Luxembourg
Grand Duchy of LuxembourgGrand Duchee de Luxembourg
constitutional monarchyIndependence 1839 (from the Netherlands)
Luxembourg as the 2017 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 162 fields, one of 36 editions from 1990 to 2025.
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Introduction
1 fieldBackground
Founded in 963, Luxembourg became a grand duchy in 1815 and an independent state under the Netherlands. It lost more than half of its territory to Belgium in 1839 but gained a larger measure of autonomy. In 1867, Luxembourg attained full independence under the condition that it promise perpetual neutrality. Overrun by Germany in both world wars, it ended its neutrality in 1948 when it entered into the Benelux Customs Union and when it joined NATO the following year. In 1957, Luxembourg became one of the six founding countries of the EEC (later the EU), and in 1999 it joined the euro currency zone.
Geography
Western Europe, between France and Germany
19 fieldsTerrain
- mostly gently rolling uplands with broad, shallow valleys;
- uplands to slightly mountainous in the north;
- steep slope down to Moselle flood plain in the southeast
Land use
- agricultural land:
- 50.7%;
- arable land 24%;
- permanent crops 0.6%;
- permanent pasture 26.1%
- forest:
- 33.5%
- other:
- 15.8% (2011 est.)
Environment - international agreements
- party to:
- Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
- signed, but not ratified:
- Environmental Modification
People and Society
33 fieldsAge structuremale left, female right · (2017 est.)
Per 1,000 population(2017 est.)
Male · female
Ethnic groups(2016 est.)
Languages
Luxembourgish (official administrative and judicial language and national language (spoken vernacular)) 88.8%, French (official administrative, judicial, and legislative language) 4.2%, Portuguese 2.3%, German (official administrative and judicial language) 1.1%, other 3.5% (2011 est.)
Sex ratio
- at birth:
- 1.06 male(s)/female
- 0-14 years:
- 1.06 male(s)/female
- 15-24 years:
- 1.05 male(s)/female
- 25-54 years:
- 1.05 male(s)/female
- 55-64 years:
- 1.03 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over:
- 0.79 male(s)/female
- total population:
- 1.01 male(s)/female (2016 est.)
Government
Constitutional monarchy; Grand Duke HENRI (since 7 October 2000); Prime Minister Xavier BETTEL (since 4 December 2013)
22 fieldsPresidential electionpercent of vote
Chamber of Deputies or Chambre des Deputes, 60 seats, elected 20 October 2013one dot, one seat
Percent of vote
Country name
- conventional long form:
- Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
- conventional short form:
- Luxembourg
- local long form:
- Grand Duchee de Luxembourg
- local short form:
- Luxembourg
- etymology:
- from the Celtic "lucilem" (little) and the German "burg" (castle or fortress) to produce the meaning of the "little castle"
Capital
- name:
- Luxembourg
- geographic coordinates:
- 49 36 N, 6 07 E
- time difference:
- UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- daylight saving time:
- +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Administrative divisions
12 cantons (cantons, singular - canton); Capellen, Clervaux, Diekirch, Echternach, Esch-sur-Alzette, Grevenmacher, Luxembourg, Mersch, Redange, Remich, Vianden, Wiltz
National holiday
- National Day (Birthday of Grand Duke HENRI), 23 June;
- note - this date of birth is not the true date of birth for any of the Royals, but the national festivities were shifted in 1962 to allow observance during a more favorable time of year
Constitution
- history:
- previous 1842 (heavily amended 1848, 1856); latest effective 17 October 1868
- amendments:
- proposed by the Chamber of Deputies or by the monarch to the Chamber;
- passage requires at least two-thirds majority vote by the Chamber in two successive readings three months apart;
- a referendum can be substituted for the second reading if approved by more than one-quarter of the Chamber members or by 25,000 valid voters;
- adoption by referendum requires a majority of all valid voters;
- amended many times, last in 2009 (2016)
International law organization participation
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; accepts ICCt jurisdiction
Citizenship
- citizenship by birth:
- limited to situations where the parents are either unknown, stateless, or when the nationality law of the parents' state of origin does not permit acquisition of citizenship by descent when the birth occurs outside of national territory
- citizenship by descent:
- at least one parent must be a citizen of Luxembourg
- dual citizenship recognized:
- yes
- residency requirement for naturalization:
- 7 years
Executive branch
- chief of state:
