Luxembourg: Europe's Wealthiest Country and Its Three Official Languages
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Luxembourg is the world's only Grand Duchy and one of the wealthiest countries per capita on earth — a consequence of hosting major European Union institutions, an outsized financial sector, and an economy that attracts multinational headquarters from across the world. The country of 650,000 people contains approximately 170,000 cross-border workers who commute daily from France, Germany, and Belgium. On any given weekday, roughly a quarter of the people in Luxembourg were born somewhere else.
Three official languages coexist in daily life: Luxembourgish, a Germanic language related to but distinct from German; French, used in government and law; and German, used in newspapers and religious contexts. Most Luxembourgers speak all three fluently, plus English and often additional languages. The linguistic flexibility is not remarkable to Luxembourgers — it is simply the equipment required to navigate daily life in a small country surrounded by its larger neighbours.
The Moselle valley, along Luxembourg's eastern border, produces some of the finest Riesling, Auxerrois, and Crémant wines in the world. The vineyards run along steep limestone slopes above the river, producing wines of elegant acidity that remain largely unknown outside the region because Luxembourg's total production is small enough that most of it is consumed domestically. Visitors who discover Luxembourgish wine are reliably surprised that they had never heard of it.
