4 in 10 EU foreign residents plan to stay in Luxembourg

For many expats the move to Luxembourg starts out as a short-term plan but, how many of the growing foreign community plan to remain in the Grand Duchy to the end of their lives?

That was one of a handful of questions posed in a recent survey to gauge the behaviour of the ageing foreign population in order to assess the impact they will have on Luxembourg's economy in future.

The second MigraLux survey, commissioned by CEFIS and released on Thursday, found that 42 percent of EU citizens resident in Luxembourg polled planned to remain in Luxembourg, compared with just a fifth of non-EU nationals.

One in three non-EU nationals meanwhile said they preferred to come and go between Luxembourg and their country of origin. 

Feeling well

Among those who intended to remain long-term, the main attraction cited was that they “felt well in Luxembourg” (83 percent), as well as having property in Luxembourg (57 percent) and having family there (54.4 percent).

“It's very symbolic,” said report author Frédéric Mertz, adding: “It's a question of wellbeing. 'I stay because I feel well'.”

The survey results also found a clear pattern showing that the longer a person had lived in Luxembourg, the more likely it was they planned to remain for the rest of their lives.

“It is not the age of individuals which influenced their responses but the life experience and the year they arrived in the country,” Mr Mertz said.

Among those planning to leave Luxembourg in the long-term, the principle reason was to join family elsewhere (46.3 percent).

Why move to Luxembourg?

The survey examined why the foreign residents came to the Grand Duchy in the first place. For nearly half of the EU citizens polled, a job offer had drawn them to the country and for a quarter it was to join family.

But motivations were considerably different for the non-EU nationals surveyed, a third of which came to Luxembourg because of safety fears in their country of origin. Another third cited unemployment and poverty in their home countries as a reason to come to Luxembourg.

In light of these findings, the report author raised a number of issues such as the need to consider Luxembourg's ageing migrant population in future policies and to look at the different needs of this highly diverse community, which accounts for 46 percent of the country's total population.

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