Liechtenstein
Name
| Official name | Principality of Liechtenstein — Fürstentum Liechtenstein |
|---|---|
| Former names | The lordship of Schellenberg and the county of Vaduz (to 1719); a state of the Holy Roman Empire (1719–1806), the Confederation of the Rhine (1806–1814) and the German Confederation (1815–1866) |
| Demonym | Liechtensteiner |
| Meaning of the name | "Bright stone" — the family's castle of Liechtenstein south of Vienna, the name given to the land in 1719 |
| Motto | "Für Gott, Fürst und Vaterland" — for God, prince and fatherland |
Quick facts
| Capital | Vaduz — the seat of the prince since 1938 and of the state; about 5,700, the fourth-largest municipality |
|---|---|
| Largest municipalities | Schaan, about 6,000; Vaduz; Balzers; Triesen; Eschen; Mauren; Triesenberg, the Walser village on the mountain; Ruggell; Gamprin; Schellenberg; Planken, the smallest, about 500 |
| Official language | German — the Alemannic dialect of the valley spoken by all, the Walser German of Triesenberg; English and the tongues of the third of foreigners |
| Currency | Swiss franc — ISO code CHF, Fr.; since 1924 by treaty; the euro accepted |
| Time zone | Central European Time, UTC+1; summer time UTC+2 |
| Calling code | +423 — its own since 1999, the Swiss +41 75 before |
| Internet domain | .li |
| ISO 3166 codes | LI · LIE · 438 |
| Vehicle registration code | FL — Fürstentum Liechtenstein, the black plates |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and J, the Swiss three-pin |
| Founded | 23 January 1719, the principality; 12 July 1806, sovereignty in the Confederation of the Rhine; 1866, full independence |
| National days | 15 August, the National Day, since 1940 — the Assumption and the birthday of Prince Franz Josef II, the prince's address on the castle meadow and the fireworks over the Rhine; the Catholic feasts; the Landtag's opening |
| Constitution | 5 October 1921 — the Constitution of the Principality, of "a constitutional hereditary monarchy on a democratic and parliamentary basis"; amended by the referendum of 16 March 2003 with 64%, strengthening the prince's veto and dismissal powers against the Council of Europe's advice and giving the people the right to abolish the monarchy by vote; the referendum of 2012 keeping the veto by 76% |
| Population | 39,055 at the census of 2020; about 40,900 (Office of Statistics, end of 2024) — about a third foreign |
| Area | 160 km² (62 sq mi) — all land; the sixth-smallest country in the world and the fourth-smallest in Europe |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Two horizontal bands of blue and red — the sky and the evening fires of the household, the colors of the princely livery of the 18th century — with a golden crown in the hoist of the blue, added in 1937 after the team found at the Berlin Olympics of 1936 that Haiti flew the same flag; adopted 24 June 1937, the crown redrawn in 1982.Flag of Liechtenstein |
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| Coat of arms | The princely arms — a shield quartered with the eagle of Silesia, the stripes of Kuenring, the shield of Troppau, the harpy of East Frisia and the hunting horn of Jägerndorf, with the gold-and-red of the house of Liechtenstein at the center, under the princely hat on an ermine mantle; the great arms of the state and the prince, by the law of 1957 |
| National anthem | "Oben am jungen Rhein" ("Up on the Young Rhine") — words by Jakob Josef Jauch, about 1850, sung to the melody of "God Save the King," which the country shares with Britain, the words on the "German Rhine" changed to the "young Rhine" in 1963 |
| National colors | Blue and red |
| National animal | None designated — the chamois and the golden eagle of the Rätikon; the princely eagle of the arms |
| National flower | None designated — the alpine flowers of the meadows; the vines of the prince's Herawingert |
| National dish | Käsknöpfle — the cheese dumplings with roasted onions and applesauce; Ribel, the maize porridge of the poor made a delicacy; the wines of Vaduz; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag by the law of 1937 and the arms by the law of 1957; the anthem by custom and the Landtag's decision of 1963; the animal, flower and dishes widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Central Europe in the Alps — the east bank of the upper Rhine between the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen and Graubünden to the west and south and the Austrian state of Vorarlberg to the east |
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| Land borders | 75 km (47 mi) with two countries — Switzerland 41, along the Rhine; Austria 34, along the mountain crest; both partners landlocked, the country doubly landlocked with Uzbekistan alone |
| Coastline | None — the nearest sea 250 km away at Genoa |
| Highest point | Vorder-Grauspitz, 2,599 m (8,527 ft), in the Rätikon on the Swiss border |
| Lowest point | The Ruggeller Riet on the Rhine, 430 m (1,411 ft) |
