Luxembourg Emigration and Immigration

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Luxembourg

Emigration and Immigration

Online Resources

• 1904-1914 Germany, Bremen Passenger Departure Lists, 1904-1914 at MyHeritage; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Luxembourg

Emigration records (emigratie registres)

National archives; Agence de Voyages Weitzel, 23, Ave. Charlotta, Luxembourg.

Background

• The immigrant population of Luxembuorg increased in the 20th century due to the arrival of immigrants from Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, and Portugal, with the majority coming from Portugal.
• In 2013, there were about 88,000 inhabitants with Portuguese nationality. In 2013, there were 537,039 permanent residents, 44.5% of which were of foreign background or foreign nationals; the largest foreign ethnic groups were the Portuguese, comprising 16.4% of the total population, followed by the French (6.6%), Italians (3.4%), Belgians (3.3%) and Germans (2.3%).
• Since the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, Luxembourg has seen many immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia.

Emigration

• Despite the rather small number of Luxembourgers, there is a relatively large diaspora, in Europe and elsewhere. Particularly, there are populations in the surrounding countries of Belgium, France, and Germany. For the most part, this is due to historic reasons, especially the three Partitions of Luxembourg, which led to former territories of Luxembourg being incorporated into each of the three surrounding countries.
• There are also significant populations in the Americas, with the largest contingent being in the United States. However, many people of Luxembourgish descent also live in Canada and Brazil, to which large waves of Luxembourgers emigrated in the nineteenth century.
• Others migrated to Hungary along with Germans during the first phase of German eastward settlement in the 12th century. Transylvanian Saxons and Banat Swabians are the descendants of these settlers.

Brazil

• There are an estimated 50,000 Brazilians of partial Luxembourgian descent. Luxembourgian immigration to Brazil occurred mainly around 1828, when nearly 1,000 Luxembourgers settled there.

United States

According to the United States' 2000 Census, there were 45,139 Americans of full or partial Luxembourgish descent.

• In 1940 the number of Americans with Luxembourgish ancestry was around 100,000.
• The first families from Luxembourg arrived in the United States, around 1842, fleeing of the overpopulation and economic change in the newly independent country. They worked in the field, as was traditional in their country.
• Luxembourgish Americans are overwhelmingly concentrated in the Midwest, where most originally settled in the nineteenth century. At the 2000 Census, the states with the largest self-reported Luxembourgian American populations were Illinois (6,963), Wisconsin (6,580), Minnesota (5,867), Iowa (5,624), and California (2,824).

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