Frankfurt am Main is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne, with an end-2006 population of 661,877. The Frankfurt urban area, which extends beyond the city boundaries, had an estimated population of 1,468,140 in 2000. The city is at the center of the larger Frankfurt Rhine Main Area which has a population of 5 million and is Germany's second largest metropolitan area.
Situated on the Main river, Frankfurt is the financial and transportation center of Germany. Frankfurt is the place of residence of the European Central Bank, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and is the third largest financial centre in Europe (the other two being Paris and the largest one, London). Frankfurt was also named Europe's richest city in 2001 as measured by GDP per capita. It is also listed as one of nine Alpha world cities.
Among English speakers the city is commonly known simply as "Frankfurt", though Germans occasionally call it by its full name when it is necessary to distinguish it from the other (significantly smaller) Frankfurt in the German state of Brandenburg, known as Frankfurt (Oder). It was once called Frankfort-on-the-Main in English, a translation of Frankfurt am Main.