German-Speaking Countries in Europe

There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today. Of these languages, the most widely spoken are English, Spanish, Mandarin. French, and German.

German has over 100 million native speakers worldwide and that doesn't even count for the 80 million non-native speakers. It's also one of the official languages of the European Union. In the United States, it's one of the most chosen foreign languages to learn in school.

We know that people in Germany speak German, but do all the German speakers in the world live there? The answer is no. There are millions of speakers outside of the country. That being said, where are German-speaking countries?

Germany

The land of fairytale castles and Oktoberfest is the first on our list with around 70% of Germans speakers living here. Thousands travel to Germany each year for work opportunities or to study abroad at a university.

Here are other countries in Europe that officially recognize German as a minor dialect.

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Austria

Germany's next-door neighbor is home to famous composer Mozart, Schnitzel, and eight million German speakers. If you find yourself in Austria remember that there are varying dialects of German. Don't be surprised if you can't understand a speaker from Austria. For the most part, native speakers can pick up on different accents and dialects with no issue.

Switzerland

The land of Lindt chocolate is sandwiched between France, Germany, Austria, and Italy is home to over 4 million German speakers. Switzerland actually has 4 languages but German is spoken by 62% of the population.

Belgium

Another country offering the most delicious chocolate that your taste buds will ever experience. The official language of Belgium is Belgian but there are 2 other spoken languages which include German. However, German is not is widely spoken and there are only around 750.000 speakers. If you visit Belgium you'll find that only the population that lives on the border with Austria and Luxembourg speak German.

Luxembourg

This country is always overlooked when people think of Europe. Luxembourg is the second-richest country and has a restaurant with the largest wine list in the world. What makes Luxembourg the most unique is the various languages spoken. Luxembourgish and French are used in public places but there are also 390,000 people that speak a dialect of German in daily life.

Italy

I'm sure this will come as a surprise to you. Nobody really thinks of the land of pasta and Da Vinci as a German-speaking country. Interestingly enough, there's a region in the South called Tyrol that over 50% of the residents speak German as their first language and Italian as their second.