From November 2006 to March 2007 the Japan Foundation conducted a survey on overseas educational institutions providing Japanese language education. An outline of the results is now available, pending a more detailed report.

The outline shows that 2.98 million people in 133 countries/districts are studying the Japanese language. The number of learners has increased by 26.4% over the last three years, and Japanese is now being taught in six new countries. While 90% of learners are in Asia and Oceania, there are over 61,000 in Western Europe. 60% of learners overall belong to primary and secondary educational institutions.

Reasons for studying Japanese vary, with the main three being 'to gain knowledge about Japanese culture', 'to become able to communicate in Japanese', and 'interest in the Japanese language itself'.

70% of Japanese teachers worldwide are non-native speakers.

Click 'download attachment' to read the outline in full.