English is the most frequently taught foreign language in the world.^[60][61] Most people learning English do so for practical reasons, as opposed to ideological reasons.^[127] In EU countries, English is the most widely spoken foreign language in 19 of the 25 member states where it is not an official language (that is, the countries other than Ireland and Malta). In a 2012 official Eurobarometer poll (conducted when the UK was still a member of the EU),