Geographical distribution of German speakers

This article details the geographical distribution of speakers of the German language, regardless of the legislative status within the countries where it is spoken. In addition to the Germanosphere (German: Deutscher Sprachraum) in Europe, German-speaking minorities are present in many other countries and on all six inhabited continents.

Mostly depending on the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties with a disputed status as separate languages or which were later acknowledged as separate languages (e.g., Low German/Plautdietsch^[1]), it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language,^[2]^[3]^[4] 10–25 million as a second language,^[2]^[3] and 75–100 million as a foreign language.^[2]^[5] This would imply approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide.^[6]

^ Jan Goossens: Niederdeutsche Sprache: Versuch einer Definition. In: Jan Goossens (Hrsg.): Niederdeutsch: Sprache und Literatur. Karl Wachholtz, 2. Auflage, Neumünster 1983, S. 27; Willy Sanders: Sachsensprache, Hansesprache, Plattdeutsch: sprachgeschichtliche Grundzüge des Niederdeutschen. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1982, ISBN 3-525-01213-6, S. 32 f.; Dieter Stellmacher: Niederdeutsche Sprache. 2. Auflage, Weidler, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89693-326-4, p. 92.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cite error: The named reference Ammon, 2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Sum of Standard German, Swiss German, and all German dialects not listed under "Standard German" at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
^ Marten, Thomas; Sauer, Fritz Joachim, eds. (2005). Länderkunde – Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz und Liechtenstein im Querschnitt [Regional Geography – An Overview of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein] (in German). Berlin: Inform-Verlag. p. 7. ISBN 3-9805843-1-3.
^ "Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and their languages" (PDF) (report). European Commission. June 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-06. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
^ "The most spoken languages worldwide (speakers and native speaker in millions)". New York: Statista, The Statistics Portal. Archived from the original on 2015-06-28. Retrieved 2015-07-11. Native speakers=105, total speakers=185

[Goossens2000-1] Jan Goossens: Niederdeutsche Sprache: Versuch einer Definition. In: Jan Goossens (Hrsg.): Niederdeutsch: Sprache und Literatur. Karl Wachholtz, 2. Auflage, Neumünster 1983, S. 27; Willy Sanders: Sachsensprache, Hansesprache, Plattdeutsch: sprachgeschichtliche Grundzüge des Niederdeutschen. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1982, ISBN 3-525-01213-6, S. 32 f.; Dieter Stellmacher: Niederdeutsche Sprache. 2. Auflage, Weidler, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89693-326-4, p. 92.

[Ammon,_2014-2] Cite error: The named reference Ammon, 2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Ethnologue_(2015)-3] Sum of Standard German, Swiss German, and all German dialects not listed under "Standard German" at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

[Marten-4] Marten, Thomas; Sauer, Fritz Joachim, eds. (2005). Länderkunde – Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz und Liechtenstein im Querschnitt [Regional Geography – An Overview of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein] (in German). Berlin: Inform-Verlag. p. 7. ISBN 3-9805843-1-3.

[eurobarometer-5] "Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and their languages" (PDF) (report). European Commission. June 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-06. Retrieved 2015-07-24.

[Statista-6] "The most spoken languages worldwide (speakers and native speaker in millions)". New York: Statista, The Statistics Portal. Archived from the original on 2015-06-28. Retrieved 2015-07-11. Native speakers=105, total speakers=185

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