What Is The Ethnic Composition Of Luxembourg?

Luxembourg is a small Western European landlocked state that is surrounded by France, Germany, and Belgium. It is one of the smallest countries in Europe. Luxembourg City, the capital city of Luxembourg, is one of the official capitals of the EU, together with Frankfurt, Brussels, and Strasbourg. 

Luxembourg’s population was estimated to be over 537,039 people by January 1, 2013. 44.5% of the residents were born out of the country, while 55.5% were Luxembourgers. The country’s population grew by 17.5% from 2011 (512,353 people) to 2018 (602,005 people). Luxembourg is one of the least populous states in Europe, but it has one of the highest growth rates in the continent. Over 16.74% of the residents are below the age of 14, while 11.95 are over 65 years old. Over 44.18% of the population is between 25 years and 54 years old. Luxembourg had a birth rate of about 11.6 births per a thousand people and a death rate of about 7.3 deaths per 1,000 people in 2018.

The Ethnic Composition Of Luxembourg

Luxembourger is the largest ethnic group in the country followed by Portuguese (15.7%), Italian (3.6%), French (7.5%), and Belgian (3.3%) among others. Over 6.4% of the residents were from other EU nations, while 6.1% were from other non-EU states. 

Luxembourgers

The leading ethnic group in Luxembourg, which accounts for over 51.1% of the population is the Luxembourger. Luxembourgers are a Suebian community commonly known as the Germanic people who are indigenous to Luxembourg. Legally, all Luxembourg citizens are known as Luxembourgers as per the country’s law. A considerable percentage of ethnic Luxembourgers reside in Luxembourg, and they are of Germanic and Gallo-Roman origin.

Other than German and French, most Luxembourgers speak Luxembourgish as their indigenous language. Despite the small population of Luxembourgers on the planet, there is a considerable diaspora in Germany, France, and Belgium. There is a significant number of Luxembourgers in the American continents with the highest population being in the US. However, many individuals of Luxembourgish descent reside in Brazil and Canada. Many people migrated to Hungary in the twelfth century during the first phase of the German-eastward settlement.

Language

The linguistic situation in the country is characterized by the presence of a native language (Luxembourgish) and a mixture of two other languages that are spoken in the neighboring nations. The three official languages are Luxembourgish, German, and French. Even though Luxembourgish is one of the High German languages, over 50,000 Luxembourgish words originated from French. Everybody in Luxembourg can address the administration in any of the three languages and get answered in the same language.

French is the only language of justice, administration, and government. All parliamentary debates are done in Luxembourgish while all official documents are written in French. Luxembourgers converse using Luxembourgish in their day-to-day life, but it’s rarely used as a written language. German is used in the media together with French. According to a survey conducted in 2009, French was the most common language in the country known by 99.9% of the population. Luxembourgish was spoken by 82% of the residents followed English (72%), and German (81%). The professional life in the country is generally multilingual with many private-sector business leaders describing French as the leading working language (56%), followed by Luxembourgish, German and English.