Luxembourg Facts, Luxembourg Flag -- National Geographic

Fast Facts

Population:: 457,000
Capital:: Luxembourg; 77,000
Area:: 2,586 square kilometers (998 square miles)
Language:: Luxembourgish, German, French
Religion:: Roman Catholic
Currency:: Euro
Life Expectancy:: 78
GDP per Capita:: U.S. $48,900
Literacy Percent:: 100

Luxembourg, a landlocked Western European country, has heavily forested hills in the north and open, rolling countryside in the south. It became a member of a customs union in 1948 that evolved into today's European Union. Although small in size, Luxembourg's central location, political stability, and multilingual population, along with tax incentives, have proved advantageous to it as a financial center. Foreign investment in light manufacturing and services has offset the decline in steel, once the nation's major industry.

ECONOMY

Industry: Banking, iron and steel, food processing, chemicals
Agriculture: Barley, oats, potatoes, wheat; livestock products
Exports: Machinery and equipment, steel products, chemicals, rubber products, glass

—Text From National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition

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