Pre-Trip Information

Luxembourg's estimated total population is approximately 463,000, according to recent estimates. Most Luxembourgers are described as coming from Celtic origins with a blend of French, and German stock. Ethnic Portuguese, Italians, and Spanish are also resident. In addition, there are significant communities of guest workers from several other European nations.


Religion

In terms of religious affiliation, Roman Catholicism is observed by most of the population. There are also small Protestant and Jewish minorities.

There are three official languages in Luxembourg: Lëtzebuergesch (or Luxembourgish), French, and German. English is also widely spoken. French is the official language of the parliament, the civial service, and the law; however, Lëtzebuergesch is used for certain legal proceedings. Most print media are in German. Students learn both French and German.

Luxembourg is a very wealthy country with a high level of human development. According to recent estimates, Luxembourgers have an average life expectancy at birth of 77 years of age (74 years for males, 81 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.71 deaths per 1,000 live births, as noted in recent estimates. Also, just about 100 percent of the population, age 15 and older, can read and write.

About  percent of  4.1 GDP is spent on health expenditures in this country.  Access to education, sanitation, water, and health is regarded to be excellent.

One notable measure used to determine a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which has been compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a recent  ranking of 169 countries, the HDI placed Luxembourg in the very high human development category, at 24th place.

Editor's Note: Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.