|
Top 30 languages of the world
Language statistics & facts
| Top 30 languages | 20
countries with the most languages
Language families: By speakers
- By languages | Languages
in the United States
There are approximately 6900 languages currently spoken around the
world, the majority of which have only a small number of speakers.
About 4 billion of the earth's 6.5 billion people, or over 60% of
the earth's population, speak one of the following 30 languages as
their native tongue.
Languages are ordered in the table below by numbers of native speakers.
Numbers of second-language speakers are given where known. Second
language speakers are those whose native language is typically a minority
language of the country in which they live and who learn the second
language because it is the official national language of the country
where they reside.
Top 30 Languages by Number of Native Speakers
Data source: Ethnologue: Languages
of the World, 15th ed. (2005) & Wikipedia.org.
| |
Language |
approximate # of speakers |
|
Where is it spoken as an official language? |
| 1. |
Mandarin Chinese |
NATIVE: 873 million
2nd: 178 million
TOTAL: 1.051 billion |
|
OFFICIAL: People's Republic of China, Republic of China, Singapore |
| 2. |
Hindi |
NATIVE: 370 million
2nd:120 million
TOTAL: 490 million |
|
OFFICIAL: India, Fiji |
| 3. |
Spanish |
NATIVE: 350 million
2nd: 70 million
TOTAL: 420 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea,
Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,
Spain, United States (New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela |
| 4. |
English |
NATIVE: 340 million
TOTAL: 510 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Bangladesh,
Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Dominica,
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Fiji, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana,
Hong Kong (People's Republic of China), India, Ireland, Jamaica,
Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Maldives, Malta,
Marshall Islands, Maritius, Micronesia, Namibia, Nauru, New
Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines,
Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevs, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore,
Solomon Islands, Somolia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland,
Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, United
Kingdom, United States, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe. |
| 5. |
Arabic |
NATIVE: 206 million
2nd: 24 million
TOTAL: 230 million
[World Almanac est. total 255 million] |
|
OFFICIAL: Modern Standard Arabic: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad,
Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Palestinian Territories,
Quatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United
Arab Emirates, Western Sahara, Yemen. | Hasaniya Arabic: Mauritania,
Senegal
NATIONAL: Mali
Note: These figures combine all the varieties
of Arabic. Some data sources, e.g. CIA World Fact Book, World
Almanac, Ethnologue, treat these varieties as separate languages.
|
| 6. |
Portuguese |
NATIVE: 203 million
2nd: 10 million
TOTAL: 213 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau,
Macau (People's Republic of China), Mozambique, Portugal, São
Tomé e Príncipe. |
| 7. |
Bengali |
NATIVE: 196 million
TOTAL: 215 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Bangladesh, India (Tripura, West Bengal) |
| 8. |
Russian |
NATIVE: 145 million
2nd: 110 million
TOTAL: 255 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Abkhazia (part of Georgia), Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyyrgyzstan, Russia, Transnistria (part of Moldova). |
| 9. |
Japanese |
NATIVE: 126 million
2nd: 1 million
TOTAL: 127 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Japan, Palau |
| 10. |
German |
NATIVE: 101 million
2nd: 128 million
TOTAL: 229 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy (South Tyrol),
Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Siwtzerland |
| |
Language |
# of speakers |
|
Where is it spoken as an official language? |
| 11. |
Panjabi |
Western: 60 million
Eastern: 28 million
TOTAL: 88 million |
|
OFFICIAL: India (Punjab)
NATIONAL: Pakistan |
| 12. |
Javanese |
76 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Indonesia (esp. Java) |
| 13. |
Korean |
71 million |
|
OFFICIAL: North Korea, South Korea |
| 14. |
Vietnamese |
NATIVE: 70 million
2nd: 16 million
TOTAL: 86 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Vietnam |
| 15. |
Telugu |
NATIVE: 70 million
2nd: 5 million
TOTAL: 75 million |
|
OFFICIAL: India (Andhra Pradesh) |
| 16. |
Marathi |
NATIVE: 68 million
2nd: 3 million
TOTAL: 71 million |
|
OFFICIAL: India (Daman and Diu, Goa, Maharashtra) |
| 17. |
Tamil |
NATIVE: 68 million
2nd: 9 million
TOTAL: 77 million |
|
OFFICIAL: India (Tamil Nadu), Singapore, Sri Lanka |
| 18. |
French |
NATIVE: 67 million
2nd: 63 million
TOTAL: 130 million |
|
OFFICIAL or NATIONAL: Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville,
Congo-Kinshasa, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea,
France, French Polynesia, Gabon, Guernsey, Guinea, Haiti, India
(Karikal, Pondicherry), Italy, Jersey, Lebanon, Luxembourg,
Madagascar, Mali, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Monaco, New
Caledonia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland,
Togo, United States (Louisiana), Vanuatu. |
| 19. |
Urdu |
NATIVE: 61 million
2nd: 43 million
TOTAL: 104 million |
|
OFFICIAL: India (Jammu and Kashmir), Pakistan. |
| 20. |
Italian |
61 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Croatia (Istria Country), Italy, San Marino, Slovenia,
Switzerland. |
| |
Language |
# of speakers |
|
Where is it spoken as an official language? |
| 21. |
Turkish |
NATIVE: 60 million
2nd: 15 million
TOTAL: 75 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Bulgaria (Kurdzhali Province and areas of South
and East Bulgaria), Cyprus, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,
Turkey |
| 22. |
Persian |
54 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan. |
| 23. |
Gujarati |
46 million |
|
OFFICIAL: India (Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar
Haveli). |
| 24. |
Polish |
46 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Poland |
| 25. |
Ukrainian |
39 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Ukraine, Transnistria (part of Moldova). |
| 26. |
Malayalam |
37 million |
|
OFFICIAL: India (Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mahe). |
| 27. |
Kannada |
NATIVE: 35 million
2nd: 9 million
TOTAL: 44 million |
|
OFFICIAL: India (Karnataka). |
| 28. |
Oriya |
32 million |
|
OFFICIAL: India (Orissa). |
| 29. |
Burmese |
NATIVE: 32 million
2nd: 10 million
TOTAL: 42 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Myanmar. |
| 30. |
Thai |
NATIVE: 20 million
2nd: 40 million
TOTAL: 60 million |
|
OFFICIAL: Thailand. |
Language statistics & facts
| Top 30 languages | 20
countries with the most languages
Language families: By speakers
- By languages | Languages
in the United States
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