|
Luxembourg - education
The main challenges in the education system, which has 11 years of compulsory
schooling, are the management of the three official languages and the teaching
of the country's many immigrants. There are only a few private
institutions; they are generally Catholic and follow public curricula.
-
TopSchoolsintheUSA: Do you plan to take the TOEFL exam in Luxembourg?
Visit the website to find TOEFL preparation and scoring information as well
as iBT test dates and locations around this country.
The preschool for 4-6-year-olds, like the rest of the education system, is
free. Then follows the six-year primary school, enseignement primaire. The
first teaching takes place in Latvian and German, while French is also taught
from the second grade.
The postgraduate programs include three types of school: enseignement
secondaire technique and enseignement secondaire général, both of
which are conditional on a passing entrance examination and are of at least
three years' duration, as well as the three-year régime préparatoire. The
long education course is completed by just over half of a cohort (1993).
Higher education is most often completed abroad. In addition to a university
center with short educations in individual subjects, there are a few
institutions that offer shorter higher education and technical educations.
OFFICIAL NAME: Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
CAPITAL CITY: Luxembourg
POPULATION: 512,000 (Source: COUNTRYaah)
AREA: 2,586 km²
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE (S): French, German and Letzeburgsk, originally a German
dialect
RELIGION: Catholics 97%, Protestants and Jews 3%
COIN: Euro
CURRENCY CODE: EUR
ENGLISH NAME: Luxembourg
POPULATION COMPOSITION: Luxembourgers 67%, Portuguese 13%, Italians 5%, French 4%, Belgians 3%,
Germans 2%, others 6%
GDP PER residents: $ 49,980 (2007)
LIFE EXPECTANCY: men 75 years, women 81 years (2007)
INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, HDI: 0.945
INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, POSITION: 12
INTERNET DOMAIN NAME: .lu
Luxembourg, Grand Duchy located between Belgium, France and Germany. The
country is a significant international financial center and home to several of
the EU institutions, including The European Court of Justice.
Luxembourg - Constitution (Political parties)
Luxembourg's most important parties are the Christian Christian Social
People's Party (CSV), which is at the same time the largest, the socialist
D'Lëtzebuerger Sozialistech Aarbechterpartei (LSAP) and the liberal Demokratesch
Partei démocratique (DP). The trade union movement is divided into the socialist
LAV, Lëtzebuerger Arbechter Verbond, and the Christian LCGB, Lëtzebuerger
Chreschtleche Gewerkschaftsbond.
Luxembourg - economy
Luxembourg's small economy is extremely open and dependent on the outside
world in terms of trade, capital and labor. Economic policy has therefore always
been characterized by the need to ensure good relations with neighboring
countries. In 1921, Luxembourg entered into an economic and monetary union with
Belgium (part of the Benelux), and in the early 1950's the country co-founded
the forerunner of the EU, the European Coal and Steel Community. Not least as a
result of very liberal legislation, low taxes and strict banking secrecy,
Luxembourg has developed into one of Europe's most important financial centers
since the mid-1960's. Nordea and Den Danske Bank have established themselves.
Its position as a financial center has had a major impact on Luxembourg's
economic progress. Prosperity, measured by GDP per capita population, is by far
the highest in the world, income disparities are relatively small and
unemployment has long been below 5%, which due to a low employment rate for
women as well as a tradition of close cooperation between government, employees
and employers. In the 1990's, labor market policy focused on job training,
favorable conditions for early retirement and support for small and medium-sized
enterprises as part of the country's general efforts to reduce dependence on the
financial sector and the steel industry. As around 25% of all employees live in
neighboring countries, Luxembourg's workforce is in practice much larger and
more flexible than the domestic one. This means, among other things,
Luxembourg has one of Europe's most stable economies, which is characterized
by low inflation and order in public finances. In 1999, Luxembourg joined EMU,
and in 2002 the franc was replaced by the euro. Economic growth has been among
the highest in the OECD area since the late 1980's, not least driven by strong
growth in the financial sector. In 2001-02, the slowdown in the world economy
also caused a significant slowdown in Luxembourg, but in 2004 and 2005 growth
rates of approximately 4%. There is usually a large trade deficit, but it is offset by
revenue from services.
The main trading partners are EU countries and in particular the neighbors
Germany, Belgium and France; However, China is the third largest supplier
country (2005). Denmark's exports to Luxembourg in 2005 amounted to DKK 564
million. DKK, and imports from there were 1488 mill. kr.
Luxembourg - social conditions
Luxembourg has a high standard of living and a relatively equal income
distribution. Social security is based on the insurance principle. The
organizational basis is a large number of insurance bodies, each of which covers
a specific risk for a defined business category. Membership of the insurance
scheme is mandatory for employees and, as a general rule, voluntary for the
self-employed.
The health service is essentially private, but the health insurance pays the
benefits. As a general rule, hospital treatment is fully covered. Other benefits
are covered by between 40 and 100%.
Insured persons over the age of 65 are entitled to a retirement pension,
while insured persons with at least 40 years of seniority can receive a reduced
pension from the age of 60. The benefit consists of a basic amount and a
supplementary amount. While the basic amount is independent of previous income,
the additional amount is proportional to this. Both depend on seniority. The
scheme means that there are very large differences in the pensions paid out. The
social insurances also include unemployment insurance, unemployment insurance in
the event of illness and maternity, child and family benefits, etc.
|
