Luxembourg Has Europe’s Highest Share of Non-Nationals

In absolute terms, the highest number of foreigners living in any EU state can be found in Germany – some 7.4 million people. However, in relative terms, the EU state with the highest share of non-nationals is actually Luxembourg.

Luxembourg’s stable and efficient economy as well as its strategic location at the very heart of Europe have proved influential in attracting foreign workers. Most come from other EU states, though thousands of asylum-seekers arrived from the former Yugoslavia in the mid-1990s.

According to Eurostat, 44.5 percent of the country’s population is made up of foreigners. Cyprus has the second-highest share of foreigners in the EU – 19.6 percent. Latvia and Estonia come third and fourth with a 15.6 and 14.9 percent share of foreigners respectively. Austria and Ireland are in joint fifth with 11.8 percent each.