EPRS Admin By / September 24, 2020

Populations of speakers of state languages and major RMLs in the EU

Populations of speakers of state languages and major RMLs in the EU

Populations of speakers of state languages and major RMLs in the EU

Three EU Member States stand out: the Netherlands which does not report any state language as RMLs, and Malta and Luxembourg – two Member States with very small populations, a condition which puts their state language in a situation similar to that of a minority language. Moreover, the three Member States figure among those with the highest levels of multilingualism, ranging from 95 % in Luxembourg to 86 % in the Netherlands. Ireland experiences a similar situation, as Irish, a state language, has a small population of native speakers and enjoys rather the status of a RML. Some RMLs’ native speakers outnumber speakers of certain state languages and also qualify as lesser-used languages (see Figure 3).


Related Articles

Be the first to write a comment.

Leave a Reply