List of countries and territories where German is an official language
Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide:
Germany (78.3%)
Austria (8.4%)
Switzerland (5.6%)
Brazil (3.2%)
Italy (0.4%)
Others (4.1%)
The following is a list of the countries and territories where German is an official language (also known as the Germanosphere). It includes countries that have German as (one of) their nationwide official language(s), as well as dependent territories with German as a co-official language.
All countries and territories where German has some officiality are located in Europe.
German as an official language
German is the official language of six countries, all of which lie in central and western Europe. These countries (with the addition of South Tyrol of Italy) also form the Council for German Orthography and are referred to as the German Sprachraum (German language area). Since 2004, Meetings of German-speaking countries have been held annually with six participants: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland:[1]
Subdivisions of countries
While not official at the national level, German is a co-official language in subdivisions of the countries listed below. In each of these regions, German is an official language on the administrative level.
Other legal statuses
There are other political entities (countries as well as dependent entities) which acknowledge other legal statuses for the German language or one of its dialects. While these may cover minority rights, support of certain language facilities (schools, media, etc.), and the promotion of cultural protection/heritage, they do not encompass the establishment of German as an "official" language, i.e., being required in public offices or administrative texts.
These countries include:
Brazil (German is a statewide cultural language in Espírito Santo and Rio Grande do Sul; Standard German official in 2 municipalities and non-standard German dialects official in 16 others)[10][11]
^While several specific laws, e.g., §23 VwVfG or $184 GVG, specify German as the administrative language in Germany, the Grundgesetz does not specifically mention it as federal official language.
References
^d’Lëtzebuerger Land – Beim Deutschen Bund in Eupen (02. September 2016)
^ a b c d eAmmon, Ulrich (November 2014). Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in der Welt (in German) (1st ed.). Berlin, Germany: de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-019298-8. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
^Census of South Tyrol 2011
^Polish census 2011 (ethnic associations allow only for a very rough estimate of first language distribution)
^"Map on page of Polish Commission on Standardization of Geographical Names" (PDF). Retrieved 20 June 2015.
^ a b c d e f gCouncil of Europe - List of ratifications of the Charter for regional/minority languages
^"IPOL realizará formação de recenseadores para o censo linguístico do município de Antônio Carlos-SC". e-ipol.org.
^Lei N.º 14.061, de 23 de julho de 2012
^Carolin Zwilling (European Academy Bolzano-Bozen, 2004) - Minority Protection and Language Policy in the Czech Republic
^"European Centre for Minority Issues - Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations". ecmi.de. Archived from the original on 2016-10-14. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
^Die deutsche Minderheit in Dänemark - Sprache – Identität und Schlüssel (German). Letzter Zugriff am 3. Mai 2015
^"Deutsche Botschaft Budapest - Die deutsche Minderheit in Ungarn". Archived from the original on 5 May 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
^Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Budapest - The national and ethnic minorities in Hungary
^"Deutsch in Namibia" (PDF) (in German). Supplement of the Allgemeine Zeitung. 18 August 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 June 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
^Ammon, Ulrich (1995). Die deutsche Sprache in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110147537. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^"УСТАВ АЗОВСКОГО РАЙОННОГО СОВЕТА ОТ 21.05.2002 N 5-09 УСТАВ МУНИЦИПАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ "АЗОВСКИЙ НЕМЕЦКИЙ НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ РАЙОН ОМСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ (ПРИНЯТ РЕШЕНИЕМ АЗОВСКОГО РАЙОННОГО СОВЕТА ОТ 21.05.2002 N 5-09, ЗАРЕГИСТРИРОВАН ПОСТАНОВЛЕНИЕМ ЗС ОТ 25.06.2002 N 106)". bestpravo.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-08. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
^"Charte européenne des langues régionales : Hollande nourrit la guerre contre le français". Le Figaro. 5 June 2015.