THE NATIONAL SYSTEM OF DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS
Population structure
In Luxemburg population censuses have a long tradition. Regular census-taking started already in the 1820s. The
first census after the new territorial formation was taken in 1839. Luxemburg joined the German Tariff Union
and became a member of the German Federation (Deutscher Bund). Thus, Luxemburg participated in the three
annual censuses of the German Tariff Union held from 1846 to 1867. Starting from German unification in
1870/71, Luxemburg adopted the census system of the German Empire until the outbreak of World War I. At the
end of the war Luxemburg’s affiliation to Germany ended and France became the important neighbour. The
statistical system and census-taking was therefore orientated on the French system. The quinquennial system of
census-taking which dominated during the German period was given up and census-taking became rather
irregular during the inter-war period due to the European political and economic turbulence.
Before 1900 Luxemburg had no official publication series for official statistics. Results from censuses were
published in the law gazette, the Mémorial du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg. Statistical results for the nineteenth
century were later published for different subjects, but unfortunately not for population censuses. Thus, there is
no summary publication on historical population statistics although there are valuable general historical statistics
of Luxemburg (cf. STATEC, 1990a). This title summarizes the main population statistics results. But it does not
cover population by age, sex, or marital status, for example. This material is collected in this volume. This
information was combined for the first time in 1890 and published in the Mémorial. From 1890–1905 the age
was given in one-year age groups, but from 1910 to 1930 only in larger age brackets for the older ages.
Vital statistics
Annual data on births, deaths, marriages, and divorces are available since 1841. Annual data on the population
on 1 January have been calculated since 1840. Disaggregations of these basic demographic variables were
introduced at later stages: since 1876 births have been divided into live births and stillbirths as well as legitimate
and illegitimate births. Deaths by age (under one year—infant mortality) have been registered since 1876 and
neonatal mortality since 1901. Complicated measures of fertility such as the Total Period Fertility Rate (TPFR)
or the cohort fertility rate are available only since the 1930s and 1940s, although age-specific fertility measures
have been calculated for earlier periods, at least since 1871.
Households and families
Data on households (Haushaltungen or later ménages) were already collected in the censuses for the German
Tariff Union since 1840. But in these censuses the mere number of households is given. With the introduction of
German statistics in 1871, Luxemburg adopted the German household statistics, distinguishing between singleperson households, family households, and institutional households (cf. chapter on Germany). Family
households also included members co-residing with a family but who did not belong biologically to the family,
such as servants, boarders, etc. (non-family household members).
Private households by size were distinguished in the census of 1900. The number of households and their
respective members were distinguished for households with 1 to 11 and more persons. In 1900, 1905, and 1910
the household composition was published, dividing family household members into the three categories of
family members, service personnel, and others.
The definition of a household (Haushaltungen or later ménage) during the period of the censuses for the
German Tariff Union (until 1867) was that of a private household, thus it also included people living alone.
From 1871 until 1910 the same definition as in the German household statistics was applied. Households were
conceived as those persons who not only share one dwelling, but also have a shared household budget. Thus, in
1910 the definition for households states (Ständige Kommission für Statistik, 1911: 77):
Unter Haushaltung waren den Vorschriften gemäss alle zu einer wohn- und hauswirtschaftlichen Gemeinschaft vereinigten
Personen zu verstehen—sogenannte Familien- oder gewöhnliche Haushaltungen.
Einer Haushaltung gleich geachtet wurden einzellebende Personen mit besonderer Wohnung und eigener
Hauswirtschaft—sogenannte Einzelhaushaltungen. Andere alleinstehende Personen wie Zimmerabmieter ohne eigene
Hauswirtschaft, Chambregarnisten, Schlafgänger, waren indes derjenigen Haushaltung zuzurechnen, bei der sie wohnten und
für sie die Hauswirtschaft führten, auch wenn sie in dieser Haushaltung keine Beköstigung erhielten.
The only investigation into family statistics was made in 1927. Family heads were classified by the number of
children from 1 to 10 or more. Family heads were grouped into proprietors (propriétaires) of the dwelling,
tenants (locataires), and détenteurs de logements de service.
Remarks (also see introductory Table 6.1)
In Luxemburg population censuses from 1890 to 1991 have been used to calculate the variables v16–v21.