
In 2023, 60.0% of students in upper secondary general education across the EU studied 2 or more foreign languages as compulsory subjects or as compulsory curriculum options. This was a 0.8 percentage points (pp) decrease compared with 2022 (60.8%).
In upper secondary vocational education, this share was 34.8%, marking a 1.0 pp increase compared with 2022 (33.8%).
In 9 EU countries, more than 90% of upper secondary general education students studied 2 or more foreign languages. The highest shares were registered in France (99.8%), Romania (99.1%) and Czechia (98.5%).
By contrast, Portugal (6.7%), Ireland (10.4%) and Spain (22.4%) recorded the lowest shares of students studying 2 or more foreign languages.
Source:
Eurostat, 14 July 2025