The bar charts present the percentage of 14- to 16- year-old students studying a modern foreign language by gender, as well as the proportions learning french, german and spanish languages in 1984 and 2007.
Overall, the proportions of both girls and boys studying a modern foreign language declined over the period, although girls consistently accounted for a higher percentage than boys. Regarding the three languages, French remained by far the most popular despite a substantial decline, whereas Spanish experienced significant growth, while German showed stability.
The percentage of girls studying a modern foreign language decreased from 65% to just over 50%, although they remained the largest group. In comparison, the figure for boys experienced a slight decline, falling from approximately 48% to 40%.
Despite falling from 65% to 50%, French remained by far the most widely studied language. In contrast, the proportion of students learning German was unchanged at 15%, while Spanish recorded the most significant growth, tripling from 5% to 20% and overtaking German to rank second by 2007.