Foreign language learning statistics – Statistics Explained
Primary education
Within primary education, 84.2 % of pupils in the EU were learning English in 2021. Learning English is mandatory within primary education institutions in several EU Member States, and so a number of them have all (or nearly all) pupils learning this language already in primary education, as shown in Figure 1. Note that the relative importance of English as a foreign language may be further magnified because pupils tend to receive more instruction in their first foreign language than they do for any subsequent languages they study.
- All or nearly all (99–100 %) primary school pupils in Cyprus, Malta, Spain, Poland and Austria were learning English as a foreign language, as was also the case in Liechtenstein, Norway and North Macedonia. Between 90 % and 98 % of primary school pupils were learning English in Greece, Latvia, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Croatia.
- In all but two of the Member States, at least two fifths of primary school pupils were learning English.
- In Belgium, the percentage of primary school pupils learning English was 12.9 %, reflecting a focus on learning other official state languages (Dutch, French and German, depending on the community and/or region).
- In Luxembourg, English was generally not taught in primary school, reflecting a focus on instruction in several official languages (French, German and Luxembourgish).
Within primary education, 5.3 % of pupils in the EU were learning French in 2021, while 3.5 % were learning German. For both of these languages, Luxembourg reported the highest shares (80.0 % and 96.8 % respectively); in Luxembourg, French and German are both official national languages and taught as foreign languages.
- In Greece and Spain, close to one fifth (19.6 % and 18.8 % respectively) of primary school pupils were learning French, while this share was around one tenth (10.6 %) in Romania; elsewhere the share was 3.0 % or less.
- In Croatia (18.3 %), Hungary (17.5 %) and Greece (16.5 %), around one sixth of primary school pupils were learning German; elsewhere the share was 6.3 % or less.
In 2021, 7.2 % of primary school pupils in the EU were learning two or more foreign languages – see Figure 2. Note that this indicator includes all foreign modern languages, not just the selected languages shown in Figure 1.
- Luxembourg was the only EU Member State where a majority of primary school pupils were learning two or more foreign languages; the share was 80.0 %.
- Relatively high shares of primary school pupils learning two or more foreign languages were observed in Greece (36.4 %), Estonia (33.3 %), Denmark (30.5 %), Latvia (29.9 %) and Finland (27.0 %); the next highest share was one fifth (20.0 %) in Spain.
- In 17 Member States, 5.3 % or fewer of all primary school pupils were leaning two or more foreign languages, with the lowest shares in Belgium and Slovenia (both 0.0 %), as well as in Ireland (where no foreign languages are taught at primary level).
Between 2013 and 2021, the share of primary school pupils in the EU learning at least two foreign languages increased from 4.6 % to 7.2 %. In percentage point terms, the biggest gains were recorded in Latvia, Spain, Finland and Greece where the shares increased by 15.0, 14.2, 13.9 and 10.5 percentage points, respectively. The large increase in Spain, which had the third highest number of primary school pupils in the EU (12.6 % of the EU total), contributed strongly to the increase observed for the EU as a whole. Elsewhere, increases were more modest, not exceeding 4.4 percentage points. In eight EU Member States, the share of primary school pupils learning at least two foreign languages decreased, down less than 1.5 percentage points in all except Luxembourg and Poland, where it fell 3.8 and 7.1 percentage points, respectively.
Lower secondary education
Within lower secondary education, 98.3 % of pupils in the EU were learning English in 2021 – see Table 1.
- All (100.0 %) lower secondary pupils in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Malta, Slovenia and Sweden were learning English as a foreign language, as was also the case in Liechtenstein, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2020 data), and North Macedonia.
- In all but three of the EU Member States, at least 90.0 % of lower secondary school pupils were learning English.
- In Hungary, the share of lower secondary school pupils learning English was 75.7 %, in Belgium it was 65.9 % and in Luxembourg it was 64.8 %. Note the comments in the section on primary education about the atypical nature of language learning in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Within lower secondary education, 30.5 % of pupils in the EU were learning French in 2021, 22.4 % German and 18.2 % Spanish.
- Luxembourg reported that nearly all (97.6 %) lower secondary pupils were learning French. In Cyprus, Romania, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium, more than half of lower secondary pupils were learning French.
