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Baltic Sea North Sea Citizens of Liechtenstein are the second highest per-capita earners in the world. Their government buildings in Vaduz are pictured above.
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5. Liechtenstein
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odged between Switzerland and Austria, this principality of 160 square kilometres bears the name of what once was one of the most powerful houses in the aristocratic order of Austria, indeed, in all of continental Europe. Loyal to a fault, Liechtensteins served the House of Habsburg as political advisers and as military generals from the late 13th Century until its collapse in 1918. Almost exactly 200 years earlier, Liechtensteins had achieved one of their greatest ambitions, when the Austrian Crown granted them a princely possession — today’s Liechtenstein. With Napoleon’s dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation, Liechtenstein became independent, a status confirmed during the Congress of Vienna. Liechtenstein retained close ties with the Austrian rump state after 1918 until its forced Anschluss (annexation) to Nazi Germany in 1938. Neutral during the Second World War and the Cold War, Liechtenstein has deepened its economic and monetary ties with Switzerland to the
point that many Swiss consider it as the 27th canton of their country. The similarities do not stop there. Like its larger neighbour, Liechtenstein has prospered as a picturesque but powerful financial centre, whose banks manage the fortunes of the rich, the famous and perhaps the infamous, with, shall we say, a high level of discreetness, which not all of its larger neighbours have always appreciated, until recently. This said, it is hard to argue with success. The 35,000-plus residents of Liechtenstein are the second highest per-capita earners in the world and confront few, if any, major social problems.
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WINTER 2012 | JAN-FEB-MAR