The 30 Languages Most Spoken In The World

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.


1.
Mandarin Chinese
NATIVE: 873 million2nd: 178 millionTOTAL: 1.051 billion.

OFFICIAL: People's Republic of China, Republic of China, Singapore.

2.
Hindi
NATIVE: 370 million2nd:120 millionTOTAL: 490 million.

OFFICIAL: India, Fiji.

3.
Spanish
NATIVE: 350 million2nd: 70 millionTOTAL: 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 millionTOTAL: 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 million2nd: 24 millionTOTAL: 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, SenegalNATIONAL: 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 million2nd: 10 millionTOTAL: 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 millionTOTAL: 215 million.

OFFICIAL: Bangladesh, India (Tripura, West Bengal).

8.
Russian
NATIVE: 145 million2nd: 110 millionTOTAL: 255 million.

OFFICIAL: Abkhazia (part of Georgia), Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyyrgyzstan, Russia, Transnistria (part of Moldova).

9.
Japanese
NATIVE: 126 million2nd: 1 millionTOTAL: 127 million.

OFFICIAL: Japan, Palau.

10.
German
NATIVE: 101 million2nd: 128 millionTOTAL: 229 million.

OFFICIAL: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy (South Tyrol), Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Siwtzerland.

11.
Panjabi
Western: 60 millionEastern: 28 millionTOTAL: 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 million2nd: 16 millionTOTAL: 86 million.

OFFICIAL: Vietnam.

15.
Telugu
NATIVE: 70 million2nd: 5 millionTOTAL: 75 million.

OFFICIAL: India (Andhra Pradesh).

16.
Marathi
NATIVE: 68 million2nd: 3 millionTOTAL: 71 million.

OFFICIAL: India (Daman and Diu, Goa, Maharashtra).

17.
Tamil
NATIVE: 68 million2nd: 9 millionTOTAL: 77 million.

OFFICIAL: India (Tamil Nadu), Singapore, Sri Lanka.

18.
French
NATIVE: 67 million2nd: 63 millionTOTAL: 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 million2nd: 43 millionTOTAL: 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 million2nd: 15 millionTOTAL: 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 million2nd: 9 millionTOTAL: 44 million.

OFFICIAL: India (Karnataka).

28.
Oriya
32 million.

OFFICIAL: India (Orissa).

29.
Burmese
NATIVE: 32 million2nd: 10 millionTOTAL: 42 million.

OFFICIAL: Myanmar.

30.
Thai
NATIVE: 20 million2nd: 40 millionTOTAL: 60 million.

OFFICIAL: Thailand.