How Many People Speak German? | By The Numbers

German may not be the most spoken language in the world,

but you can find significant German-speaking populations in over 50 countries.

How many people speak German? And where is it spoken?

There are more than 136 million German speakers in the world,

80 million of which are native speakers.

Let's take a quick look at the history of German to see how it developed.

German is a member of the Germanic language family,

which also includes English,

Dutch,

Swedish,

and about 43 others.

Proto-Germanic began as a large group of dialects in Central Europe,

but it soon split off into North Germanic and West Germanic.

The North Germanic branch evolved into the Scandinavian languages,

and West Germanic became English,

German,

and other languages.

There are about 79 million German speakers in Germany,

where it's the sole official language.

It's also the official language of Austria

and one of Switzerland's official tongues.

Most people in Switzerland speak the Swiss German dialect.

During World War II,

the German language was banned in a number of countries,

but today there are nearly 134 million German speakers spread across Europe.

About 1.4 million German speakers live in North America,

a million of which are in the United States.

Many German immigrants moved to the U.S. in the 18th and 19th centuries,

but that influx has slowed over the past century.

South America is also home to a decent number of German speakers,

around 1.8 million.

The majority live in Brazil,

primarily concentrated in the southern parts of the country.

German-speaking contingents can also be found in Argentina,

Chile,

Ecuador,

Paraguay,

and Uruguay.

In many of these countries,

the ethnic German population is larger than the number of speakers.

This is mostly due to the large waves of

immigration to South America after World War I.

There are pockets of German speakers in other parts of the world as well.

In Africa,

Germanophones can be found in Mozambique,

Namibia,

and South Africa.

There's also a handful of German speakers on the Asian continent,

primarily in Thailand and the Middle East,

and additional German-speaking clusters in Australia and New Zealand.

Learning German can be a little tricky for English speakers,

but it's a challenge that pays off.

In fact,

German was ranked the 3rd best language for economic opportunities.

Speaking German can also make cultural activities

like Oktoberfest a lot more rewarding.

And English of all from German,

so it's almost like getting in touch with a linguistic ancestor. (MUSIC)