Languages by Countries
According to Ethnologue, 7,151 languages are spoken in the world today. The distinction between a language and a dialect can be a contentious topic, though. Just ask someone on the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland if Scots is a language or a dialect of English!
There’s also a difference between a language and an official language. Official languages aren’t just used by people to speak to one another; they’re used for for official purposes in a country’s government, schools, courts, national media, and so forth.
Some places, like Japan, recognize only one official language (Japanese). Others, like India, have languages that are official in certain regions of the country (India has 23 of these). Zimbabwe holds the record for official national languages: 16.
But some countries may have hundreds of languages in use. The island nation of Papua New Guinea holds the record, with 840 spoken languages, many of which aren’t even related!
What Are the 21 Languages Most Spoken in the World?
The world’s top 21 most spoken languages are (in order):
- English (1.452 billion)
- Mandarin Chinese (1.118 billion)
- Hindi (602.2 million)
- Spanish (548.3 million)
- French (274.1 million)
- Modern Standard Arabic (274.0 million)
- Bengali (272.7 million)
- Russian (258.2 million)
- Portuguese (257.7 million)
- Urdu (231.3 million)
- Indonesian (199.0 million)
- Standard German (134.6 million)
- Japanese (125.4 million)
- Nigerian Pidgin (120.7 million)
- Marathi (99.1 million)
- Telugu (95.7 million)
- Turkish (88.1 million)
- Tamil (86.4 million)
- Yue Chinese (including Cantonese) (85.6 million)
- Vietnamese (85.3 million)
- Tagalog (82.3 million)
How Many Languages Does the Average Person Speak by Country?
That’s a complicated question!
Some countries have a lot of different languages! In these countries, people often speak the national language plus a local language. It may be more productive to look at multilingualism overall.
First, about 43 percent of the world’s population is bilingual, that is, they speak two languages fluently. That’s about 3.3 billion people around the world. A lot of those people live in Indonesia, where most people learn Indonesian, Javanese, and English. It’s estimated that 200 million Indonesians alone are bilingual.
But when it comes to polyglots—people who speak three or more languages—only three percent of the world can claim that title.
A few more places with high rates of bilingualism are:
- Brazil
- Australia
- Cameroon
- Mexico
- China
- The United States
- India
- Papua New Guinea
What Country Has 37 Languages?
Bolivia has 37 languages.
Languages Around the World
So, who speaks what and where? We’re glad you asked!
The list presented here comes from the CIA World Factbook, a widely recognized source of data on countries around the globe. The table below lists the official language of each country if there is one, as well as other languages spoken. In selected countries, the percent of the population that speaks each language is also given. This covers all of the major recognized languages in each country.
| Country | Recognized Languages |
|---|---|
Afghan Persian or Dari (official, lingua franca) 77%, Pashto (official) 48%, Uzbeki 11%, English 6%, Turkmani 3%, Urdu 3%, Pachaie 1%, Nuristani 1%, Arabic 1%, Balochi 1%, other <1% (2020 est.) | |
Albanian 98.8% (official - derived from Tosk dialect), Greek 0.5%, other 0.6% (including Macedonian, Romani, Vlach, Turkish, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian), unspecified 0.1% (2011 est.) | |
Arabic (official), French (lingua franca), Berber or Tamazight (official); dialects include Kabyle Berber (Taqbaylit), Shawiya Berber (Tacawit), Mzab Berber, Tuareg Berber (Tamahaq) | |
Catalan (official) 35.7%, Castilian 43.2%, Portuguese 17.1%, French 8.9%, English 1.8%, other 5% (2018 est.) | |
