From the world’s highest minimum wage to world-famous castles, these are the most interesting facts about Luxembourg.
Fast facts
Official name: Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Population: 671,254
Area: 2,586 sq km
Capital city: Luxembourg City
Major languages: Luxembourgish, Portuguese, French, German
Major religions: Christianity
Time zone: UTC+1 (Central European Time)
Fun facts about Luxembourg
1. Luxembourg is a landlocked country in Western Europe bordering Belgium, France and Germany.
2. Luxembourg is among Europe’s most densely populated countries, combining a small land area with continued population growth, which rose by 1.5% in 2024.
3. Luxembourg is one of three countries comprising Benelux, an economic union of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The name is a portmanteau of the first three letters of each nation’s name.
4. Luxembourg gets its name from the ancient Saxon name of its capital city, Lucilinburhuc, which means “Little Fortress” and reflects its strategic position straddling a major military route linking Germanic and Frankish territories.
5. For this reason, Luxembourg has been referred to as the “Gibraltar of the north”.
6. Luxembourg’s flag is horizontally striped red, white and blue. The colours derive from the Grand Duke’s coat of arms which has a red lion on a white and blue striped background. The flag is similar to the Dutch national flag, which uses a darker blue.
7. Luxembourg is the world’s only remaining Grand Duchy, whose head of state Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg abdicated in 2025 in favor of his son, Guillaume.
8. Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel became the first serving EU leader to marry a same-sex partner in 2015.
9. Luxembourg only has one UNESCO World Heritage Site – the City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and Fortifications.
10. As of 2021, Luxembourg has the world’s third-highest GDP per capita at $133,590.1 USD. Only Monaco and Liechtenstein are higher.
11. Luxembourg invests about $8,175 per person each year in healthcare (PPP), placing it among the highest levels of annual health spending worldwide.
12. Luxembourg was a founding member of NATO in 1949 and the EEC (the precursor to the EU) in 1957.
13. One of Luxembourg’s most famous sites is the Schloss Vianden which has been named one of the 21 most beautiful castles in the world. Vianden was built between the 11th and 14th centuries.
14. Due to its “favorable” tax arrangements, a number of multinational companies, including Amazon, AOL, Apple, Microsoft, Skype and eBay, set up their European headquarters in Luxembourg.
15. However, following an investigation in 2014 known as the “LuxLeaks”, Luxembourg has now cracked down on its tax avoidance policies and has come into line with EU law.
16. Every year since 1100, on the Tuesday of Pentecost (a Christian religious festival), the hopping procession of Echternach takes place in the medieval town center of Echternach, Luxembourg’s oldest city. The dancing procession sees as many as 13,000 people take part.
17. Luxembourg has the world’s highest hourly minimum wage at $13.39 USD.
18. Despite its high population density, Luxembourg is one of Europe’s least-populous countries.
19. There are 17km of underground tunnels running beneath Luxembourg City, known as casemates. The caves were initially dug out in 1644, then extended in the 1680s, and again in the mid-18th century. They have been used for defense as well as housing garrisons, bakeries, slaughterhouses, and sheltering 35,000 people during the world wars.
20. Luxembourg has the world’s highest rate of car ownership, with 647 cars per 1,000 population.
21. As such, in 2020, Luxembourg became the first country in the world to make all public transport free in a bid to reduce road traffic.
22. Luxembourg first became an independent state in 963 when Siegfried, Count de Ardennes, traded his lands for a small but strategically located Roman castle lying on the site of the modern-day capital city.
23. Luxembourg gained its modern-day borders in 1839 when the Treaty of London gave the western part of the country to the recently created state of Belgium. However, it didn’t gain independence until the Second Treaty of London in 1867.
24. Luxembourg is one of the world’s safest countries to visit. It is one of just 18 countries to have been assessed as carrying an ‘insignificant travel security risk’ to travelers.
25. The Chiggeri Restaurant in Luxembourg City has the world’s largest wine list, with 1,746 varieties of wine available.
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Caitriona Maria is an education writer and owner of The Facts Institute. With seven years of teaching experience and a background in educational content, she specialises in creating clear reference resources about countries, geography and global topics.