Europe's Most Useful Foreign Languages

There are 23 officially recognised languages within the European Union while there are more than 60 indigenous regional and minority languages. 54 percent of Europeans are able to have a conversation in one additional language while 25 percent can converse in two.

English is the most widely spoken foreign language in the European Union (38 percent) followed by French and German. It is also the language European citizens consider the most useful second language to learn. Luxembourg is the only non-English speaking country that ranked a different language to English as the most useful foreign tongue to master. When it comes to the languages Europeans consider the most useful after English, things become even more illuminating, with Russian, German and French the most dominant.

Description

This chart shows the foreign language people consider the most useful for personal development.

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Total population of the European Union (EU) 2023
European Union and Europe: organic retail sales value from 2004 to 2023
Respondents' image of the European Union from 2006 to 2024
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GDP growth rate forecasts in European Union 2025
GDP of the European Union 2011-2023
Number of employees in the European Union 2009-2024

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