one of the smallest yet most successful COUNTRIEs…
LOCATION & CLIMATE
Bordered by Belgium, Germany, and France in northwestern Europe, Luxembourg has a mild climate with considerable precipitation. The mean temperature ranges from the mid-30s °F to the low 60s °F.
GEOGRAPHY
The northern side, known as Oesling, is a forested highland region with beautiful river valleys and ruins of numerous castles. The southern part, known as the Bon Pays, is much more clustered in population with many major rivers running though cities.
THE CAPITAL
LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG (49.612 / 6.13)
Also know as Luxembourg City, the city is the country's most populous commune. Of the over 125,000 people, at least 67% are foreigners. In 1952, the Foreign Ministers of the first European Community, the Coal and Steel Community, chose Luxembourg as their provisional headquarters. This allowed the city to evolve into a financial centre of the country. In 1960, there were 17 banking establishments. Then in 1994, the number has grown to 218.
The Alzette River which flows through the city provides a beautiful and calm atmosphere.
There are more than 1,000 stores constituting for the largest shopping area in the Grand Duchy
MAPS OF LUXEMBOURG
POPULATION DENSITY
The choropleth map to the left represents the population density of Luxembourg through a choropleth map. In areas where the blue color is darker, there is more habitants per kilometers squared. Looking at the map, the bottom two-thirds of the country is much more populated that the top third. This is most likely be due to the rocky and cold climate of the Ardennes Mountains.
FINANCE AND INSURANCE EXPORTS
According to Worldmapper’s cartogram map, finance and insurance exports are overwhelmingly significant in Western Europe. Luxembourg, specifically, is enlarged so much on the map to show that it has substantial finance and insurance net profit compared to the rest of the world.
CURRENT COVID-19 CASES
According to Johns Hopkins coronavirus research center’s proportional symbol map, Luxembourg’s coronavirus cases are relatively calm the last 28 days compared to surrounding countries. The red dot that represents Luxembourg is much smaller compared to neighboring Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.
EUROPEAN POPULATION DENSITY
The dot density map on the right shows the population density in Europe. People tend to be more clustered in urban areas spread throughout the continent. For example, on the map, Luxembourg City is a pretty densely packed urban area.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX
Luxembourg ranks very high in the human development index. This isn’t too surprising though considering it’s the richest country in the world.
REGIONS
Formal regions are areas in which most people share one or most distinct characteristics. The Oesling, mentioned earlier, is a formal region in the no
Functional regions are areas organized around a node or focal point. Luxembourg City is an example of a function region because of their focal point i
Vernacular regions are areas that people believe exist as a part of their cultural identity. Diekirch is a small county that exists because of their
NATURAL RESOURCES
Luxembourg is commended by the rest of Europe for it’s integration of pastoral land within a highly industrialized, export-intensive, and high-tech services economy. The steel industry was very dominant in the 20th century do to its abundance of the natural resources. However now, the iron and steel industry in Luxembourg is only 7% of the overall economy. Luxembourg due to it’s geographical location is also perfect for growing grapes for white wines and also Pinot Noirs. They also have vast timberlands and dairy farms. However, due to its successes in the banking and finance industries, Luxembourg doesn’t need to rely on their own exports to sustain their country. Luxembourg maintains a €2.13 billion ($3.02 billion) surplus in 2009 so even if they did need to import raw materials, it wouldn’t even be a worry for the country.
ENVIROMENTAL CHALLENGES
Air pollution from automobile car emissions was 22.8 metric tons per capita. This is not only just the highest in Europe, but also substantially higher than those in the United States. However, many companies like Arcelormittal are trying to incorporate sustainable ways of using natural resources, like steel, into modern life to hopefully reduce CO2 levels. Luxembourg is almost completely dependent on energy imports of oil and of natural gas, but efforts contributions are shifting to pushing onshore wind, solar PV, and biogas.