Editing German Empire (section)

==Demographics==
[[File:Sprachen Deutsches Reich 1900.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Percentage of linguistic minorities of the German Empire in 1900 by [[Kreis in Prussia|Kreis]]]]

About 92% of the population spoke German as their first language. The only minority language with a significant number of speakers (5.4%) was [[Polish language|Polish]] (a figure that rises to over 6% when including the related [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]] and [[Masurian dialects|Masurian]] languages).

The non-German [[Germanic languages]] (0.5%), like [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[North Frisian language|Frisian]], were located in the north and northwest of the empire, near the borders with [[Denmark]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], and [[Luxembourg]]. [[Low German]] was spoken throughout northern Germany and, though linguistically as distinct from High German (''Hochdeutsch'') as from Dutch and English, was considered "German", hence also its name. Danish and [[North Frisian language|Frisian]] were spoken predominantly in the north of the [[Prussia]]n [[province of Schleswig-Holstein]] and Dutch in the western border areas of Prussia ([[Province of Hanover|Hanover]], [[Province of Westphalia|Westphalia]], and the [[Rhine Province]]).

Polish and other [[West Slavic languages]] (6.28%) were spoken chiefly in the east.{{Efn|1={{Citation needed span|date=June 2020|text=The Slavic speakers included [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Masurian dialects|Masurian]], [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]], [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]] and [[Czech language|Czech]] were located in the east; Polish mainly in the [[Prussia]]n [[Provinces of Prussia|provinces]] of [[Province of Posen|Posen]], [[West Prussia]] and [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]] ([[Upper Silesia]]). Small islands also existed in [[Recklinghausen]] ([[Province of Westphalia|Westphalia]]) with 13.8% of the population and in the [[Districts of Prussia|Kreis]] of [[Calau]] ([[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]]) (5.5%) and in parts of [[East Prussia]] and [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]]. Czech was spoken predominantly in the south of the [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]], Masurian in the south of East Prussia, Kashubian in the north of West Prussia and Sorbian in the [[Lusatia]]n regions of Prussia (Brandenburg and Silesia) and the [[Kingdom of Saxony]].}}}}
A few (0.5%) spoke French, the vast majority of these in the Reichsland [[Elsass-Lothringen]] where francophones formed 11.6% of the total population.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===1900 census results===
[[File:Demographics of pre-WW1 Europe.png|thumb|400px|Demographics of pre-WW1 European countries]]
{| class="wikitable sortable toptextcells" style="text-align:left"
|+Native languages of the citizens of the German Empire<br/>(1 December 1900)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fremdsprachige Minderheiten im Deutschen Reich |url=http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/fremdsprachen.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206125600/http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/fremdsprachen.html |archive-date=6 February 2010 |access-date=20 January 2010 |language=de}}</ref>
! style="background:#b3b7ff" | language
! style="background:#b3b7ff" |Count
! style="background:#b3b7ff" |Percentage
|-
|German{{Efn|Including [[Low German]]}}
|style="text-align:right"|51,883,131
|style="text-align:right"|92.05
|-
|German and a foreign language
|style="text-align:right"|252,918
|style="text-align:right"|0.45
|-
|[[polish language|Polish]]
|style="text-align:right"|3,086,489
|style="text-align:right"|5.48
|-
|French
|style="text-align:right"|211,679
|style="text-align:right"|0.38
|-
|[[Masurian dialects|Masurian]]
|style="text-align:right"|142,049
|style="text-align:right"|0.25
|-
|[[Danish language|Danish]]
|style="text-align:right"|141,061
|style="text-align:right"|0.25
|-
|[[lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]
|style="text-align:right"|106,305
|style="text-align:right"|0.19
|-
|[[Kashubian language|Kashubian]]
|style="text-align:right"|100,213
|style="text-align:right"|0.18
|-
|[[Sorbian languages|Wendish (Sorbian)]]
|style="text-align:right"|93,032
|style="text-align:right"|0.16
|-
|[[Dutch language|Dutch]]
|style="text-align:right"|80,361
|style="text-align:right"|0.14
|-
|Italian
|style="text-align:right"|65,930
|style="text-align:right"|0.12
|-
|[[Czech language|Moravian (Czech)]]
|style="text-align:right"|64,382
|style="text-align:right"|0.11
|-
|[[Czech language|Czech]]
|style="text-align:right"|43,016
|style="text-align:right"|0.08
|-
|[[North Frisian language|Frisian]]
|style="text-align:right"|20,677
|style="text-align:right"|0.04
|-
|English
|style="text-align:right"|20,217
|style="text-align:right"|0.04
|-
|Russian
|style="text-align:right"|9,617
|style="text-align:right"|0.02
|-
|[[Swedish language|Swedish]]
|style="text-align:right"|8,998
|style="text-align:right"|0.02
|-
|[[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]
|style="text-align:right"|8,158
|style="text-align:right"|0.01
|-
|Spanish
|style="text-align:right"|2,059
|style="text-align:right"|0.00
|-
|[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]
|style="text-align:right"|479
|style="text-align:right"|0.00
|-
| Other foreign languages
|style="text-align:right"|14,535
|style="text-align:right"|0.03
|- style="background:#ffffec" 
||'''Imperial citizens'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''56,367,187'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''100'''
|}

===Linguistic maps===
<gallery widths=180>
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 dänisch.png|[[Danish language|Danish]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 niederländisch.png|[[Dutch language|Dutch]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 friesisch.png|[[North Frisian language|Frisian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 polnisch.png|[[Polish language|Polish]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 tschechisch.png|[[Czech language|Czech]] (and [[Moravian language|Moravian]])
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 masurisch.png|[[Masurian dialects|Masurian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 kaschubisch.png|[[Kashubian language|Kashubian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 sorbisch.png|[[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 französisch.png|[[French language|French]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 wallonisch.png|[[Walloon language|Walloon]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 italienisch.png|[[Italian language|Italian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 litauisch.png|[[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 nichtdeutsch.png|non-German
</gallery>