Germans

The Germans (German: Deutsche) are a Germanic ethnic group native tae Central Europe. The Inglis/Scots term Germans haes referred tae the German-speakin population o the Holy Roman Empire syne the Late Middle Ages.^[6] Legally, Germans are ceetizens o the Federal Republic o Germany.

Germans
Deutsche

1st Row: Martin Luther, Otto von Bismarck, Ludwig van Beethoven, Immanuel Kant, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 2nt Row: Johannes Gutenberg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, Richard Wagner, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 3rd Row: Friedrich Schiller, Karl Marx, Brothers Grimm, Konrad Adenauer, Albrecht Dürer 4t Row: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Karl Benz, Konrad Zuse, Marlene Dietrich, Max Planck 5t Row: Claudia Schiffer, Albert Einstein, Johannes Kepler, Friedrich Nietzsche, Heidi Klum 6t Row: Willy Brandt, Jürgen Klinsmann, Wernher von Braun, Catherine the Great, Carl Friedrich Gauss
Tot population
German Diaspora ca. 150 million[1]
Regions wi signeeficant populations
Germany        75 million[2][3][4]
Leids
German: Heich German (Upper German, Central German), Law German (see German dialects)
Releegion
Roman Catholic, Protestant (chiefly Lutheran)
Relatit ethnic groups
Austrians, Danes, Dutch, Inglis, Flemish, French, Icelanders, Norse fowk,[5] Romansch, Swades,[5] an ither Germanic fowks

O approximately 100 million native speakers o German in the warld, aboot 66–75 million consider thairsels Germans. Thare are an additional 80 million fowk o German ancestry mainly in the Unitit States, Brazil, Canadae, Argentinae, Fraunce, Roushie, Chile, Poland, Australie an Romanie (who maist likely are no native speakers o German).^[7] Sicweys, the tot nummer o Germans warldwide lees atween 66 an 160 million, dependin on the criteria appleed (native speakers, single-ancestry ethnic Germans, pairtial German ancestry, etc.).

The day, fowks frae kintras wi a German-speakin majority or significant German-speakin population groups ither than Germany, sic as Austrick, Swisserland, Liechtenstein an Luxembourg, hae developit thair awn naitional identity an uisually dae no refer tae thairsels as "Germans" in a modren context.

Leid

Main airticle: German leid

The native leid o Germans is German, a Wast Germanic leid, relatit tae an classifeed alangside Inglis an Dutch, an sharin mony similarities wi the North Germanic or Scandinavie leids. Spoken bi approximately 100 million native speakers,^[8] German is ane o the warld's major leids an the maist widely spoken first leid in the European Union.

Dialects

Main airticle: German dialects

Wast Germanic eids

  Dutch (Law Franconie, Wast Germanic)

  Law German (Wast Germanic)

  Central German (Heich German, Wast Germanic)

  Upper German (Heich German, Wast Germanic)

  Inglis (Anglo-Frisie, Wast Germanic)

  Frisie (Anglo-Frisie, Wast Germanic)

North Germanic leids

  East Scandinavie

  Wast Scandinavie

  Line dividin the North an Wast Germanic leids

• Heich German
  • Upper German
    • Bavaries (ca. 10 million) form the Austro-Bavarie linguistic group, thegither wi those Austrians who speak German an dae no live in Vorarlberg an the wastren Tyrol destrict o Reutte. Swabians (ca. 10 million) form the Alemannic group, thegither wi the Alemannic Swiss, Liechtensteiners, Alsatians an Vorarlbergians.
  • Central German dialect group (ca. 45 million)
    • Wast Central German
      • Central Franconie (Ripuarian, Kölsch), forms a dialectal unity wi Luxembourgis, Rhine Franconie(Hessian)
    • East Central German
      • Staundart German,^[9] Thuringie, Upper Saxon, Heich Proushie, German Silesian
  • Yiddish, a Heich German leid o Ashkenazi Jewish oreegin, spoken throughoot the warld. It developit as a fusion o German dialects wi Ebreu, Slavic leids an traces o Romance leids.^[10][11]
• Law German (ca. 3–10 million), forms a dialectal unity wi Dutch Law Saxon
  • Law Saxon, East Law German

Native speakers

Global distribution o native speakers o the German leid:

Kintra	German speakin population (ootside Europe)
USA	5,000,000[12]
Brazil	3,000,000[12]
Roushie	2,000,000[12]
Poland	800,000[12]
Argentinae	500,000[12]
Canadae	450,000[12] – 620,000[13]
Bolivie	300,000[14][15][16]
Italy	250,000[12]
Hungary	220,000[12]
Paraguay	186,000[14]
Australie	110,000
Sooth Africae	75,000 (German expatriate ceetizens)[12]
Belgium	66,000[12]
Mexico	40,000[17]
Chile	40,000[12]
Namibie	30,000 (German expatriate ceetizens)[12]
Denmark	20,000[12]
Romanie	15,000[12]
Venezuela	10,000[12]

Geographic distribution

German Argentines celebrate Oktoberfest in Villa General Belgrano, Argentinae.