| Mean elevation | About 1,000 m |
| Rivers | The Rhine, the western border for 27 km, its floods the country's old enemy — 1927 the last — and its dam the country's largest work; the Samina through the Saminatal of Steg to Austria; the Binnenkanal of the plain; no lake but the Gänglesee and the Steg reservoir |
| Terrain | The Rhine plain of the west, a third of the land, with the towns and the farms; the Alpine two-thirds — the Rätikon of the south, the Drei Schwestern above Vaduz, the Saminatal and the Malbun bowl of the ski lifts at 1,600 m; thirty-two peaks above 2,000 m; the only country wholly within the Alps |
| Climate | Continental Alpine tempered by the föhn, the warm south wind that ripens the vines and melts the snow; about 1,000 mm of rain on the plain, the winters of Malbun; the valley mild for its latitude |
| Natural hazards | The floods of the Rhine — the dikes of 1927 and since; avalanches and rockfall on the Alpine roads; the föhn storms; earthquakes light |
| Natural resources | Hydropower of the Samina; the arable plain; the forests of the slopes; the scenery; nothing else — the wealth made from the world |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 35%; forest about 43% |
| Protected areas | The Ruggeller Riet fen, the largest nature reserve, of the Siberian iris; the Schwabbrünnen-Äscher; the Alpine reserves of the Rätikon; the Walser trail of Triesenberg |
| UNESCO World Heritage | None inscribed — the country has no site and no tentative list; the Roman villa of Nendeln and the castles of Vaduz and Gutenberg its monuments |
| Administrative divisions | 11 municipalities — Gemeinden — in two electoral districts: the Oberland of the old county of Vaduz, six municipalities from Vaduz to Balzers, and the Unterland of the old lordship of Schellenberg, five from Eschen to Ruggell; each with an elected mayor and council, and with exclaves in one another |
People
| Population | 39,055 (census of 2020); about 40,900 (end of 2024) |
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| Population density | About 255 per km² (660 per sq mi) — the plain crowded, the mountains empty |
| Population growth | About 0.7% a year — by immigration, restricted by quota |
| Median age | About 44 years |
| Life expectancy | About 83 years — among the highest in the world |
| Fertility rate | About 1.5 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 15% by the UN's definition — the villages of the valley |
| Adult literacy | 100% |
| Origin | Liechtensteiner about 66%; foreign about 34% — Swiss about 10%, Austrian 6%, German 4%, Italian 3%, Portuguese, Turkish, Kosovar and the rest; the citizenship hard to win, by vote of the municipality or thirty years' residence |
| Languages | German official and the Alemannic dialect of all — the Liechtenstein dialects of each village, the Walser of Triesenberg from the Valais of the 1300s; Standard German written; English and Italian |
| Religion | Roman Catholic about 70%, the state church under the Archdiocese of Vaduz of 1997, the separation of church and state debated; Protestant about 8%; Muslim about 6%; no religion about 10% (census of 2020) |
| Human Development Index | 0.938 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; about 12th of 193 |
| The commuters | About 25,000 people cross the borders to work each day, from the Swiss Rheintal and Vorarlberg — the country's 43,000 jobs held by more people than live in it, the only such country on earth; the foreigners who work in it and may not live in it, the quota of the 1960s |
| Sport | Skiing — the ten Olympic medals, all in Alpine skiing, Hanni Wenzel's two golds of 1980 and her brother Andreas' silver, the most medals per head of any country, Tina Weirather's bronze of 2018; football — the national team of Vaduz in the Swiss league, the Cup winners of Europe's smallest league; the Liechtenstein Games |
| Diaspora | Small — the Liechtensteiners in Switzerland and Austria; the princely family's branches in Vienna and beyond, some 130 princes and princesses |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary constitutional hereditary monarchy on a democratic and parliamentary basis, by the Constitution's own words — the prince head of state with real powers, the people sovereign with the initiative and the referendum; the government of five with the Landtag's confidence and the prince's appointment; the Landtag of 25; the Constitutional Court |
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| Prince | Hans-Adam II, since 13 November 1989 — the 15th ruling prince; born 14 February 1945 at Zürich, the son of Franz Josef II, the first prince to live in the country; the businessman of the LGT bank who rebuilt the family fortune, the richest monarch of Europe by the estimates; the constitutional fight of 1992–2003 and his threat to move to Vienna; his book "The State in the Third Millennium"; the Princess Marie died 2021 |