Portuguese 71.2% (official), Umbundu 23%, Kikongo 8.2%, Kimbundu 7.8%, Chokwe 6.5%, Nhaneca 3.4%, Nganguela 3.1%, Fiote 2.4%, Kwanhama 2.3%, Muhumbi 2.1%, Luvale 1%, other 3.6%; note - data represent most widely spoken languages; shares sum to more than 100% because some respondents gave more than one answer on the census (2014 est.) | |
English (official), Antiguan Creole | |
Spanish (official), Italian, English, German, French, indigenous (Mapudungun, Quechua) | |
Armenian (official) 97.9%, Kurmanji (spoken by Yezidi minority) 1%, other 1.1%; note - Russian is widely spoken (2011 est.) | |
English 72%, Mandarin 2.7%, Arabic 1.4%, Vietnamese 1.3%, Cantonese 1.2%, other 15.7%, unspecified 5.7% (2021 est.) | |
German (official nationwide) 88.6%, Turkish 2.3%, Serbian 2.2%, Croatian (official in Burgenland) 1.6%, other (includes Slovene, official in southern Carinthia, and Hungarian, official in Burgenland) 5.3% (2001 est.) | |
Azerbaijani (Azeri) (official) 92.5%, Russian 1.4%, Armenian 1.4%, other 4.7% (2009 est.) | |
English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants) | |
Arabic (official), English, Farsi, Urdu | |
Bangla 98.8% (official, also known as Bengali), other 1.2% (2011 est.) | |
English (official), Bajan (English-based creole language, widely spoken in informal settings) | |
Russian (official) 70.2%, Belarusian (official) 23.4%, other 3.1% (includes small Polish- and Ukrainian-speaking minorities), unspecified 3.3% (2009 est.) | |
Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1% | |
English 62.9% (official), Spanish 56.6%, Creole 44.6%, Maya 10.5%, German 3.2%, Garifuna 2.9%, other 1.8%, unknown 0.3%, none 0.2% (cannot speak) (2010 est.) | |
55 languages; French (official); Fon (a Gbe language) and Yoruba are the most important indigenous languages in the south; half a dozen regionally important languages in the north, including Bariba (once counted as a Gur language) and Fulfulde | |
Sharchhopka 28%, Dzongkha (official) 24%, Lhotshamkha 22%, other 26% (includes foreign languages) (2005 est.) | |
Spanish (official) 68.1%, Quechua (official) 17.2%, Aymara (official) 10.5%, Guarani (official) 0.6%, other 1.5%, unspecified 2.1%; note - Bolivia's 2009 constitution designates Spanish and all indigenous languages as official; 36 indigenous languages are specified, including a few that are extinct (2012 est.) | |
Bosnian (official) 52.9%, Serbian (official) 30.8%, Croatian (official) 14.6%, other 1.6%, no answer 0.2% (2013 est.) | |
Setswana 77.3%, Sekalanga 7.4%, Shekgalagadi 3.4%, English (official) 2.8%, Zezuru/Shona 2%, Sesarwa 1.7%, Sembukushu 1.6%, Ndebele 1%, other 2.8% (2011 est.) | |
Portuguese (official and most widely spoken language). Less common languages include Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages | |
Malay (Bahasa Melayu) (official), English, Chinese dialects | |
Bulgarian (official) 76.8%, Turkish 8.2%, Romani 3.8%, other 0.7%, unspecified 10.5% (2011 est.) | |
Mossi 52.9%, Fula 7.8%, Gourmantche 6.8%, Dyula 5.7%, Bissa 3.3%, Gurunsi 3.2%, French (official) 2.2%, Bwamu 2%, Dagara 2%, San 1.7%, Marka 1.6%, Bobo 1.5%, Senufo 1.5%, Lobi 1.2%, other 6.6% (2019 est.) | |
Kirundi only 29.7% (official); French only .3% (official); Swahili only .2%; English only .1% (official); Kirundi and French 8.4%; Kirundi, French, and English 2.4%, other language combinations 2%, unspecified 56.9% (2008 est.) Note: data represent languages read and written by people 10 years of age or older; spoken Kirundi is nearly universal | |
Khmer (official) 95.8%, minority languages 2.9%, Chinese 0.6%, Vietnamese 0.5%, other 0.2% (2019 est.) | |
24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official) | |
English (official) 58.7%, French (official) 22%, Punjabi 1.4%, Italian 1.3%, Spanish 1.3%, German 1.3%, Cantonese 1.2%, Tagalog 1.2%, Arabic 1.1%, other 10.5% (2011 est.) | |
