Luxembourg - Country Code 352
IDD Code: 00
Country Code: 352
ISO: LU
ISO3: LUX
Helpful Information About Luxembourg
Time
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Capital: Luxembourg
Time Zone
UTC+01:00
Time Difference
Luxembourg, Luxembourg is ()
Daylight Savings Time
Luxembourg does not follow DST
Weather
Country Map
Country Flag
About Luxembourg Country NameLuxembourg
ContinentEurope
Lat/Long49.81527300, 6.12958300
BackgroundFounded 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.
Population582,291 (July 2016 est.)
LanguagesLuxembourgish (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.)
ReligionsRoman Catholic 87%, other (includes Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 13% (2000)
Ethnic GroupsLuxembourger 53.3%, Portuguese 16.2%, French 7.2%, Italian 3.5%, Belgian 3.4%, German 2.2%, British 1.1%, other 13.2%
Economy
EconomyThis 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 (GDP) 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 United States, 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.
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 United States, 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.
GDP$60.98 billion (2016 est.)
CurrencyEuro
Communications
Internet TLD.lu
Internet Users555,000
Land Lines276,900
Mobile Phones807,000
Broadcast MediaLuxembourg 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)