"All or nearly all pupils at primary level in 2015 attended foreign language classes in Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta and Austria (all 100%), Croatia (99.9%), Spain (99.4%), and France (99.2%), as well as in Italy (98.6%), Romania (98.3%) and Poland (97.6%). At EU level, this share stood at 84.3%," Eurostat said.
"In contrast, less than half of primary school pupils were studying a foreign language in 2015 in Portugal (35.4%), Belgium (36.7%), the Netherlands (42.9%) and Slovenia (49.8%)."
Every fifth Croatian pupil learns two foreign languages at school
In some member states, primary school students were studying two or more foreign languages, particularly in Luxembourg (83.7%), followed at a distance by Estonia (30.7%) and Greece (28.9%). Croatia and Iceland shared the fourth place at 19.7%.
English clearly dominant
"English is the most common foreign language studied at primary level in every EU Member State, except Belgium and Luxembourg, both multilingual countries.
"The second most common foreign language gives a more varied picture. German, which is the most learnt foreign language in Luxembourg, was the second main foreign language studied by primary school pupils in eight other Member States, with the highest shares of learners recorded in Croatia (20.9%) and Hungary (20.2%). French occupied this position on the EU level and in seven Member States, with the largest proportions being notably recorded in Luxembourg (83.5%), Greece (15.8%) and Romania (15.2%)," according to Eurostat.
Statistics on a visiting 'cultural site' lately
Eurostat says that 43.4% of the EU population aged 16 and over visited a cultural site such as a historical monument, a museum, an art gallery or an archaeological site at least once in 2015, with highest percentages in the north of the EU, lowest in southern Member States. Thus, in Croatia a mere 19.2% of the population aged 16 and over visited a cultural site in 2015.
Across the EU Member States, two-thirds of people aged 16 and over in Sweden (67.2%) visited a cultural site in 2015, and about 6 in 10 in Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland (all 61.4%). These Member States were followed by Luxembourg (55.6%), the United Kingdom (54.7%), France (53.7%) and the Czech Republic (52.1%).
At the opposite end of the scale, fewer than a quarter of the population visited a historical monument, a museum, an art gallery or an archaeological site in Bulgaria (14.6%), Greece (16.9%), Romania (18.3%), Croatia (19.2%) and Cyprus (20.5%), followed by Italy (26.1%) and Malta (26.4%).
This participation rate declines with age, with the highest levels recorded for the age groups of 25-34 (48.5%) and 16-24 years (47.5%).