English is the most studied foreign language in EU

In the 27-member European Union in 2009, 82 percent of pupils at primary and lower secondary level and 95 percent of those in upper secondary level were studying English as a foreign language. The second most commonly studied foreign language at primary and lower secondary level was French (16 percent of pupils), followed by German (9 percent) and Spanish (6 percent), while at upper secondary level it was German (27 percent), followed by French (26 percent) and Spanish (19 percent). The figures were released Monday, on the occasion of the 10th European Day of Languages by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office. In 2009, at primary and lower secondary level, English was the most commonly studied language, with shares as high as 100 percent in Malta, 99 percent in Spain and Italy and 98 percent in Austria.