- In 13 EU Member States, fewer than 10.0 % of lower secondary pupils were learning French.
- Luxembourg also reported that a large proportion (87.8 %) of lower secondary pupils were learning German. Denmark and the Netherlands were the only other Member States where a majority (75.7 % and 57.1 %, respectively) of lower secondary pupils were learning German. In Poland, Czechia, Greece and Croatia, between 40.0 % and 50.0 % were learning German.
- In seven Member States, fewer than 10.0 % of lower secondary pupils were learning German.
- France was the only Member State where a majority (55.6 %) of lower secondary pupils were learning Spanish, while Sweden (46.0 %) had the next highest share.
- In 20 Member States, fewer than 10.0 % of lower secondary pupils were learning Spanish.
The share of lower secondary school pupils in the EU who were learning English was already high in 2013 but was 1.6 percentage higher in 2021. A larger increase was observed for the share of lower secondary pupils learning Spanish (up 5.6 percentage points). Decreases were observed for the share of lower secondary pupils learning German (down 0.2 percentage points) and French (down 3.4 points).
Among the EU Member States, the largest changes (+/- 10.0 percentage points) between 2013 and 2021 in the share of lower secondary pupils learning specific languages were:
- increases of 19.8 and 11.6 percentage points for pupils learning English in Belgium and Luxembourg,
- a decrease of 14.7 percentage points for pupils learning French in Ireland,
- an increase of 15.8 percentage points for pupils learning German in Czechia,
- decreases of 25.8, 20.5 and 12.2 percentage points for pupils learning German in Slovakia, Poland and Luxembourg,
- an increase of 18.6 percentage points for pupils learning Spanish in France.
In 2021, 60.6 % of lower secondary pupils in the EU were learning two or more foreign languages – see Figure 3. Note that this indicator includes all foreign modern languages, not just the selected languages shown in Table 1.
- In Finland, 98.4 % of lower secondary pupils were learning two or more foreign languages, the highest share among the EU Member States.
- Relatively high shares of lower secondary pupils – in the range from 92.6 % to 96.9 % – were learning two or more foreign languages in Italy, Greece, Malta, Estonia, Romania, Luxembourg and Portugal.
- In eight Member States, less than half of lower secondary pupils were leaning two or more foreign languages. Among these, the lowest shares were observed in Austria (8.0 %), Hungary (7.3 %) and Ireland (6.7 %).
Between 2013 and 2021, the share of lower secondary pupils in the EU learning at least two foreign languages increased from 58.4 % to 60.6 %.
- In percentage point terms, the biggest increases among the EU Member States were recorded in Czechia (up 23.3 percentage points), France (up 21.9 percentage points), Belgium (up 17.5 percentage points) and the Netherlands (up 13.5 percentage points).
- Nine other Member States recorded more modest increases, up less than 6.0 percentage points.
- In 14 Member States, the share of lower secondary pupils learning at least two foreign languages decreased. In 11 of these Member States, the decreases were less than 8.0 percentage points.
- Much larger decreases were observed in Slovakia (down 27.6 percentage points), Slovenia (down 30.7 percentage points) and Poland (down 38.4 percentage points).
Upper secondary education
Table 2 presents information on the proportion of pupils in upper secondary education (ISCED levels 3, 34 (general) and 35 (vocational)) learning four selected foreign languages.
Approximately 9 in 10 (88.3 %) upper secondary students in the EU were studying English as a foreign language in 2021.
- All (100 %) upper secondary pupils in Malta and Sweden were learning English as a foreign language, as was also the case in Liechtenstein and North Macedonia. Shares of at least 99.0 % were also reported in Italy, Austria and Romania.
- Denmark (51.8 %) was the only EU Member State where less than two thirds of upper secondary pupils were learning English.
Among upper secondary pupils across the EU following a general programme, the share learning English was 96.8 % in 2021; among those following a vocational programme, the share was lower, at 78.6 %. In most EU Member States, the share of upper secondary students studying English as a foreign language was higher within general programmes than within vocational programmes.
- In five Member States, the share of upper secondary pupils learning English within general programmes was more than 40.0 percentage points higher than the share within vocational programmes. The largest differences were 54.3 percentage points in Germany, 54.9 percentage points in Spain and 63.0 percentage points in Denmark.