| Regent | Hereditary Prince Alois, since 15 August 2004 — the prince's eldest son, born 11 June 1968 at Zürich, Sandhurst and the Coldstream Guards, exercising the sovereign's powers as his representative in preparation for the succession while his father keeps the title; married to Duchess Sophie of Bavaria, the Jacobite heir; their son Joseph Wenzel, born 1995, the heir after him |
| Prime Minister | Brigitte Haas (Patriotic Union — Vaterländische Union, VU), since 10 April 2025 — the head of government, the Regierungschefin, the first woman in the office and at 60 the oldest to take it; a lawyer, the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry before, born 27 December 1964 at Vaduz; her cabinet of five — Sabine Monauni of the FBP the deputy with foreign affairs, Hubert Büchel, Emanuel Schädler and Daniel Oehry the councillors, the two parties of the century in coalition again |
| The 2025 election | Held 9 February 2025 for the 25 seats: the Patriotic Union 38.32% and 10 seats, the Progressive Citizens' Party 27.48% and 7, down 3, the Democrats for Liechtenstein 23.32% and 6, up 4, the Free List 10.87% and 2; turnout 76.34%; the two old parties' coalition renewed, the DpL and the Free List the opposition; Manfred Kaufmann the Landtag's president |
| Parliament | The Landtag — 25 members elected for four years by proportional representation in the two districts, 15 for the Oberland and 10 for the Unterland, with an 8% threshold; the smallest parliament of Europe but Monaco's and the Vatican's; the prince may dissolve it, and did in 1993 |
| The next election | Due in February 2029 |
| The prince's powers | The veto over any law, unspoken by the sanction withheld; the dismissal of the government; the appointment of the judges; the emergency decrees for six months; the dissolution of the Landtag — the powers of the Constitution of 1921 sharpened by the referendum of 2003, which the Council of Europe called a step back and the voters passed by 64%; the referendum of 2012 to strip the veto rejected 76 to 24, after the prince said he would veto the legalization of abortion; the people's right to vote the monarchy out or to move against the prince with 1,500 signatures, never used |
| The votes of the people | The initiative and the referendum on any law — the women's suffrage refused in 1971 and 1973 and passed on 1 July 1984 by 51.3%, the last in Europe; the EEA approved in 1992 and 1995; the abortion law rejected in 2011; the hospital, the casino ban and the rest; the direct democracy of the Swiss kind |
| Legal system | Civil law on the Austrian and Swiss models; the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Administrative Court; the judges sworn to the prince; the death penalty abolished 1987, the last execution 1785; the same-sex marriage since 2025 |
| Municipalities | 11 with elected mayors and councils, the mayors in Schaan and Vaduz the notables; the Bürgergenossenschaft of the old families; the citizenship by municipal vote |
| Defense | No army since 1868 — the last one of 80 men sent to the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 and returned as 81, with a friend, having fired no shot; the police of about 125; the neutrality; the Swiss watch the border and the sky |
| Switzerland | The customs and currency union of 1923–24, the Swiss customs officers at the border, the Swiss postal and consular service, the Swiss embassies representing the principality where it has none; the country in the Swiss economy and outside the Swiss state, and in the EEA the Swiss refused |
| United Nations | Member since 18 September 1990 — the last European state to join; the campaign for the veto initiative of 2022 and the Special Tribunal on aggression; the smallest members' voice |
| Memberships | The Council of Europe since 1978; EFTA since 1991; the European Economic Area since 1 May 1995, the single market without the EU; Schengen since 19 December 2011; the OSCE; the WTO since 1995; the OECD not; the EU not, and no wish to |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$8 billion (2024, the Office of Statistics) — the IMF publishes none |
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| GDP per capita | About US$190,000 (2024) — the second-highest in the world after Monaco, inflated by the commuters who make it and live elsewhere |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$140,000 by the estimates |
| GDP growth | About 1–2% a year with the Swiss cycle — the franc's strength the exporters' burden; no inflation to speak of |
| Economy by sector | Industry about 40% — the highest share of any rich country — the machines, the teeth, the power tools; financial services about 25%; the rest of services; agriculture under 1% |
| Currency | Swiss franc (CHF) |
