Are you a saving squirrel?

Luxembourg appears to have been cushioned by recent financial upheavals, with a high proportion of residents still able to put money aside for a rainy day.

According to a global survey by bank ING-DiBa, the Grand Duchy nearly dominated a table of 19 countries for the ability of its residents to place a decent amount of money in savings accounts.

Altogether, 43% of Luxembourg respondents said they were comfortable with how much they saved, just behind Thailand (54%) and India (47%).

Indeed, the apparent lack of financial woes relative to the rest of the world emerged when survey conductors asked how much money individuals could access within a week in case of emergency.

In Luxembourg, 59% of people said they could get hold of 1,500 euros within a week, the highest proportion for this sum of money of all the 19 countries quizzed.

Residents have not been completely buffered from financial problems with 38% of Luxembourg respondents saying their financial situation had weakened as a result of rising prices in relation to salaries.

However, it could be interpreted that the gap between rich and poor is widening as a fifth of respondents said they were currently able to save more money than before. The only countries with a higher savings capacity, it seemed, were Germany, the Netherlands and Australia.

Lastly, attitudes towards spending remained strongly positive in Luxembourg, where 63% of respondents said they were comfortable or very comfortable with their spending, just behind Holland with 68%.

The ING International Survey on Savings was conducted in November 2011 with data from Asia added in January 2012. It includes information from 18.348 respondents deriving from 19 different countries.