More than 47 per cent of people living in Luxembourg are foreigners.

But when it comes to choosing a place to live and deciding on the distance we want to travel to get to work, people of different nationalities make different choices.

A new Statec study reveals in which communes foreigners of different nationalities settle down and where Luxembourgish people prefer to live as well as how the workforce is distributed according to origins.

The main nationalities other than Luxembourgish living in the Grand Duchy are Portuguese, French, German, Belgian and Italian.

The commune with the highest percentage of foreigners is Luxembourg City, with almost 65 per cent of those living in the capital of a nationality other than Luxembourgish.

Only 35.1 per cent of people living in Luxembourg City are of Luxembourgish nationality.

The communes surrounding Luxembourg City all have a foreign population of between 43 and 64.9 per cent.

In some areas further afield, only up to 24 per cent of the population are foreigners. This includes Wincrange, Hosingen, Putscheid, Tandel, Boulaide, Lac Haute Sure in the north, Mondercange and Reckange/Mess in the south and Rosport, Bech and Manternach in the east.

The Luxembourgish population is low in communes around the capital, in Esch-sur-Alzette, Echternach, Ettelbrück and Wiltz.

More than three quarters of residents in Mondercange and Reckange/Mess, situated in the south, are of Luxembourgish nationality -- the highest rate in the country.

A number of communes in the north and east, especially around Useldange in the east also have a high percentage of Luxembourgers.

Portuguese

The statistics are based on figures from 2011 and Portuguese nationals made up 16.1 per cent of Luxembourg's population. The average age was 32.9 years -- lower than the 38.7 average for all residents.

The communes with the highest percentage of Portuguese nationals are Larochette -- with the highest percentage of 45.2 per cent -- as well as Esch-sur-Alzette, Differdange, Echternach and Vianden.

Only 14.3 per cent of those living in Luxembourg City have Portuguese nationality despite the fact it is the commune with the highest rate of foreigners.

French

French nationals made up 6.1 per cent of Luxembourg's residents. French people tend to live in the capital -- 14.1 per cent of Luxembourg City's residents are French -- but less than 3.5 per cent of people living in the north of the country consists of French nationals.

Italians

3.5 per cent of Luxembourg's residents are Italian and the average population is 45.2 years. A total of seven per cent of Bertrange residents are Italian, 6.3 per cent in Strassen and six per cent in Luxembourg City. There aren't many Italians living in the north or the north-east of the country.

Belgian

Belgians make up 3.3 per cent of Luxembourg's population. Most of the Belgians living here were born in Belgium (73.6 per cent) and are just above the average age, at 39.3 years old.

In three communes in the west, near the Belgian border (Winseler, Rambrouch and Ell), 17 per cent of the population are Belgian nationals. According to Eurostat figures, Belgians tend not to move to the east and south of Luxembourg.

German

A total of 2.4 per cent of Luxembourg's residents are of German nationality. The highest percentage of German nationals live in communes close to the German border, including Grevenmacher, Mertert, Mompach and Niederanven.

Working population

The main areas for employment are Luxembourg City and Esch-sur-Alzette.

The lowest number of jobs are in the north -- Troisvierges, Weiswampach and Wincrange.

66.1 per cent of the working population of Luxembourg city and Esch-sur-Alzette are of foreign nationality (12.3 per cent French and 23 per cent Portuguese).

Luxembourgish citizens are more present in communes further away from the two main employment areas.

Portuguese is the only foreign nationality among the five main ones which is highly represented in the workforce in places far away from the two main employment areas.

42.8 per cent of working Luxembourgish people live in the second zone (outside of the areas immediately surrounding Luxembourg City, such as Remich, Mondercange, Steinfort, Lintgen, Mersch and Grevenmacher).

Only 13.6 per cent live in Luxembourg city or Esch-sur-Alzette.

There is an even higher percentage of working Portuguese people living in the second zone (43.9 per cent) but 26.1 per cent of Portuguese nationals live in Luxembourg city or Esch-sur-Alzette.

The French and Italians are attracted to living in the main employment areas. And for German and Belgian people the two main employment areas as well as the zone surrounding Luxembourg city are popular.

Travelling to work

The average distance people living in Luxembourg travel to get to their workplace is 15.2km.

Luxembourgish nationals travel the longest distance between their home and place of work with an average of 16.3km.

This is followed by Portuguese people who travel 15.9km. A number of Portuguese people live in Esch-sur-Alzette but work in Luxembourg city, which adds to the number of kilometres they clock even if they live in one of the main employment areas.

French people travel the least to get from home to work (11.6km).

(Heledd Pritchard, heledd.pritchard@wort.lu, +352 49 93 459)