- In Malta, the shares of upper secondary pupils learning English were the same for general and vocational programmes (both 100.0 %).
- In Portugal, the share of upper secondary pupils learning English was higher for vocational programmes than for general ones.
Around one fifth of upper secondary pupils in the EU were learning German (20.1 %), French (19.0 %) or Spanish (17.9 %) as a foreign language in 2021. Note that the analysis for the EU Member States below excludes Ireland, for which data on learning German, French and Spanish are not available; it also partially excludes the Netherlands, for which data on learning French and Spanish are not available.
- A majority of upper secondary pupils in Luxembourg (84.7 %) and Poland (63.1 %) were learning German as a foreign language. In seven Member States, fewer than 10.0 % of upper secondary pupils were learning German.
- A majority of upper secondary pupils in Romania (84.9 %), Luxembourg (84.3 %) and Belgium (52.3 %) were learning French as a foreign language. In 13 Member States, fewer than 10.0 % of upper secondary pupils were learning French.
- A majority of upper secondary pupils in France (59.0 %) were learning Spanish as a foreign language. In 18 Member States, fewer than 10.0 % of upper secondary pupils were learning Spanish.
The share of upper secondary pupils in the EU following a general programme that were learning German was 21.8 %, compared with 17.9 % for those following a vocational programme. In most EU Member States, the share of upper secondary students learning German as a foreign language was higher within general programmes than within vocational programmes. The only exception was Poland, where the share of upper secondary pupils learning German as a foreign language was higher within vocational programmes than within general ones.
Among upper secondary pupils in the EU, the share learning French was 22.3 % within general programmes and 16.4 % within vocational programmes. In Greece, 32.2 % of upper secondary pupils in general programmes were learning French, whereas 1.5 % were doing so within vocational programmes. Differences of at least 20.0 percentage points, with higher shares within general programmes, were also observed in Spain, Austria, Luxembourg and Cyprus. By contrast, the share of upper secondary pupils learning French as a foreign language was higher within vocational programmes than within general ones in Portugal (5.6 percentage points difference), Belgium (7.6 percentage points difference), Romania (7.7 percentage points difference) and Italy (15.9 percentage points difference).
The difference between general and vocational programmes was most notable for upper secondary pupils learning Spanish. Across the EU, 26.8 % of pupils within general programmes were learning Spanish as a foreign language, compared with 7.0 % within vocational programmes. A higher share of pupils learning Spanish within general programmes was observed in all EU Member States for which data are available, except for Greece where almost no pupils were learning Spanish in either type of programme. France (27.8 %) and Italy (13.9 %) were the only Member States where more than 6.8 % of pupils in upper secondary vocational programmes were learning Spanish.
Among the EU Member States, the largest increase between 2013 and 2021 in the share of pupils in upper secondary education who were studying English was recorded in Hungary (up by 10.3 percentage points); note that there was a break in series. The next largest increase was observed in Luxembourg, up 9.4 percentage points. Increases of at least 5.0 percentage points were also observed in Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Czechia, Cyprus and Poland.
For upper secondary education pupils studying German, the share increased between 2013 and 2021 in 10 out of the 24 EU Member States for which data are available/applicable (Germany and Austria, not applicable; Ireland, not available), was unchanged in Portugal and Sweden, and fell in 12 Member States. The biggest increases were recorded in Greece (up 19.1 percentage points), Poland (up 8.4 percentage points) and the Netherlands (up 6.6 percentage points).
Between 2013 and 2021, the share of pupils in upper secondary education learning French as a foreign language fell in all but five of the 24 EU Member States for which data are available/applicable (France, not applicable; Ireland and the Netherlands, not available). Increases were observed in Greece, Poland, Belgium, Croatia and Hungary.
The situation for Spanish was almost the opposite of that for French. The share of upper secondary education pupils learning Spanish increased between 2013 and 2021 in 17 of the 24 EU Member States for which data are available (Spain, not applicable; Ireland and the Netherlands, not available). The biggest increase was recorded in Poland, up 6.9 percentage points.
In 2021, almost half (49.5 %) of all upper secondary pupils in the EU were learning two or more foreign languages – see Figure 5.
