Frankfurt am Main VI).

Delegates from Frankfurt often serve high-ranking positions in Hessian politics, e.g. Michael Boddenberg is Hessian Minister of Finance and Boris Rhein was elected President of the Landtag of Hesse in 2019.

German federal election

For federal elections which are held every four years, Frankfurt is split up into two constituencies. In the German federal election 2017, Matthias Zimmer (CDU) and Bettina Wiesmann were elected to the Bundestag by directe mandate in Frankfurt am Main I and Frankfurt am Main II respectively. Nicola Beer (FDP), Achim Kessler (Linke), Ulli Nissen (SPD) and Omid Nouripour (Greens) were elected as well.

Nicola Beer resigned as a member of parliament in 2019 following her election to the European Parliament where she now serves as vice president.

Economy and business

Frankfurt is one of the world's most important financial hubs and Germany's financial capital, followed by Hamburg and Stuttgart. Frankfurt was ranked eighth at the International Financial Centers Development Index (2013), eighth at the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index (2008), ninth at the Global Financial Centres Index (September 2013), tenth at the Global Power City Index (2011), 11th at the Global City Competitiveness Index (2012), 12th at the Innovation Cities Index (2011), 14th at the World City Survey (2011) and 23rd at the Global Cities Index (2012).

The city's importance as a financial hub has risen since the eurozone crisis. Indications are the establishment of two institutions of the European System of Financial Supervisors ( European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and European Systemic Risk Board) in 2011 and the Single Supervisory Mechanism by which the European Central Bank was to assume responsibility for specific supervisory tasks related to the financial stability of the biggest and most important Eurozone banks.

According to an annual study by Cushman & Wakefield, the European Cities Monitor (2010), Frankfurt has been one of the top three cities for international companies in Europe, after London and Paris, since the survey started in 1990. It is the only German city considered to be an alpha world city (category 3) as listed by the Loughborough University group's 2010 inventory, which was a promotion from the group's 2008 inventory when it was ranked as an alpha minus world city (category 4).

With over 922 jobs per 1,000 inhabitants, Frankfurt has the highest concentration of jobs in Germany. On work days and Saturdays, one million people commute from all over the Rhein-Main-Area. The GRP per capita was €96,670 in 2019.

The city is expected to benefit from international banks relocating jobs from London to Frankfurt as a result of Brexit to retain access to the EU market. Thus far, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc., Standard Chartered Plc and Nomura Holdings Inc. announced they would move their EU headquarters to Frankfurt.

Central banks

Frankfurt is home to two important central banks: the German Bundesbank and the European Central Bank (ECB).

European Central Bank

The European Central Bank (''Europäische Zentralbank'') is one of the world's most important central banks. The ECB sets monetary policy for the Eurozone, consisting of 19 EU member states that have adopted the Euro (€) as their common currency. From 1998 the ECB Headquarters have been located in Frankfurt, first in the Eurotower at Willy-Brandt-Platz and in two other nearby high-rises. The new Seat of the European Central Bank in the Ostend district, consisting of the former wholesale market hall ('' Großmarkthalle'') and a newly built 185-meter skyscraper, was completed in late 2014. The new building complex was designed to accommodate up to 2,300 ECB personnel. The location is a few kilometers away from downtown and borders an industrial area as well as the Osthafen (''East Harbor''), It was primarily chosen because of its large premises which allows the ECB to install security arrangements without high fences.

The city honors the importance of the ECB by officially using the slogan "The City of the Euro" since 1998.

Deutsche Bundesbank

The Deutsche Bundesbank (German Federal Bank), located in Ginnheim, was established in 1957 as the central bank for the Federal Republic of Germany. Until the euro (€) was introduced in 1999, the Deutsche Bundesbank was responsible for the monetary policy of Germany and for the German currency, the Deutsche Mark (DM). The Bundesbank was greatly respected for its control of inflation through the second half of the 20th century. Today the Bundesbank is an integral part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) which is formed by all 27 EU member states.

Commercial banks

In 2010, 63 national and 152 international banks had a registered office, including the headquarters of the major German banks, as well as 41 offices of international banks. Frankfurt is therefore known as Bankenstadt ("City of the banks") and nicknamed "Mainhattan" (a portmanteau

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