| Industry | Hilti of Schaan, the power tools and the fastening systems, the largest employer with 34,000 worldwide; Ivoclar Vivadent, the world's largest maker of false teeth and dental ceramics; Hilcona, the frozen food; ThyssenKrupp Presta, the steering columns; the machines of Neutrik and the coatings of Oerlikon Balzers, the thin films of every watch and drill; the exports about US$4 billion, most to the EU and Switzerland |
| Banks and the trusts | The banks of Vaduz — LGT, the prince's own, the largest private bank owned by a royal house; the VP Bank; the Liechtensteinische Landesbank of the state; the foundations and trusts of the low-tax years, 90,000 of them once, the tax scandal of 2008 when a stolen LGT disk gave Germany its evaders, the OECD gray list and the reform, the tax agreements and the automatic exchange since 2017, the "white" jurisdiction now; the assets under management about CHF 400 billion |
| Taxes | The flat corporate tax of 12.5%; the income tax up to about 24% with the municipal surcharge; no inheritance tax; the value-added tax at the Swiss rate; the budget in surplus, no debt |
| Stamps and the rest | The postage stamps of the Philately, once a tenth of the state's revenue and the collectors' prize since 1912; the tourism of the castle and Malbun, about 100,000 overnights; the wines of the prince's Hofkellerei; the country rented out for a night in 2011 for US$70,000 by the tourist office |
| Public finances | No public debt — the state's reserves of about CHF 2 billion, a surplus most years; the budget of about CHF 1 billion; the sovereign fund of the reserves |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank); among the wealthiest countries on earth by every measure |
Transport & infrastructure
| Airport | None — the Balzers heliport for the helicopters; Zürich Airport, 130 km, and St. Gallen-Altenrhein, 50 km, the airports; Friedrichshafen across the lake |
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| Airline | None |
| Ports | None — doubly landlocked; the Rhine not navigable above Lake Constance |
| Railways | About 9 km (6 mi) of the Austrian Federal Railways' Feldkirch–Buchs line crossing the country through Schaan-Vaduz, Forst-Hilti and Nendeln, a few stops a day; the plan of an S-Bahn from Feldkirch to Buchs rejected by referendum in 2020; the Swiss station of Buchs across the river the country's railhead |
| Roads | About 380 km (236 mi), all paved — the main road from Balzers to Ruggell the length of the valley; the Swiss A13 motorway across the Rhine; the bridges of Vaduz, Schaan, Bendern and Ruggell; the road up to Malbun; the LIEmobil buses |
| The castle | Vaduz Castle on its rock above the town, the prince's residence since 1938, closed to the public but for the meadow on 15 August; Gutenberg Castle at Balzers; the Rhine dike path |
History in dates
| 15 BC | Roman Raetia; the villa of Nendeln |
|---|---|
| c. 500 | The Alemanni settle the valley |
| 1342 | The county of Vaduz founded |
| 1699 | Prince Johann Adam Andreas buys Schellenberg, 18 January |
| 1712 | The county of Vaduz bought, 22 February |
| 1719 | The Principality of Liechtenstein, 23 January — Charles VI |
| 1806 | Sovereignty in the Confederation of the Rhine, 12 July |
| 1815 | The German Confederation |
| 1842 | Prince Alois II the first ruling prince to visit the country |
| 1866 | The last war — 80 men to the Tyrol, 81 return; independence with the Confederation's end |
| 1868 | The army abolished, 12 February |
| 1921 | The Constitution, 5 October |
| 1923 | The customs union with Switzerland, 29 March; the franc, 1924 |
| 1938 | Franz Josef II moves to Vaduz, the first prince to live in the country |
| 1939 | Neutral through the Second World War |
| 1984 | Women win the vote, 1 July — the last in Europe |
| 1989 | Franz Josef II dies, 13 November — Hans-Adam II |
| 1990 | The United Nations, 18 September |
| 1995 | The European Economic Area, 1 May |
| 2003 | The constitutional referendum, 16 March — the prince's powers |
| 2004 | Alois regent, 15 August |
| 2008 | The LGT tax-data scandal, February |
| 2011 | Schengen, 19 December |
| 2012 | The veto kept by referendum, 1 July |
| 2019 | The 300th anniversary |
| 2025 | The election of 9 February; Brigitte Haas prime minister, 10 April |
Records & firsts
| Doubly landlocked | One of two, with Uzbekistan |
|---|---|
| The second-richest per head | About US$190,000 |
| More jobs than people | 43,000 jobs, 40,900 people |
| The largest maker of false teeth | Ivoclar Vivadent |
| The most Olympic medals per head | Ten, all on skis |
| The only country wholly in the Alps | Thirty-two peaks above 2,000 m |
| The last European country to give women the vote | 1 July 1984 |
| An anthem to "God Save the King" | Since about 1850 |
| The most powerful monarch in Europe | By the Constitution of 2003 |
| An army that came back larger | 80 out, 81 home, 1866 |
| No airport, no debt | And a bank owned by a prince |
| A country for rent | US$70,000 a night, 2011 |
| A flag once shared with Haiti | Until the crown of 1937 |
| The sixth-smallest country | 160 km² |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Liechtenstein?
