Majority of Household Immigrants Use German as Their Home Language - Majority of Immigrants Use German in Domestic Settings
Languages Spoken at Home Among Immigrants in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
New findings from the 2024 Microcensus in NRW reveal insights into the languages spoken at home among people with a migration background.
According to the Statistical Office in Düsseldorf, approximately 80% of people with a migration background in NRW speak German at home. This figure includes those who speak German exclusively and those who use it alongside other languages.
The data also shows that nearly 27% of people with a migration background in NRW speak German exclusively at home, while about 55% speak at least one other language alongside German. In contrast, around 18% do not speak German at home.
When another language is spoken alongside German, German is the mother tongue in about 22% of households in NRW.
The most commonly spoken language after German in NRW is Turkish (15%), followed by Russian (around 10%), Arabic (nearly 10%), and Polish (nearly 7%).
Among those who do not speak German at home, the most common languages are Turkish (13%), Russian (11%), Arabic (11%), and Ukrainian (9%).
The findings from the 2024 Microcensus in NRW show that the most common languages spoken alongside German are Turkish, Russian, Arabic, and Polish.
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous federal state, has a highly diverse immigrant population. The largest immigrant groups come from Turkey, Syria, Poland, and other countries, so correspondingly, Turkish, Arabic (including Syrian dialects), and Polish are among the most common languages spoken at home in immigrant families and their descendants.
The exact rankings or detailed proportions of the languages spoken at home among immigrants in NRW require dedicated demographic data beyond the current search results. For precise statistics, consulting the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) or state integration reports from NRW’s Ministry of Integration or BAMF would be necessary.
These findings underscore the linguistic diversity within NRW's immigrant population and the importance of language support efforts, such as those offered by the Federal Agency for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), which focus on German language acquisition. The debates around immigrant children in schools in NRW also highlight challenges connected to German language proficiency, indirectly supporting the presence of various home languages other than German among immigrant families.
In the diverse immigrant community of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), German is primarily spoken at home, with approximately 80% of people with a migration background using it, either exclusively or alongside other languages. Vocational training programs, aimed at improving lifestyle and promoting integration, might benefit from incorporating home-and-garden courses in more commonly spoken languages like Turkish, Russian, Arabic, and Polish, in addition to German.
