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Updates: 

Fabien Antoine sent links to sources [4] and [5]. On 2014-07-18 the Government Council ("Conseil de gouvernement") adopted a bill abolishing the districts, leaving no institution intervening between the State and the communes; this would imply that the cantons are also abolished.

NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) is a European standard which assigns codes to regions at various levels in each country. The NUTS code for Luxembourg is LU followed by the appropriate number of zeros at levels 0-3.

Country overview: 

Short name	LUXEMBOURG
ISO code	LU
FIPS code	LU
Language	Luxemburgish, French (fr), German (de)
Time zone	+1 ~
Capital	Luxembourg

 

Luxembourg has been an independent country for the whole of the 20th century.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Luxembourg
2. Dutch: Luxemburg, Groothertogdom Luxemburg (formal)
3. English: Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (formal)
4. Finnish: Luxemburg
5. French: Luxembourg, Grand-Duché m de Luxembourg m (formal)
6. German: Luxemburg n, Großherzogtum n Luxemburg (formal)
7. Icelandic: Lúxemborg
8. Italian: Lussemburgo m
9. Norwegian: Luxembourg, Luxemburg, Storhertugdømmet Luxembourg (formal)
10. Portuguese: Luxemburgo, Grão-Ducado m do Luxemburgo m (formal)
11. Russian: Великое Герцогство Люксембург (formal)
12. Spanish: Luxemburgo, Gran Ducado m de Luxemburgo m (formal)
13. Swedish: Luxemburg
14. Turkish: Lüksemburg Grand Düşesliği (formal)

Origin of name: 

Old High German Lützelburg: little fort

Primary subdivisions: 

Luxembourg is divided into three districts.

District	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Diekirch	LU.DI	D	LU01	78,300	1,157	447
Grevenmacher	LU.GR	G	LU02	56,131	525	203
Luxembourg	LU.LU	L	LU03	372,520	904	349
3 districts				512,353	2,586	999
ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 2011-01-01 census. Capitals: Capitals have the same names as their districts.

Postal codes: 

Luxembourg uses four-digit postal codes. They don't correlate well with district or canton boundaries. Note: postal codes for addresses in Luxembourg can be identified by prefixing them with "L-".

Further subdivisions:

See the Communes of Luxembourg page.

The districts were subdivided into cantons (Kantone in German), which are now obsolete. At a lower level, Luxembourg is divided into municipalities (communes in French, Gemeinden in German).

Territorial extent: 

The UN LOCODE page  for Luxembourg lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

1. Diekirch: probably from Old High German diot: people, kirch: church (the people's church)
2. Grevenmacher: from Latin maceria: enclosing wall, with the later addition of Luxemburgish Greven: count, i.e., the Count's Macher (by way of distinction from other towns named Macher)

Change history: 

1. 1843-02-24: Luxembourg divided into three districts: Diekirch, Grevenmacher, and Luxembourg.
2. 1857-05-30: Mersch district created by taking Mersch canton from Luxembourg district and Redange from Diekirch.
3. 1867-05-04: Mersch district dissolved, with its cantons returning to their former districts.
4. 1993-11-01: Under the Maastricht Treaty, the European Union replaced the European Communities, of which Luxembourg was a member.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Diekirch: Dikrech, Dikkrich (Luxemburgish)
2. Grevenmacher: Gréivemaacher (Luxemburgish)

Population history:

District	1821	1851	1871	1900	1910	1922	1935	1947-12-21	1960-12-31	1970-12-31	1981-03-31	1991-03-01	2001-02-15	2011-01-01
Diekirch	43,803	66,087	69,850	63,410	64,005	60,934	59,712	55,390	52,652	52,384	53,353	56,895	67,271	78,300
Grevenmacher	33,021	46,134	42,541	40,333	40,408	38,270	37,566	35,326	34,490	35,830	38,846	42,835	51,948	56,131
Luxembourg	57,258	82,498	91,637	132,382	154,614	162,439	199,635	200,276	227,747	251,627	272,403	284,904	320,320	372,520
3 districts	134,082	194,719	204,028	236,125	259,027	261,643	296,913	290,992	314,889	339,841	364,602	384,634	439,539	512,353
Dates are census dates. Figures have been corrected to the present-day territories of districts.

 

Note: There is a disagreement between sources [1] and [2] concerning the results of the 2001 census. The table above follows source [2]. Source [1] shows the population of Diekirch as 67,454, and that of Luxembourg district as 320,137.

Sources: 

1. [1] Résultats détaillés du recensement 2001 (http://statec.gouvernement.lu/html_fr/statistiques/RP2001_resultats_detailles.pdf, dead link, retrieved 2004-02-10).
2. [2] Bevölkerungsentwicklung pro Kanton und Distrikt von 1821 bis 2002. Ministry of the Interior (http://www.etat.lu/MI/MAT/RegNord/Tab2.pdf, dead link, retrieved 2004-02-10).
3. [3] Recueil de statistiques par commune 2003. Statec (http://www.statec.lu/recueil/pdf/recueil_internet.pdf, dead link, retrieved 2004-02-10).
4. [4] "Le ministre de l'Intérieur annonce la fin des districts"  (The Interior minister announces the end of the districts). Luxemburger Wort (online newspaper, article in French) (retrieved 2014-10-06).
5. [5] "La nouvelle carte du Luxembourg dévoilée"  (The new map of Luxembourg unveiled). L'essentiel (online newspaper, article in French) (retrieved 2014-12-15).