There is no official source giving a detailed breakdown of how many people in the UK have English as a second language or the ranking of community languages spoken in the UK.

In 2001, the  DfEE commissioned a report looking at the needs of people whose first language is not English focusing on barriers to employment, education and training. They reported

there are no reliable data on the number of people living in Great Britain whose first language is not English. This causes serious problems with the planning and delivery of education and training provision... At least three million people living in the United Kingdom were born in countries where English is not the national language. (DCSF Research Brief RBX3/01)

The lack of language data was also highlighted more recently in the context of health service users:

• Aspinall, P.J. (2007). 'Language ability: A neglected dimension in the profiling of populations and health service users.' Health Education Journal 66.1, 90-106.
  View abstract.

We are interested to discover more about demand for this information. This will help us to build up a case for ensuring future language questions in population surveys.

Please let us know your reasons for understanding which languages are spoken in the UK population by emailing statistics@cilt.org.uk.

Below is data taken from the annual schools census, which includes figures on languages spoken by pupils in state maintained primary schools. Please see the CILT website for full statistical information on languages in the population.

Annual schools census language data

The Annual schools census language data can provide us with some indication of the range of languages to be found amongst children in the population.

England

The Annual Schools Census carried out by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) asks schools to report on the number of children with a first language other than English.

The latest data for 2009 show:

• 15.2% (492,390)of all Local Authority maintained primary school children have a first language known to or believed to be a language other than English
• 11.1% (364,280) of all state-funded secondary school children have a first language known to or believed to be a language other than English
• Information at Local Authority level is available.
  

Data source: DCSF statistical release for the 2009 data.
The 2008 data, released 14 August 2008, show:

• 14.3% of all primary school children have a first language known to or believed to be a language other than English
• 10.6% of all secondary school children have a first language known to or believed to be a language other than English

Data source: DCSF School census English national tables

View the 2008 data according to Local Authority: DCSF School census English Local Authority tables

From January 2007, where a pupil's first language is not English, schools were asked to record the actual language (into a coding system which consists of over 300 language categories). However, it was not compulsory for schools to provide this level of detail and not all schools have chosen to use the extended language codes.

In 2008, language data were received for almost 79 per cent of pupils whose first language was other than English. This number of responses was sufficient to provide summary national level findings. The 2008 data record some 240 different languages for these 79% of pupils.

View the list of different languages: Main languages spoken by pupils whose first language is other than English

Scotland

Data from the results of the 2007 annual pupil census in publicly funded schools in Scotland (published February 2008) gave the following linguistic picture of school children in Scotland:

• There are over 28,000 bilingual primary and secondary school children in Scotland (4% of all school children)
• The top 5 home languages were reported to be Punjabi, Urdu, Polish, Cantonese and Arabic.
• A total of 138 languages are spoken by school children in Scotland.

Data source: Main home languages in publicly funded Scottish schools 

View the data according to Local Authority: Main home languages Scottish Local Authority tables

Data warning!

The school census data should be read with caution, and taken as minimum figures as a lot of schools only collect other language information about pupils who need EAL support and don't consider or record pupils who are fluent in English.