About the German Language
Officially, there are six German speaking countries in Europe:
- Germany – more than 80 million speakers
- Austria – 8 million speakers
- Switzerland – 4.6 million speakers
- Belgium – 75.000 speakers
- Luxembourg – 390.000 speakers
- Liechtenstein – 35,000 speakers
Source: Lingoda
In addition, German has official status and is a recognised minority language in the following countries:
- Italy (Bolzano/Südtirol)
- France (Alsatian)
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- Denmark
- Poland (Silesia)
- Russia
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Vatican City
Source: Lingoda
Approximately 16% of the European Union’s population speak German. Outside of Europe, there are many other countries where German is spoken, such as Kazakhstan, Namibia, and South Africa. There are other parts of the world where German is also spoken by a small percentage of the population. The German diaspora (German communities that emigrated during the first half of the 20th century) has also brought the German language to areas of The United States, Chile, Norway, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Source: Lingoda