- Grand Duke HENRI (since 7 October 2000); Heir Apparent Prince GUILLAUME, son of the monarch, born 11 November 1981
- head of government:
- Prime Minister Xavier BETTEL (since 4 December 2013); Deputy Prime Minister Etienne SCHNEIDER (since 4 December 2013)
- cabinet:
- Council of Ministers recommended by the prime minister, appointed by the monarch
- elections/appointments:
- the monarchy is hereditary;
- following elections to the Chamber of Deputies, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually appointed prime minister by the monarch;
- deputy prime minister appointed by the monarch;
- prime minister and deputy prime minister are responsible to the Chamber of Deputies
Legislative branch
- description:
- unicameral Chamber of Deputies or Chambre des Deputes (60 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 5-year terms);
- note - a 21-member Council of State appointed by the Grand Duke on the advice of the prime minister serves as an advisory body to the Chamber of Deputies
- elections:
- last held on 20 October 2013 (next to be held by October 2018)
- election results:
- percent of vote by party - CSV 33.7%, LSAP 20.3%, DP 18.3%, Green Party 10.1%, ADR 6.6%, The Left 4.9%, other 6.1%;
- seats by party - CSV 23, LSAP 13, DP 13, Green Party 6, ADR 3, The Left 2
Judicial branch
- highest court(s):
- Superior Court of Justice includes Court of Appeal and Court of Cassation (consists of 27 judges on 9 benches); Constitutional Court (consists of 9 members)
- judge selection and term of office:
- judges of both courts appointed by the monarch for life
- subordinate courts:
- Court of Accounts; district and local tribunals and courts
Political parties and leaders
Alternative Democratic Reform Party or ADR [Jean SCHOOS]; Christian Social People's Party or CSV [Marc SPAUTZ]; Democratic Party or DP [Corinne CAHEN]; Green Party [Francoise FOLMER and Christian KMIOTEK]; Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party or LSAP [Claude HAAGEN]; The Left (dei Lenk/la Gauche) [collective leadership, Central Committee]; other minor parties
Political pressure groups and leaders
- Business Federation Luxembourg or FEDIL [Nicolas BUCK]
- Centrale Paysanne [Marc FISCH] (federation of agricultural producers)
- Chamber of Artisans (Chambre des Metiers) [Tom OBERWEIS]
- Chamber of Commerce (Chambre de Commerce) [Carlo THELEN]
- Chambre des Salaries or CSL [Jean-Claude REDING]
- General Association of Officials (Confederation Generale de la Fonction Publique or CGFP) [Romain WOLFF] (trade union representing civil service)
- Greenpeace [Raymond AENDEKERK]
- Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions or LCGB [Patrick DURY] (center-right trade union)
- Luxembourg Association of Bankers and Insurance Employees or ALEBA [Roberto SCOLATI]
- Luxembourg Bankers Association or ABBL [Yves MAAS]
- Mouvement Ecologique [Blanche WEBER] (environmental protection)
- Confederation of Independent Trade Unions or OGB-L [Andre ROELTGEN] (center-left trade union)
International organization participation
ADB (nonregional member), Australia Group, Benelux, BIS, CD, CE, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, FATF, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, Schengen Convention, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNRWA, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Sylvie LUCAS (since 16 September 2016)
- chancery:
- 2200 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
- telephone:
- [1] (202) 265-4171
- FAX:
- [1] (202) 328-8270
- consulate(s) general:
- New York, San Francisco
Diplomatic representation from the US
- US chief of mission:
- Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Alison SHORTER-LAWRENCE (since 20 January 2017)
- embassy:
- 22 Boulevard Emmanuel Servais, L-2535 Luxembourg City
- mailing address:
- Unit 3560, APO-AE 09126-3560 (official mail)
- telephone:
- [352] 46-01-23 00
- FAX:
- [352] 46-14-01
Flag description
- three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and light blue;
- similar to the flag of the Netherlands, which uses a darker blue and is shorter;
- the coloring is derived from the Grand Duke's coat of arms (a red lion on a white and blue striped field)
National anthem
- name:
- "Ons Heemecht" (Our Motherland); "De Wilhelmus" (The William)
- lyrics/music:
- Michel LENTZ/Jean-Antoine ZINNEN; Nikolaus WELTER/unknown
note: "Ons Heemecht," adopted 1864, is the national anthem, while "De Wilhelmus," adopted 1919, serves as a royal anthem for use when members of the grand ducal family enter or exit a ceremony in Luxembourg
Economy
This small, stable, high-income economy has historically featured solid growth, low inflation, and low unemployment.
