Languages in Luxembourg

In the northern half of the country, Luxembourg plays a bigger role than in the south. This is the message of the demographic atlas recently published by Statec. Pit Everling has spent some time looking at the topic of languages. 

55.8 % of the population consider Luxembourgish to be the language that they speak best. Portuguese follows with 15.7%, French with 12% and German with 3%.

In Luxembourg City, only 35.2% of people say that they speak Luxembourgish best. The situation is similar in Larochette and Strassen. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we find the commune of Wahl, where some 82% of the people state that they speak Luxembourgish first and foremost. Goesdorf, Préizerdaul and Bourscheid are the runners up.

In Luxembourg City and the surrounding areas, Luxembourgish remains the first language in few places.

For 43.4% of the residents of Larochette, the first language is Portuguese, followed by the communes of Differdange, Esch and Bettendorf.

French plays an important role in Luxembourg City, as well as in a number of communes near the Belgian border. In terms of percentages, the commune with the highest population of native speakers of French is Rambrouch with 24.2%. The situation is similar in Ell.

German is best represented in Mertert, where 9% of the people say that it is their main language.

Italian is most important in Bertrange, where 5.8% of the people consider it their first language.

In Schuttrange, 8% of the population consider English their main language.

8.4% of Luxembourg's population have indicated 'Other' as their first language.

The data published by Statec is based on the census of 2011, where people were asked in which language they thought and knew the most. There were 7 possible answers to that question.