Almost 20 percent of households in Germany are bilingual

Figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) have revealed which percentage of households in Germany speak exclusively German, exclusively another language or are bilingual.

Destatis microcensus on language use at home in Germany

A microcensus carried out by Destatis has found that 17 percent of households in Germany are bilingual, using German and another language to communicate.

Of the bilingual households, 21 percent said that German was the dominant language and 79 percent said that they spoke another language most of the time. Recent figures suggest that over a quarter of the German population has a recent migration background.

The findings from the microcensus were published to recognise International Mother Language Day on February 21. 

6 percent of households speak no German

A further 6 percent of households reported speaking no German at home, this was higher among households with a recent migration background, where 24 percent did not use the German language at home.

Turkish (14 percent), Russian (12 percent) and Arabic (9 percent) were the most common spoken at home apart from German.

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