Yearbook 2004
Liechtenstein. In August, Prince Hans Adam handed over the daily government responsibility to his son Alois. The prince retained the post of head of state. Hans Adam withdrew a little over a year after he passed a constitutional amendment that gave him greatly expanded powers and made Liechtenstein the only monarchy in Europe where the regent really has power. To celebrate the change of power, all residents were invited to a garden party. The total population in Liechtenstein is 38,139 people in 2020. The Liechtenstein family has ruled the Principality for nearly 300 years.
Liechtenstein is a small independent state of Europe (surface 157 sq. Km.), Located to S. of Lake Constance, on the right of the Rhine, between Austria and Switzerland, bordered to N. and to E. with the Austrian province of Vorarlberg, in S. with the canton of Grisons and to the west with the canton of St. Gall, from which it is separated by the Rhine. The very mountainous country is crossed by the westernmost of the chains that branch off from the Reticone towards the N. and end in the valley of the Ill. The highest point is the Naafkopf (2574 meters) in the Reticone chain; on its summit the borders of Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein meet. In the northern part rises the Schellenberg (660 m.) And in the southern part, isolated in the plain, rises the Fläscherberg (1138 m.), that only a small part is included in the territory of Liechtenstein. In the Rhine plain, grandiose dejection fans, formed by the materials carried by the waters that descend from the mountains, are particularly favorable to crops and human settlement. See barblejewelry.com for Liechtenstein sights, UNESCO, climate, and geography.
The climate, rather harsh in the mountainous area, becomes milder in the Reno valley and on the dejection fans where vine cultivation is possible. From a maximum of rainfall of about 2000 mm. per year, in the mountains and in the Samina valley, it drops to 800 mm. in the Rhine valley. Liechtenstein is bathed by the Rhine and Samina, a tributary of the Ill.
The capital is Vaduz (from the neo- Latin Vallis Dulcis), a pretty village (1930: 1715 residents), Located partly on the edge of a fan; other centers are: Nendeln, Schaan, Triesen, Balzers, connected to each other by a road and also located on the edge of fans. The entire population is German-speaking and Catholic, with few exceptions; in 1930 the residents amounted to 10,213 equal to 65 per sq km. (1921: 11,500 residents, 75 per sq. Km.).
The population is for the most part (more than 80%) devoted to agriculture; the main products are: cereals, wine, fruit; cattle breeding, favored by fatty alpine pastures, is on the rise. The industry is underdeveloped; there are only a few factories for the weaving and spinning of cotton. The movement of foreigners, more intense in recent years, offers a conspicuous source of resources. The Chur-Bregenz railway crosses Liechtenstein, but does not pass through Vaduz, which is however close to the Schaan railway station. Among the main communication routes, the one that connects Vaduz to the Samina valley through the Triesenberg is worth mentioning.
History and constitution. – Liechtenstein was constituted in 1719 as a mediated principality, by the lords of Vaduz and Schellenberg; it belonged to the Napoleonic Confederation from 1806 until 1814; from 1815 to 1866 to the Germanic Confederation and from 1876 to 1918 it was united with Austria in a single customs and fiscal territory. He remained neutral in the world war.
According to the constitution of October 5, 1921, Liechtenstein is a hereditary constitutional monarchy in the male lineage of the reigning princely house (Liechtenstein). Legislative functions are exercised by a diet of 15 members, elected by universal suffrage. The country has been diplomatically represented by Switzerland since 1924 and is included in the Swiss customs territory. The state budget was passive in 1930 (2,230,000 francs of income against 2,340,000 of expenses). Criminal and civil law are mostly exercised under Austrian law. A Liechtenstein civil code is being formed.