Luxembourg may be best understood as a city-state. In fact, however, Luxembourg is an independent nation that is a member of the European Union. The small nation [998 square miles of territory and 454,200 inhabitants] is surrounded by Belgium, France, and Germany. Of the total population, 67 percent are in the 15-to-64 year old age group that typically defines the workforce age. Nevertheless, Luxembourg depends on a combination of foreign nationals and Transborder workers from Belgium, France, and Germany for 30 percent of the nation's workforce. The size of the labor force approximated 263,000, of which approximately 70,000 are not citizens of the nation. The great majority [92 percent] of the population resides in Luxembourg City, officially known as Ville de Luxembourg, in a nation where French is the official language, although Luxembourgese is a national language and German is widely used among the population (Central Intelligence Agency, 2003).
Luxembourg is a constitutional democracy, with a Royal Duke [inherited title] as head of state, and with a parliament that holds political power in the state. Luxembourg's economy is services oriented [90 percent], with eight-percent of economic output accounted for by industrial production, and the remaining two-percent accounted for by agricultural production. In the dominant services sector of the economy, financial services tend to define the character of Luxembourg in an economic context. The financial services sector accounts for 22 percent of the gross domestic product in Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a member of the European Monetary Union, whose members adopted the euro [¦] as their official currency. Luxembourg also is the seat of the European Court of Justice (Central Intelligence Agency, 2003).
Economic distribution is relatively equitable in Luxembourg. Among the industrial nations of the world, economic inequality increased in all but six nations over the pa...