Languages of the European Union
| Table of contents |
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2 Semi-official language 3 Future official languages due to enlargement 4 Demography 5 External link |
The official languages of the European Union are
Official languages
Semi-official language
The Spanish Government will soon propose the inclusion of Catalan as an semi-official language (with roughly the same status as Irish) in the future Constitution of Europe.
On May 1, 2004, with the enlargement of the European Union, these will be joined by
Future official languages due to enlargement
Official languages of the Union spoken as mother tongue and as foreign language:
Demography
| Language | Proportion of population of the EU speaking it as a mother tongue | Proportion of population of the EU speaking it NOT as a mother tongue | Total proportion speaking this language
|
|---|---|---|---|
| German | 24% | 8% | 32% |
| French | 16% | 12% | 28% |
| English | 16% | 31% | 47% |
| Italian | 16% | 2% | 18% |
| Spanish | 11% | 4% | 15% |
| Dutch | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Greek | 3% | 0% | 3% |
| Portuguese | 3% | 0% | 3% |
| Swedish | 2% | 1% | 3% |
| Danish | 1% | 1% | 2% |
| Finnish | 1% | 0% | 1% |
Source: European Commission