This article details the geographical distribution of speakers of the German language, regardless of the legislative status within the countries where it is spoken.

In addition to the Germanosphere (German: Deutscher Sprachraum) in Europe, German-speaking minorities are present in many other countries and on all six inhabited continents.

Since 2004, there has been an annual informal meeting of the heads of state of German-speaking countries including the Presidents of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein.

The term is sometimes extended to D-A-CH-Li, DACHL (both of which can mean small roof in different dialects), or DACH+ to include Liechtenstein.

[12] In the early modern period, German varieties were a lingua franca of Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe (Hanseatic League).

[13] German is a recognised minority language in Czechia, Hungary, Italy (Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol),[14] Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia.

[2] Today, German is used in myriad spheres, especially business and tourism, as well as churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK)), schools (e.g., the Deutsche Höhere Privatschule Windhoek), literature (German-Namibian authors include Giselher W. Hoffmann [de]), radio (the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation produces radio programs in German), and music (e.g., artist EES).

Here, one of the largest communities are the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German, who are concentrated in and around Wartburg and to a lesser extent around Winterton.

[citation needed] There are German-speaking minorities in almost every Latin American country, including Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

[citation needed] The majority of German emigrants to Latin America went especially to Brazil, but also to Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.

This change was aided by Jewish emigration groups such as the Hilfsverein deutschsprechender Juden (later to become Asociación Filantrópica Israelita) which was based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The main cause of this decrease is the integration of communities, often originally sheltered, into the dominant society, and as well as the invariable pull of societal assimilation which confronts all immigrant groups.

The first wave of Germans immigrated from northern Prussia under the reign of Princess Carlota during the 2nd French Mexican empire.

Most German-speaking or self identifying German-Mexicans today are descended from these two events as well as around 20,000 ethnic Germans from Russia and around 100,000 Mennonites from Canada.

The population density of the Southern Cone countries is relatively low (Brazil has 17 inhabitants/km2, Chile has 15/km2, Argentina and Paraguay both have 10/km2, data from 1993), but there are major differences in the areas settled by Germans: Buenos Aires Province, which was settled by Germans, has a far higher population density than that of the Chaco in northern Paraguay (with 1 inhabitant/km2).

[28] Regional concentrations can be found in the provinces of Entre Ríos and Buenos Aires (with around 500,000 to 600,000) as well as Misiones and in the general area of the Chaco and the Pampas.

Although Riograndenser Hunsrückisch has long been the most widely spoken German dialect in southern Brazil, like all other minority languages in the region, it is experiencing very strong decline – especially in the last three or four decades.

[33] In Rio Grande do Sul, the Riograndenser Hunsrückisch German is an integral part of the State's historical and cultural heritage.

Germans came to South America in World War I and II, settling first in Colombia because of its wealth in natural resources as well as weather conditions conducive to agriculture.

German immigrants built the Bavaria, Pilsen, and Club Soda Klausen factories in Cali, Barranquilla, Pereira, Medellin, and other cities.

This German-Costa Rican community is one of the most important and biggest collectivities of German speakers in Central America and the Caribbean, and has a lot of cultural and social institutions, churches, farms, business companies and schools.

The Colegio Humboldt campuses in Mexico are the biggest German language K-12 schools in the Americas, with each of the 3 branches graduating over 2,000 students per year.

Post-Second World War immigrants managed to preserve a fluency in the German language in their respective neighborhoods and sections.

In the first half of the 20th century, over a million German-Canadians made the language Canada's third most spoken after French and English.

[39] German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region of the country, such as New Ulm and many other towns in Minnesota; Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), Munich, Karlsruhe, and Strasburg (named after a town near Odesa in Ukraine)[40] in North Dakota; New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Weimar, and Muenster in Texas; Corn (formerly Korn), Kiefer and Berlin in Oklahoma; and Kiel, Schleswig, Berlin, and Germantown in Wisconsin.

[42] German remained an important language in churches, schools, newspapers, and even the administration of the United States Brewers' Association[43] through the early 20th century, but was severely repressed during World War I.

[44][citation needed] A significant group of German Pietists in Iowa formed the Amana Colonies and continue to practice speaking their heritage language.

[citation needed] Australians of German ancestry constitute the fourth largest ethnic group in Australia, numbering around 1,026,138.

[citation needed] German immigrants played a significant role in settling the states of Queensland and South Australia.

Minorities exist in the countries of Latin America and the former Soviet Union, as well as Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Namibia, Poland, Romania, South Africa, and the United States.