List of territorial entities where German is an official language


The following is a list of the territorial entities where German is an official language. It includes countries which have German as their nationwide official language, as well as dependent territories with German as a co-official language.

German as an official language

is the official language of six countries, all of which lie in central and western Europe. These countries also form the Council for German Orthography and are referred to as the German Sprachraum.

Dependent entities

German, or one of its dialects, is a co-official language in several dependent entities. In each of these regions, German, along with the official language of the host nation, is an official language on the administrative level.
RegionCountryPopulation
2006/2011		Native
speakers		Notes
Autonomous Province of South Tyrol511,750354,643 Co-official language on province level; equal to Italian
Opole Voivodeship
Silesian Voivodeship 		250,000~50,000 Auxiliary language in 31 communes;
also national minority language
Espírito Santo
Santa Catarina
Rio Grande do Sul 		205,000Co-official language in 9 municipalities ;
also statewide cultural language in Espírito Santo; Riograndenser Hunsrückisch German is an integral part of the historical and cultural heritage of Rio Grande do Sul.

In the two Slovak villages of Krahule/Blaufuss and Kunešov/Kuneschhau the percentage of ethnic Germans exceeds 20%, therefore making German a co-official language according to Slovak law. However, due to the size of the villages and the approximate number of native German speakers, the administrative impact is negligible.

Other legal statuses

There are other political entities which acknowledge other legal statuses for the German language or one of its dialects. While these may cover minority rights, support of certain language facilities, and the promotion of cultural protection/heritage, they do not encompass the establishment of German as an "official" language, i.e., being required in public offices or administrative texts.
Although in, the High German varieties Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as "regional languages" according to the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages of 1998, the French government has not yet ratified the treaty, and those varieties have no official legal status.
The constitution of identifies German as a "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to "promote and ensure respect" for it.
Due to the German diaspora and Russian Mennonites, other countries with sizable populations of German L1 speakers include,,,, , as well as the. However, in none of these countries does German or a German variety have any legal status.

International institutions

German is an official language of the following international institutions: