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Over 8 in 10 primary EU school pupils studied foreign language in 2013: Eurostat

Xinhua, September 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

In 2013, around 17.7 million primary school pupils in the European Union (EU), or 81.7 percent of all the pupils at this level, were studying at least one foreign language, Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, said Thursday.

Currently, there are 24 official languages recognized within the EU. In addition, there are regional languages, minority languages, and languages spoken by migrant populations. It should also be noted that several EU member states have more than one official language, added Eurostat.

The dominance of English is confirmed at the lower secondary level (pupils aged around 11-15 depending on the national educational system), with 17.1 million pupils in the EU learning English as a foreign language in 2013.

French came second, followed by German, Spanish, Russian and Italian.

In particular, Russian, the most popular non-EU language at lower secondary level in the EU that is most commonly studied in the Baltic member states, including Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, as well as in Slovakia and Bulgaria.

All or nearly all pupils at primary level in 2013 attended foreign language classes in Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, Austria, Croatia, Italy, Spain, as well as in France and Poland.

Moreover, in some member states, young pupils were studying two or more foreign languages, particularly in Luxembourg, followed at a distance by Estonia and Greece. Endit