Portuguese (official), Crioulo (a Portuguese-based Creole language with two main dialects spoken in Cabo Verde and in the Cabo Verdean diaspora worldwide) | |
French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), tribal languages | |
French (official), Arabic (official), Sara (in the south), more than 120 different languages and dialects | |
Spanish 99.5% (official), English 10.2%, Indigenous 1% (includes Mapudungun, Aymara, Quechua, Rapa Nui), other 2.3%, unspecified 0.2%; note - shares sum to more than 100% because some respondents gave more than one answer on the census (2012 est.) | |
Standard Chinese or Mandarin (official; Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry); note - Zhuang is official in Guangxi Zhuang, Yue is official in Guangdong, Mongolian is official in Nei Mongol, Uighur is official in Xinjiang Uygur, Kyrgyz is official in Xinjiang Uygur, and Tibetan is official in Xizang (Tibet) | |
Spanish (official) and 65 Amerindian languages | |
Arabic (official), French (official), Shikomoro (official; similar to Swahili) (Comorian) | |
French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba | |
French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba | |
Spanish (official), English | |
French (official), 60 native dialects of which Dioula is the most widely spoken | |
Croatian (official) 95.6%, Serbian 1.2%, other 3% (including Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and Albanian), unspecified 0.2% (2011 est.) | |
Spanish (official) | |
Greek (official) 80.9%, Turkish (official) 0.2%, English 4.1%, Romanian 2.9%, Russian 2.5%, Bulgarian 2.2%, Arabic 1.2%, Filipino 1.1%, other 4.3%, unspecified 0.6% (2011 est.) | |
Czech (official) 88.4%, Slovak 1.5%, other 2.6%, unspecified 7.2% | |
Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German (small minority) | |
French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar | |
English (official), French patois | |
Spanish (official) | |
Tetun Prasa 30.6%, Mambai 16.6%, Makasai 10.5%, Tetun Terik 6.1%, Baikenu 5.9%, Kemak 5.8%, Bunak 5.5%, Tokodede 4%, Fataluku 3.5%, Waima'a 1.8%, Galoli 1.4%, Naueti 1.4%, Idate 1.2%, Midiki 1.2%, other 4.5% (2015 est.) | |
Spanish (Castilian) 93% (official), Quechua 4.1%, other indigenous 0.7%, foreign 2.2%; note - (Quechua and Shuar are official languages of intercultural relations; other indigenous languages are in official use by indigenous peoples in the areas they inhabit) (2010 est.) | |
Arabic (official), Arabic, English, and French widely understood by educated classes | |
Spanish (official), Nawat (among some Amerindians) | |
Spanish (official) 67.6%, other (includes Fang, Bubi, Portuguese (official), French (official)) 32.4% (1994 census) | |
Tigrinya (official), Arabic (official), English (official), Tigre, Kunama, Afar, other Cushitic languages | |
Estonian (official) 68.5%, Russian 29.6%, Ukrainian 0.6%, other 1.2%, unspecified 0.1% (2011 est.) | |
English (official, used for government business), siSwati (official) | |
Oromo (official working language in the State of Oromiya) 33.8%, Amharic (official national language) 29.3%, Somali (official working language of the State of Sumale) 6.2%, Tigrigna (Tigrinya) (official working language of the State of Tigray) 5.9%, Sidamo 4%, Wolaytta 2.2%, Gurage 2%, Afar (official working language of the State of Afar) 1.7%, Hadiyya 1.7%, Gamo 1.5%, Gedeo 1.3%, Opuuo 1.2%, Kafa 1.1%, other 8.1%, English (major foreign language taught in schools), Arabic (2007 est.) | |
English (official), iTaukei (official), Fiji Hindi (official) | |
Finnish (official) 86.5%, Swedish (official) 5.2%, Russian 1.6%, other 6.7% (2021 est.) | |
French (official) 100%, declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish, Occitan, Picard) | |
French (official), Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi | |
English (official), Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous vernaculars | |