40 fieldsGDP - composition, by sector of origin(2016 est.)
Trading partnersexports left, imports right
By end use% of GDP
Economy - overview
This small, stable, high-income economy has historically featured solid growth, low inflation, and low unemployment. Luxembourg, the only Grand Duchy in the world, is a landlocked country in northwestern Europe surrounded by Belgium, France, and Germany. Despite its small landmass and small population, Luxembourg is the second-wealthiest country in the world when measured on a gross domestic product (PPP) per capita basis.
Luxembourg has one of the highest current account surpluses as a share of GDP in the euro zone, and it maintains a healthy budgetary position and the lowest public debt level in the region.
Since 2002, the Luxembourg Government has proactively implemented policies and programs to support economic diversification and to attract foreign direct investment. The government focused on key innovative industries that showed promise for supporting economic growth: logistics, information and communications technology (ICT);
health technologies, including biotechnology and biomedical research; clean energy technologies;, and most recently, space technology and financial services technologies. The economy has evolved and flourished, posting a strong GDP growth rate – projected at 4.5% in 2017-2018, far outpacing the European average of 1.8%.
Luxembourg remains a financial powerhouse – the financial sector accounts for more than 35% of GDP - due to the exponential growth of the investment fund sector through the launch and development of cross-border funds (UCITS) in the 1990s. Luxembourg is the world’s second-largest investment fund asset domicile, after the US, with $4 trillion of assets in custody in financial institutions.
Luxembourg has lost some of its advantage as a favorable tax location because of OECD and EU pressure, as well as the “LuxLeaks” scandal, which revealed advantageous tax treatments offered to foreign corporations. In 2015, the government’s compliance with EU requirements to implement automatic exchange of tax information on savings accounts - thus ending banking secrecy - has constricted banking activity.
Likewise, changes to the way EU members collect taxes from e-commerce has cut Luxembourg’s sales tax revenues, requiring the government to raise additional levies and to reduce some direct social benefits as part of the tax reform package of 2017.
