Society
Most Households Speak Only German at Home
In most households, only German is spoken - Germany's linguistic diversity grows as 15.5 million speak non-German at home
In the vast majority of households across Germany, only German is spoken, according to new figures. The Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden reported that 77 percent of the population uses German at home, while an additional 17 percent speak at least one other language alongside German. The data, covering the year 2024, was released to mark International Mother Language Day on February 21.
Among multilingual households, roughly one in four (26 percent) primarily used German at home, while nearly three-quarters (74 percent) mainly communicated in another language. The remaining 6 percent of the population spoke only one or more languages other than German in their homes.
Which Languages Are Most Common After German?
In 2024, around 15.5 million people in Germany predominantly or exclusively spoke a language other than German at home. "Turkish was the most widely spoken, accounting for 14 percent, followed by Russian (12 percent) and Arabic (9 percent)," the report stated.
The statisticians also analyzed responses specifically from people with a migration background. Of this group, 22 percent spoke only German at home, while just over half (55 percent) used German alongside at least one other language. Nearly a quarter (23 percent) did not speak German at all in their households. A person is considered to have a migration background if they or both parents immigrated to Germany after 1950.
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