Most Widely Spoken Languages in Europe

Top Languages by Native Speakers and Total Users

• Russian – ~120 M native (Russia, Belarus, etc.)
• German – ~95 M native (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
• French – ~80 M native (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg)
• English – ~65 M native (UK, Ireland, Malta) but >250 M total as L2
• Italian – ~65 M native (Italy, Switzerland, San Marino)
• Spanish – ~47 M native (Spain, Andorra, Gibraltar)
• Polish – ~45 M native (Poland, diaspora)
• Ukrainian – ~35 M native (Ukraine, neighbouring states)
• Dutch – ~25 M native (Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname)
• Greek – ~13 M native (Greece, Cyprus)

Europe’s linguistic landscape is shaped by the Indo‑European family, centuries of migration, empire, trade, and modern EU multilingualism policies.