Half a million: this is the number of inhabitants living in a strip of thirty kilometers along the border of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, from Sierck-les-Bains in Lorraine to Bastogne in Wallonia, via Cattenom , Thionville, Audun-le-Tiche, Longwy and Arlon.
There are precisely 505,040 inhabitants in this border strip (read our methodology at the end of the article). That’s 35,000 more in the space of a decade, more than a town like Arlon and almost as many as a town like Thionville. In the space of ten years, around ten municipalities have even seen their population jump by between 25 and 50%!
Between 7 and 10% increase depending on the intermunicipalities
On December 19, INSEE, the French statistics institute, published the latest available figures: those of the 2022 populations, which have served as a reference since January 1, 2025. We have already devoted an article to it, to highlight the good demographic dynamics of Metz and Thionville, as well as the area near Luxembourg.
A more in-depth analysis of these figures confirms the great attractiveness of the Grand Duchy in northern Lorraine. In the seven territories whose populations we have compiled, the total number of inhabitants increased from 301,858 in 2011 to 322,723 in 2022. Apart from the intercommunality of Val de Fensch which shows an increase of “only” 2.6% , the other six (Sierck, Cattenom, Arc mosellan, Thionville, Pays Haut Val d’Alzette and Longwy) present population increases of between 7 and 10%.
If we narrow the focus even further, municipality by municipality, we realize that some of them have seen their population make a big jump in ten years.
Easy access to Luxembourg
In proportion, the prize goes to Merschweiller, a small village nestled between the castle of Malbrouck and Schengen: from 185 to 290 inhabitants between 2011 and 2022, or +57%. Volstroff (from 1,445 to 2,074, +44%) and Stuckange (from 1,022 to 1,455, +42%), both near Thionville, complete this podium.
The strong increases observed in these peri-urban villages, with their green living environment, generally find their source in the development of a housing estate, which attracts families. But these municipalities, if they are not all directly on the border, nevertheless have another point in common. They are located very close to communication axes which run towards Luxembourg.
Thus, Merschweiller is five minutes from Schengen and access to the A13 motorway. Volstroff and Stuckange are located near the A31. Breistroff-la-Grande is not far from the main road towards Frisange. From Lomerange and Tressange, you can easily “climb” the A30.
-The leaps of Arlon and Martelange
The observation is substantially the same in the Belgian province of Luxembourg even if the increase in population is, proportionately, less marked than in France. This is particularly due to the size of the municipalities, because they are fewer and larger in Belgium than in France.
The three districts studied – Arlon, Bastogne and Neufchâteau – all show an increase in their population of between 7 and 10%. In total, these three territories saw an influx of 14,096 inhabitants between 2014 and 2024.
If Arlon is the municipality which has gained the most inhabitants in gross value (from 28,759 to 31,310, +2,551), Martelange is the one which has experienced the greatest increase in proportion: from 1,759 to 2,064, or +17.34%.
And here again, as in Lorraine, we notice that the most dynamic municipalities in terms of demographics are close to important communication routes, in particular the E411 motorway.
Methodology
For this article, we collected and cumulated the population figures of 119 municipalities in the Luxembourg border strip on the French side and 24 municipalities on the Belgian side.
On the French side, these are the populations of the intercommunalities of Longwy, Pays Haut Val d’Alzette, Thionville, Val de Fensch, Cattenom and surrounding areas, Arc mosellan, and formerly Trois frontières. These are the latest figures communicated by INSEE on December 19: the 2022 reference populations, in force on January 1, 2025. We compared with the figures from a decade ago.
On the Belgian side, this concerns the populations of the districts of Arlon, Bastogne and Neufchâteau. These are the figures from Statbel, with the populations on January 1, 2024 compared to those on January 1, 2014.
