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 |
| 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. |
| 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. |
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