Georgian (official) 87.6%, Azeri 6.2%, Armenian 3.9%, Russian 1.2%, other 1%; note - Abkhaz is the official language in Abkhazia (2014 est.) | |
German (official) Note: Danish, Frisian, Sorbian, and Romani are official minority languages; Low German, Danish, North Frisian, Sater Frisian, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian, and Romani are recognized as regional languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages | |
Asante 16%, Ewe 14%, Fante 11.6%, Boron (Brong) 4.9%, Dagomba 4.4%, Dangme 4.2%, Dagarte (Dagaba) 3.9%, Kokomba 3.5%, Akyem 3.2%, Ga 3.1%, other 31.2% (2010 est.) | |
Greek (official) 99%, other (includes English and French) 1% | |
English (official), French patois | |
Spanish (official) 69.9%, Maya languages 29.7% (Q'eqchi' 8.3%, K'iche 7.8%, Mam 4.4%, Kaqchikel 3%, Q'anjob'al 1.2%, Poqomchi' 1%, other 4%), other 0.4% (includes Xinca and Garifuna); note - the 2003 Law of National Languages officially recognized 23 indigenous languages, including 21 Maya languages, Xinca, and Garifuna (2018 est.) | |
French (official), Pular, Maninka, Susu, other native languages. About 40 languages are spoken; each ethnic group has its own language. | |
Crioulo (lingua franca), Portuguese (official; largely used as a second or third language), Pular (a Fula language), Mandingo | |
English (official), Guyanese Creole, Amerindian languages (including Caribbean and Arawak languages), Indian languages (including Caribbean Hindustani, a dialect of Hindi), Chinese (2014 est.) | |
French (official), Creole (official) | |
Spanish (official), Amerindian dialects | |
Hungarian (official) 99.6%, English 16%, German 11.2%, Russian 1.6%, Romanian 1.3%, French 1.2%, other 4.2% (2011 est.) | |
Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German | |
Hindi 43.6%, Bengali 8%, Marathi 6.9%, Telugu 6.7%, Tamil 5.7%, Gujarati 4.6%, Urdu 4.2%, Kannada 3.6%, Odia 3.1%, Malayalam 2.9%, Punjabi 2.7%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.1%, other 5.6%; English is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication. There are 22 other officially recognized languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2011 est.) | |
Bahasa Indonesian (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects (of which the most widely spoken is Javanese) Note: more than 700 languages are used in Indonesia | |
Persian Farsi (official), Azeri and other Turkic dialects, Kurdish, Gilaki and Mazandarani, Luri, Balochi, Arabic | |
Arabic (official), Kurdish (official), Turkmen (a Turkish dialect), Syriac (Neo-Aramaic), and Armenian are official in areas where native speakers of these languages constitute a majority of the population | |
English (official, the language generally used), Irish (Gaelic or Gaeilge) (official, spoken by approximately 39.8% of the population as of 2016; mainly spoken in areas along Ireland's western coast known as gaeltachtai, which are officially recognized regions where Irish is the predominant language) | |
Hebrew (official), Arabic (special status under Israeli law), English (most commonly used foreign language) | |
Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German-speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area) | |
English, English patois | |
Japanese | |
Arabic (official), English (widely understood among upper and middle classes) | |
Kazakh (official, Qazaq) 83.1% (understand spoken language) and trilingual (Kazakh, Russian, English) 22.3% (2017 est.); Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 94.4% (understand spoken language) (2009 est.) | |
English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages | |
Gilbertese (taetae ni Kiribati) 97.5%, English (official), other 4.3% | |
Korean | |
Korean, English (widely taught in elementary, junior high, and high school) | |
Albanian (official) 94.5%, