France 45,000 Belgium 30,000 Germany 15,596 | United States 40,658 Brazil 25,000–80,000 Canada 3,790 | |
Luxembourgers are a Germanic ethnic group native to Luxembourg sharing the culture of Luxembourg and being of Luxembourgish descent. Luxembourgers were, much like Austrians, historically, considered to be a regional subgroup of ethnic Germans and viewed themselves as such until the collapse of the German Confederation. Following the collapse of the confederation, Duchy of Luxembourg entered a personal union with the Netherlands through Treaty of London in 1839; the union ended in 1890.
Legally, all citizens of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are considered to be Luxembourgers per Luxembourgish law, although a distinct ethnic identification is espoused and promoted. The corresponding adjective is "Luxembourgish".
Location
Most ethnic Luxembourgers live in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a small country in Europe between Germany, France, and Belgium, and are of Celtic/Gallo-Roman and Germanic (Frankish) origin. Most speak Luxembourgish, as their native language, in addition to French and German. (Although Luxembourgish might be considered to be similar to German, it is distinct enough to be considered a separate language and not merely a dialect of German.) 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 live in Canada and Brazil, to which large waves of Luxembourgers emigrated in the nineteenth century, as did Germans at the same time. Others migrated to Hungary along with Germans during the first phase of German eastward settlement in the 12th century. Transylvanian Saxons are the descendents of these settlers.