Half of the residents of Luxembourg are foreign nationals, the vast majority of whom come from other EU countries. Most native Luxembourgers are trilingual and speak Luxembourgish, French and German.
The population has grown sharply for a long time, mainly through immigration. The number of residents has doubled since World War II. The first major immigration waves came from southern Europe, mainly Italy and Portugal. The high proportion of non-citizens is partly due to the fact that it has been relatively difficult to obtain citizenship. Since 2009, however, dual citizenship has been allowed, while at the same time requirements for language testing in Luxembourg have been introduced for anyone who wants to become a citizen.
- COUNTRYAAH.COM: Key populations estimated size and data of Luxembourg, including population density of how many people per square mile. Also included are facts for population and language.
In addition to foreign nationals living in the country, there are a large number of “border commuters” (up to 200,000) who work in Luxembourg but live in France, Belgium or Germany. The population is highly concentrated to cities and towns, especially to the capital Luxembourg-Ville / Luxemburg. There, 70 percent of the residents are foreign nationals.
Official languages since 1984 are Luxembourgish (Luxembourgish), a German dialect which is the most common spoken language, as well as French (mainly administrative and legal languages) and German (most important written languages in commerce, culture and media).
FACTS – POPULATION AND LANGUAGE
Population
more than half Luxembourg citizens, others mainly from other EU countries (2016)
Number of residents
599 449 (2017)
Number of residents per square kilometer
231 (2017)
Percentage of residents in the cities
90.7 percent (2017)
Nativity / birth
10.4 per 1000 residents (2016)
Mortality / mortality
6.8 per 1000 residents (2016)
POPULATION GROWTH
3.0 percent (2017)
fertility rate
1.5 number of births per woman (2016)
Percentage of women
49.7 percent (2017)
Life expectancy
82 years (2016)
Life expectancy for women
85 years (2016)
Life expectancy for men
80 years (2016)
Language
Luxembourg, French and German are official languages
2009
August
Gray moldings are deleted
Luxembourg is removed from the G20 group’s gray list (see April 2009) and is recognized for increasing transparency through agreements with a number of countries on the exchange of tax information.
July
New government
Christian Democratic CSV re-forms with the Socialist Party LSAP and Jean-Claude Juncker continues as Prime Minister. However, he leaves the finance minister post taken over by Luc Frieden, also a Christian Democrat.
June
Elections to Parliament
7 June
The Christian Democrats in the CSV receive 38 percent of the vote, giving 26 seats, socialist LSAP 21.5 percent (13 seats), the liberal DP 15 percent (9), the Green Party 11.7 percent (7), the nationalist party ADR 8.1 percent (4) and the Left 3.3 percent (1).
April
Luxembourg “gray list”
The country is criticized for its banking secrecy, not least by the EU giants France, the UK and Germany. The G20 group, which consists of the world’s leading economies, places Luxembourg on a “gray list” of countries with disputed banking systems.
March
Euthanasia is assumed
The Act on Active Euthanasia is adopted in Parliament (see February and December 2008). Luxembourg becomes the third country in the world to introduce such a law, after the Netherlands and Belgium. (Assisted suicide is allowed in Switzerland.)
January
Language test is introduced
Anyone who wants to become a citizen must, under a new law, do a test in Luxembourg.