Luxembourg Embassy

520,672 (July 2014 est.)

Western Europe, between France and Germany

Europe

LUXEMBOURG (capital) 94,000 (2011)

Luxembourgish (official administrative language and national language (spoken vernacular)), French (official administrative language), German (official administrative language)

Luxembourger 63.1%, Portuguese 13.3%, French 4.5%, Italian 4.3%, German 2.3%, other EU 7.3%, other 5.2% (2000 census)

Roman Catholic 87%, other (includes Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 13% (2000)

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. Full independence was attained in 1867. 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 European Economic Community (later the European Union), and in 1999 it joined the euro currency area. In January 2013, Luxembourg assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2013-14 term.

0 km (landlocked)

modified continental with mild winters, cool summers

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

iron ore (no longer exploited), arable land