Ethnic Germans form an important minority group in several kintras in central an eastren Europe—(Poland, Hungary, Romanie, Roushie) as well as in Namibie (German Namibie), Brazil (German Brazilian) (approx. 3% o the population),^[18] Argentinae (German Argentine) (1,5%^[19] ~ 7,5% o the population)^[20] an Chile (German-Chilean) (approx. 1% o the population).^[21]

Some groups mey be classifeed as Ethnic Germans despite nae langer haein German as thair mither tongue or belangin tae a destinct German cultur. Till the 1990s, twa million Ethnic Germans livit throughoot the umwhile Soviet Union, pairticularly in Roushie an Kazakhstan.

In the Unitit States 1990 census, 57 million fowk wur fully or pairtly o German ancestry, formin the lairgest single ethnic group in the kintra. States wi the heichest percentage o Americans o German strynd are in the northren Midwast (especially Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Sooth Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan) an the Mid-Atlantic state, Pennsylvania. But Germanic immigrant enclaves existit in mony ither states (e.g., the German Texans an the Denver, Colorado aurie) an tae a lesser extent, the Paceefic Northwast (i.e. Idaho, Montana, Oregon an Washington state).

Notable Ethnic German minorities exist in ither Anglosphere kintras sic as Canadae (approx. 10% o the population) an Australie (approx. 4% o the population) an aw. As in the Unitit States, maist fowk o German strynd in Canadae an Australie hae amaist completely assimilatit, culturally an linguistically, intae the Inglis-speakin mainstream.

Distribution o German ceetizens an fowk claimin German ancestry:

Kintra	German ancestry	German ceetizens	Comments
Germany	66,420,000	75,000,000[2]	see Demographics o Germany
Unitit States	50,000,000[22]		see German American
Brazil	5,000,000[23]		see German Brazilian
Canadae	3,200,000[24]		see Canadians o German ethnicity
Sooth Africae	1,200,000[25][26]		see Afrikaner. Awtho studies shaw that atween 30–40% o Afrikaners hae German ancestry, due tae intermarriage this figur is likely tae be hintle heicher.
Argentinae	600,000[27]		see German Argentine
The  CIS (mainly  Roushie an  Kazakhstan)	1,000,000	600,000[28]	see Germans in Roushie, Germans o Kazakhstan, Volga Germans, Caucasus Germans
Fraunce	1,000,000[29][30]		predominant ethnic group o Alsace an Moselle; 970,000 wi German dialects as mither tongue
Australie	812,000[31]		incl. 106,524 German-born. See German Australie
Italy (in Sooth Tyrol)	500,000[32][33]
Netherlands		179,000[34]
Unitit Kinrick	262,000[35] (This figure includes childer born tae Breetish Military personnel serving on Breetish Military bases in Germany)	92,000[36]	see German migration tae the Unitit Kinrick
Spain	255,000[37]		German immigrants
Swisserland		266,000[38]	see German immigration tae Swisserland
Poland	153,000[39]		mainly in Opole Voivodeship, see German minority in Poland.
Chile	800.000		see German Chilean
Peru	180,000[40]		see German Peruvian
Hungary	120,344[41]		see Germans o Hungary
Austrick		124,710[42]
Israel		100,000[43]
Venezuela	70,000		see German Venezuelan
Romanie	60,000[44]		see Germans o Romanie
Uruguay	46,000	6,000[45]
Czech Republic	40,000[46]		see Germans in the Czech Republic
Bolivie	40,000[47]		German speakin Mennonites. See Ethnic Germans in Bolivie
Belgium	38,366[48]		excludes German-speakin ethnic Belgians
Norawa	37,000[49]
Ecuador	33,000[50]
Namibie	30,000[51]		German Namibie
Dominican Republic	25,000[52]
Denmark	15,000–20,000[53]
Greece		15,498[54]
Ireland	11,797[55]
Slovakie	5000–10,000[56]
Philippines	6,400[57]		see German settlement in the Philippines
Serbie	3,900		see Germans o Serbie
Turkmenistan	2,700[58]
Tajikistan	2,700[58]
Jamaica	160[59]		Germans in Jamaica