Cantons of Luxembourg

The 12 cantons of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are subdivisions at the first level of local administrative unit in the European Union's Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics for Eurostat purposes. They were subdivisions of the three districts of Luxembourg until 2015, when the district level of government was abolished. The cantons are in turn subdivided into 100 communes.

Function

Unlike in Switzerland and similarly to France, Luxembourgish cantons have no administrative structure of their own—rather, they are used to delimit electoral constituencies and judicial districts. Until 2015, they also served to delimit Luxembourg's three districts.

History

The origins of the cantons of Luxembourg lie in the decree of 31 August 1795 by the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolutionary period. This established 37 cantons in the Département des Forêts, grouped into 4 arrondissements : Bitbourg, Diekirch, Luxembourg, and Neufchâteau. The old feudal territorial divisions were replaced with a system of uniform administrative division into cantons of approximately equal size and population.
The decree of 6 March 1802 reduced the number of cantons in the department to 28.
This situation lasted until 1815, when the Congress of Vienna re-organised Europe's borders. The Duchy of Luxembourg lost its territories east of the Our, the Sauer and the Moselle rivers to Prussia. The subsequent administrative reorganisation divided Luxembourg into 32 cantons, grouped into five arrondissements: Marche, Saint-Hubert, Neufchâteau, Diekirch, and Luxembourg.
By royal decree of 2 January 1832, arrondissements were reduced in size, but their number increased from 5 to 8. They were now named quarters, and later, districts.

List

The following list gives the names of the cantons in French and Luxembourgish which are both official languages of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg:

Name Luxembourgish name	Namesake commune	Chamber of Deputies constituency	Coat of arms	Area	Population	Population Density Inhabitants/km²	Highest point	Lowest point
Clervaux Klierf	Clervaux	North		342.17	21,873	63.9	560	230
Wiltz Wolz	Wiltz	North		264.55	19,944	75.4	537	233
Vianden Veianen	Vianden	North		78.52	5,744	73.2	542	190
Redange Réiden	Redange	North		267.49	21,442	80.2	554	232
Diekirch Dikrech	Diekirch	North		204.51	36,240	177.2	525	175
Mersch Mersch	Mersch	Centre		223.90	36,736	164.1	436	201
Echternach Iechternach	Echternach	East		185.54	20,509	110.5	414	141
Capellen Capellen	Mamer	South		199.21	55,513	278.7	398	242
Luxembourg Lëtzebuerg	Luxembourg City	Centre		238.46	210,561	883	429	228
Grevenmacher Gréiwemaacher	Grevenmacher	East		211.37	33,712	159.5	411	132
Esch-sur-Alzette Esch-Uelzecht	Esch-sur-Alzette	South		242.77	195,091	803.6	435	224
Remich Réimech	Remich	East		127.87	24,608	192.4	368	140