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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

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

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

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?).