Gross national saving
22.8% of GDP (2016 est.) · 24% of GDP (2015 est.) · 23.8% of GDP (2014 est.) country comparison to the world: 69
Industries
banking and financial services, construction, real estate services, iron, metals, and steel, information technology, telecommunications, cargo transportation and logistics, chemicals, engineering, tires, glass, aluminum, tourism, biotechnology
Labor force
266,900 note: data exclude foreign workers; in addition to the figure for domestic labor force, about 150,000 workers commute daily from France, Belgium, and Germany (2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 167
Distribution of family income - Gini index
30.4 (2013 est.) · 26 (2005 est.) country comparison to the world: 124
Public debt
20% of GDP (2016 est.) · 21.6% of GDP (2015 est.) note: data cover general government debt, and includes debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data include debt issued by subnational entities, as well as intra-governmental debt; intra-governmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment; debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions country comparison to the world: 185
Central bank discount rate
0.25% (31 December 2016) · 0.3% (31 December 2010) note: this is the European Central Bank's rate on the marginal lending facility, which offers overnight credit to banks in the euro area country comparison to the world: 143
Stock of narrow money
$229.2 billion (31 December 2016 est.) · $218.4 billion (31 December 2015 est.) note: see entry for the EU for money supply for the entire euro area; the European Central Bank (ECB) controls monetary policy for the 18 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); individual members of the EMU do not control the quantity of money circulating within their own borders country comparison to the world: 19
Stock of broad money
$271.4 billion (31 December 2016 est.) · $271 billion (31 December 2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 35
Stock of domestic credit
$109.9 billion (31 December 2016 est.) · $108.5 billion (31 December 2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 53
Current account balance
$2.823 billion (2016 est.) · $2.962 billion (2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 30
Imports - commodities
commercial aircraft, minerals, chemicals, metals, foodstuffs, luxury consumer goods
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold
$974 million (31 December 2016 est.) · $771 million (31 December 2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 125
Debt - external
$3.781 trillion (31 March 2016 est.) · $3.806 trillion (31 March 2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 7
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home
$11.21 billion (31 December 2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 94
Exchange rates
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.9214 (2016 est.) · 0.885 (2015 est.) · 0.885 (2014 est.) · 0.7634 (2013 est.) · 0.7752 (2012 est.)
Energy
24 fieldsElectrification% of population · (2016)
Installed generating capacity, 2.023 million kW(2015 est.)
Electricity - from fossil fuels
23.7% of total installed capacity (2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 192
Electricity - from nuclear fuels
0% of total installed capacity (2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 131
Electricity - from hydroelectric plants
1.7% of total installed capacity (2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 140
Electricity - from other renewable sources
12.7% of total installed capacity (2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 60
Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy
11 million Mt (2013 est.) country comparison to the world: 101
Communications
6 fieldsPer 100 inhabitants(July 2016 est.)
Telephone system
- general assessment:
- highly developed, completely automated and efficient system, mainly buried cables
- domestic:
- fixed-line teledensity about 50 per 100 persons; nationwide mobile-cellular telephone system with market for mobile-cellular phones virtually saturated
- international:
- country code - 352 (2016)
Broadcast media
- Luxembourg has a long tradition of operating radio and TV services for pan-European audiences and is home to Europe's largest privately owned broadcast media group, the RTL Group, which operates 46 TV stations and 29 radio stations in Europe;
- also home to Europe's largest satellite operator, Societe Europeenne des Satellites (SES);
- domestically, the RTL Group operates TV and radio networks;
- other domestic private radio and TV operators and French and German stations available;
- satellite and cable TV services available (2016)
Transportation
12 fieldsMerchant marine, 49 ships by typeone square, one ship
Airports by runway lengthpaved only
Airports by runway lengthunpaved only
Networkskm
National air transport system
- number of registered air carriers:
- 3; inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 119
- annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:
- 1,830,972
- annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:
- 6,309,473,324 mt-km (2015)
Railways
- total:
- 275 km
- standard gauge:
- 275 km 1.435-m gauge (275 km electrified) (2014)
country comparison to the world: 125
Roadways
- total:
- 2,899 km
- paved:
- 2,899 km (includes 152 km of expressways) (2011)
country comparison to the world: 167
Military and Security
Luxembourg Army (Armee Luxembourgeoise) (2015)
3 fieldsMilitary service age and obligation
- 18-24 years of age for male and female voluntary military service;
- no conscription;
- Luxembourg citizen or EU citizen with 3-year residence in Luxembourg (2012)
Transnational Issues
2 fieldsCite this entry
Central Intelligence Agency. “Luxembourg.” The World Factbook 2017. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/luxembourg/2017.