Europe

National (non-pan-regional) languages of Europe of over 20 million speakers and their Wikipedias

Wiki code Language Primary Country Number of speakers (Millions) Potential Users (Millions) Number of articles (7-09) # of articles >1500 bytes (7-09) Articles, 1 year growth rate (5/08-5/09) # of 5+editors (5-09) 5+ editors, 1 year growth rate (5/08-5/09) 5+ editors,2 year growth rate (5/07-5/09) Article to editor ratio
ru Russian Russian Federation *254 73.66 423,072 169,229 40% 3983 52% 138% 106
de German, Standard Germany *118.3 89.91 951,442 pending 21% 6804 -18% -15% 140
it Italian Italy 62 30.23 600,596 228,226 27% 2915 -2% 11% 206
pl Polish Poland 40 17.6 626,273 156,568 21% 1977 -7% -11% 317
uk Ukrainian Ukraine 37 8.51 157,477 29,921 35% 386 29% 114% 408
ro Romanian Romania 23 5.62 128,952 23,211 16% 408 18% 55% 316
nl Dutch Netherlands 22 18.66 550,361 165,108 23% 1590 -3% -14% 346

Note that Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese were not included as they appear in the pan-regional language section, and that Turkey is included in the Middle East rather than being divided between Europe and the Middle East.

*Includes second language speakers
[1]

National languages of Europe of between three and 28 million speakers and their Wikipedias

Wiki code Language Primary Country Number of speakers (Millions) Potential Users (Millions) Number of articles (7-09) # of articles >1500 bytes (7-09) Articles, 1 year growth rate (5/08-5/09) # of 5+editors (5-09) 5+ editors, 1 year growth rate (5/08-5/09) 5+ editors,2 year growth rate (5/07-5/09) Article to editor ratio
el Greek Greece 13 4.32 44,921 17,070 24% 208 7% -8% 216
hu Hungarian Hungary 13 6.75 135,208 63,548 35% 859 5% 80% 157
cs Czech Czech Republic 10 4.66 133,622 49,440 32% 659 13% 21% 203
bg Bulgarian Bulgaria 9 2.73 76,201 23,622 28% 296 16% 26% 257
be Belarusan Belarus 9 2.49 16,667 2,333 32% 63 54% 117% 265
sv Swedish Sweden 8 6.64 323,313 61,429 13% 1,104 1% -1% 293
sr Serbian Serbia 7 2.03 144,910 57,964 25% 216 13% 24% 671
sq Albanian Albania 6 0.87 23,841 3,815 16% 66 20% 100% 361
da Danish Denmark 6 4.76 112,894 24,837 27% 422 2% 2% 268
hr Croatian Croatia 6 1.6 67,121 20,136 42% 210 19% 12% 320
sk Slovak Slovakia 5 2.6 109,171 20,742 13% 211 13% 7% 517
fi Finnish Finland 5 3.95 211,632 65,606 25% 808 -1% -23% 262
no Norwegian Norway 5 3.91 223,899 51,497 30% 677 3% -6% 331
lt Lithuanian Lithuania 3 1.7 89,837 18,866 35% 190 6% 27% 473
*Includes second language speakers
[2]

Select local languages of Europe of more than 3 million speakers and their Wikipedias

Wiki code Language Primary Country Number of speakers (Millions) Potential Users (Millions) Number of articles (7-09) # of articles >1500 bytes (7-09) Articles, 1 year growth rate (5/08-5/09) # of 5+editors (5-09) 5+ editors, 1 year growth rate (5/08-5/09) 5+ editors,2 year growth rate (5/07-5/09) Article to editor ratio
bar Bavarian Austria 13 7.85 3,075 1,353 74% 34 13% 79% 90
ca Catalan-Valencian-Balear Spain 12 6.44 190,240 66,584 53% 577 23% 34% 330
lmo Lombard Italy 9 4.46 6,328 759 107% 37 76% 311% 171
vls Vlaams Belgium 6 4.09 3,655 731 20% 18 -18% -28% 203
scn Sicilian Italy 5 2.35 14,702 1,176 16% 32 -3% 33% 459
gl Galician Spain 3 1.79 50,422 14,118 36% 132 53% 39% 382
  • Includes second language speakers
[3]

European languages

  • There are over 491 million speakers of the 21 national languages listed, comprising 67% of the population of Europe.
  • European countries are generally dominated by a single national language which is spoken by everyone and used in the media (the definition of a national language is when law is written in them, the administration communicates in each language often depending on the citizens preference, courts hear cases in the language according to the citizens preference, media communicate in them). In some countries the national language coexists alongside one or more local languages (e.g. Spain: Catalan, basque) that are used for daily conversation and occasionally in the media; except in Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
    • Belgium has 3 national languages Dutch, French and German
    • Switzerland has 4 languages : French, German, Italian and Romansh
    • Luxembourg : Letzebuerg, French and German
  • The national languages generally have a long written history and there is an extensive literature covering a variety of subjects available in these languages. Generally, the local languages have existed but largely as spoken languages and therefore have a much more limited literary tradition.

European languages and education

  • All of the national languages listed are used as mediums of instruction at the elementary, secondary and university level
  • In some countries such as Spain the local language is taught as a separate subject in school, however generally there is minimal education provided in the local language

Internet penetration in Europe

  • There is a significant difference between Internet penetration in Eastern Europe and Western Europe.
    • Approximately 64% of Western Europeans are Internet users
    • Approximately 29% of Eastern Europeans are Internet users

European language Wikipedias

  • Growth of national European language Wikipedias has generally been very strong. There is a loose relationship between the number of potential users and the development of the European national language Wikipedias. The exception to this is the Scandinavian countries which have developed very extensive Wikipedias despite the small number of speakers of those languages.
  • Growth of local European language Wikipedias has varied dramatically.

Barriers to the growth of European language Wikipedias

(The list below is speculative.)

  • Quality of Internet connection (dial-up? unstable connection? no home connection, reliance on internet cafes?), see also Regional bandwidth;
  • attitude towards Internet usage (use primarily for email or social networking with people not in the same geographic region? seen as detrimental to human relationships?);
  • attitude towards free (as in beer) materials (you get what you pay for? volunteers don't do as good a job as paid experts?);
  • attitude towards contributing to a project without payment (why give away hard work? why not work on things that will bring in an income?).

Notes

  1. Information on languages from Ethnologue 2009 http://www.ethnologue.com Potential users is calculated by multiplying the number of language speakers by the national or regional Internet use rate. Internet use rates from from the International Telecom Union 2008
  2. Information on languages from Ethnologue 2009 http://www.ethnologue.com Potential users is calculated by multiplying the number of language speakers by the national or regional Internet use rate. Internet use rates from from the International Telecom Union 2008
  3. Information on languages from Ethnologue 2009 http://www.ethnologue.com Potential users is calculated by multiplying the number of language speakers by the national or regional Internet use rate. Internet use rates from from the International Telecom Union 2008