The West Frisians or, more precisely, the Westlauwers Frisians (Dutch: Friezen or Westerlauwerse Friezen, West Frisian: Friezen or Westerlauwerske Friezen), are those Frisian peoples in that part of Frisia administered by the Netherlands: the Province of Friesland, which is bounded in the west by the IJsselmeer and in the east by the River Lauwers (hence the name Westlauwers, i.e., "west of the Lauwers").

Most speakers of West Frisian live in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. Friesland has 643,000 inhabitants (2005), of whom 94% can understand spoken West Frisian, 74% can speak West Frisian, 75% can read West Frisian, and 27% can write it.
For over half of the inhabitants of the province of Friesland, 55% (c. 354,000 people), West Frisian is the native language. In the central east, West Frisian speakers spill over the province border, …