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).