Duisburg is a German city in the western part of the Ruhr Area (Ruhrgebiet) in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is an independent metropolitan borough within Regierungsbezirk Düsseldorf. With the world's biggest inland harbor[citation needed] and its proximity to Düsseldorf International Airport, Duisburg has become an important venue for commerce and steel production.

Today's city is a result of numerous incorporations of surrounding towns and smaller cities. It is the fifteenth-largest city in Germany and the fifth-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia with 488,218 residents as of the end of 2010. The city is renowned for its steel industry. The last remaining coal mine closed down in the summer of 2009, but Duisburg has never been a coal-mining center to the same extent as other places in the Ruhr region. All blast furnaces in the Ruhr are now located in Duisburg. 49% of all hot metal and 34.4% of all pig-iron in Germany is produced here (as of 2000). It also has a large brewery, the König Brauerei, located in Duisburg-Beeck, which makes the König Pilsener brand.

The University of Duisburg-Essen, with 39,000 students, ranks among the 10 largest German universities.