Liechtenstein Emigration and Immigration

Liechtenstein is the sixth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although a third of its resident population are foreign nationals, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.

Ethnic groups
Alemannic Germans 86%, Italians, Turks, Albanians, Yugoslavs, and others 14%.

Liechtensteiner Americans
The first Liechtensteiner emigrants of which we have record emigrated in United States in the early 1830s. However, first great wave of Liechtensteiner emigrants arrived to the United States on April 7, 1851, settling in New Orleans; and in 1852 another group emigrated to Dubuque, Iowa (including stonemasons, bricklayers and carpenters). Eventually, many of the Liechtensteiner emigrants to Dubuque left that city and got farms nearby. However, the Liechtensteiner emigration was markedly reduced during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Later, when the construction of railroads began "tying the country together and opening up the West", other Liechtensteiners emigrated to United States to work in the construction of railroads.

During the following decades, many other Liechtensteiners emigrated to places such as Guttenberg, Iowa and Wabash, Indiana. However, between 1885 and 1907, Liechtensteiner emigration was markedly reduced, limited to a few individuals and families. Less than 30 Liechtensteiners emigrated during that period to United States. Reducing migration was due to the significant increase in economic activity derived from the establishment of first textile factories in the 1880s.

The First World War caused an economic crisis in Liechtenstein (which originated, among other things, because the Entente allies stopped the "import of raw materials" into the country and the "massive speculation by the national bank"), so the Liechtenstein emigration to United States was retaken. Most of the new Liechtensteiner emigrants settled in urban areas, especially in Chicago and Hammond, Indiana, but there were Liechtensteiners throughout the country.

After the Second World War, a few more Liechtensteiners emigrated to the United States, the largest number arriving in 1948, when fifteen individuals or families came to this country. The reduction of the Liechtenstein emigration was due to improvements in economic conditions of Liechtenstein.