- In Romania, nearly all (98.0 %) upper secondary pupils were learning two or more foreign languages. The only other EU Member States to record shares over 80.0 % were Finland (87.5 %) and Luxembourg (82.9 %).
- In total, there were 12 Member States where at least half of all upper secondary pupils were learning two or more foreign languages.
- In Spain, less than one fifth (19.6 %) of all upper secondary pupils were leaning two or more foreign languages and this share was below one tenth in Portugal (7.5 %).
Between 2013 and 2021, the biggest decreases (in percentage point terms) in the share of upper secondary pupils learning at least two foreign languages were recorded in Cyprus (down 37.9 percentage points), Slovakia (down 22.2 percentage points), Estonia (down 16.9 percentage points) and Malta (down 11.7 percentage points). Smaller decreases (at most down 5.8 percentage points) were observed in eight other EU Member States. Elsewhere, increases between 2013 and 2021 were less than 6.0 percentage points in most cases, with four exceptions. An increase of 7.0 percentage points was observed in Croatia, while the increase in Hungary was 8.1 percentage points, in Poland it was 11.2 percentage points, and in Greece it was 40.4 percentage points.
The share of upper secondary pupils studying two or more foreign languages confirms a more widespread learning of foreign languages within general programmes than within vocational ones. In 2021, 61.0 % of upper secondary pupils following general programmes in the EU were learning two or more foreign languages, compared with 34.9 % for pupils following vocational programmes.
- All upper secondary pupils following general programmes in Luxembourg were studying two or more foreign languages. Shares of at least 99.0 % were also observed in France and Romania. A further nine EU Member States had shares that were at least 80.0 %.
- In seven Member States, fewer than half of all upper secondary pupils following general programmes were learning at least two foreign languages. Among these, two had shares below 20.0 %: Ireland (11.0 %) and Portugal (7.0 %).
- The share of upper secondary pupils following vocational programmes who were learning two or more foreign languages peaked in Romania at 97.2 %. Only five other Member States – Finland, Poland, Luxembourg, Latvia and Bulgaria – reported that a majority of their upper secondary pupils following these programmes were learning at least two foreign languages.
- In nine Member States, fewer than 10.0 % of upper secondary pupils following vocational programmes were learning at least two foreign languages. Among these, the lowest shares were in Spain (0.2 %) and Malta (0.0 %).
Between 2013 and 2021, the share of upper secondary pupils following general programmes who were learning at least two foreign languages increased most in Greece (up 60.5 percentage points), Hungary (up 33.4 percentage points) and Poland (up 10.9 percentage points). The largest decrease was observed for Cyprus, down 44.8 percentage points.
Poland also recorded a large increase in the share of upper secondary pupils following vocational programmes who were learning two or more foreign languages, up 11.8 percentage points between 2013 and 2021. Relatively large percentage point increases were also observed in Latvia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Croatia, Bulgaria and Italy. The largest decreases, by far, were recorded in Slovakia (down 33.8 percentage points) and Estonia (down 43.5 percentage points).
Context
Learning a foreign language is considered to be an important factor for participation in society: foreign languages can unite people, make other countries and their cultures more accessible, and strengthen intercultural understanding. Poor or low levels of foreign language skills can cause businesses to lose international contracts, while also potentially hindering the mobility of skills and talent.
For several decades, it has been mandatory for most children in the EU to learn at least one foreign language during their compulsory education. In 2002, the Barcelona European Council recommended that at least two foreign languages should be taught to all pupils from a very early age.
Language skills are at the heart of the ambitious vision to create a European Education Area.
A Council Recommendation on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages was adopted in May 2019, while a European Commission staff working document (SWD(2018) 174 final) provides some scientific and factual background to the Recommendation.
Among the recommendations are the following.
- Explore ways to help all young people to acquire competence in at least one other European language and to encourage the acquisition of an additional (third) language.
- Apply comprehensive approaches to improve teaching and learning of languages.
- Ensure that all sectors of primary and secondary education are addressed, starting as early as possible, including initial vocational education and training.
- Support the development of language awareness in schools and vocational education and training institutions. Support teachers, trainers, inspectors and school leaders in the development of language awareness.
- Encourage research in and use of innovative, inclusive and multilingual pedagogies.
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