The Principality of Liechtenstein — Fürstentum Liechtenstein — created on 23 January 1719 when the Emperor Charles VI united the lordship of Schellenberg and the county of Vaduz, which Prince Johann Adam Andreas of Liechtenstein had bought in 1699 and 1712 for a seat in the Imperial Diet, and named the new state for the family rather than the land; no prince set foot in it for 120 years. It became sovereign on 12 July 1806 when Napoleon put it in the Confederation of the Rhine, and fully so in 1866 with the German Confederation's end. The family's name is its castle near Vienna, Liechtenstein, "the bright stone."
What is the capital of Liechtenstein?
Vaduz, on the Rhine's right bank below the castle where the prince lives — a town of about 5,700 people, the seat of the government, the Landtag, the courts and the banks, with the Kunstmuseum and the cathedral of St. Florin, and the smaller of the country's two chief towns. Schaan, 3 km north, is the largest municipality with about 6,000 and the home of Hilti; Balzers, Triesen, Eschen and Mauren follow, and the whole country is a strip of eleven villages 25 km long between the river and the mountains.
How big is Liechtenstein, and how many people live there?
About 160 km² (62 sq mi) — smaller than Washington, D.C., the sixth-smallest country in the world — on the east bank of the Rhine between Switzerland and Austria, 25 km long and 12 km at its widest, one of two countries on earth that are doubly landlocked, surrounded only by landlocked countries, the other being Uzbekistan. The census of 2020 counted 39,055 people and the Office of Statistics about 40,900 at the end of 2024; a third are foreigners, mostly Swiss, Austrians and Germans, and the country has more jobs than inhabitants, with 25,000 commuters crossing the borders each morning.
What are the highest and lowest points of Liechtenstein?
Grauspitz — Vorder-Grauspitz — 2,599 m (8,527 ft), in the Rätikon on the Swiss border in the south, the highest of the thirty-two peaks above 2,000 m in the only country lying entirely within the Alps; and the Ruggeller Riet, the fen on the Rhine at the northern tip, 430 m (1,411 ft). The Rhine is the western border for 27 km and the plain along it holds the towns; the Samina cuts the mountains of the east through the valley of Steg and Malbun, the one ski resort.
What currency does Liechtenstein use?
The Swiss franc (ISO code CHF, Fr.), since 1924 by the currency treaty with Switzerland, with the customs union of 1923 that took the country into the Swiss economy after the Austrian crown had failed — the principality strikes its own commemorative francs and no coins for use; the euro taken in the shops. Clocks keep Central European Time, UTC+1, with summer time; Liechtenstein drives on the right and plugs in the Swiss way.
Who governs Liechtenstein?
Prince Hans-Adam II, the sovereign since 13 November 1989 and the head of state under a constitution that gives him more power than any other monarch in Europe — the veto over every law, the dismissal of the government and the right to rule by emergency decree, confirmed by the referendum of 2003 that also gave the people the right to abolish the monarchy; since 15 August 2004 his son, Hereditary Prince Alois, has exercised those powers as regent in the prince's name. Prime Minister Brigitte Haas of the Patriotic Union, a lawyer, has headed the government since 10 April 2025 — the first woman in the office in the country's history, sworn in by the regent after the election of 9 February 2025 gave her party 10 of the 25 seats and the coalition with the Progressive Citizens' Party a majority, Sabine Monauni her deputy. The next election is due in February 2029.
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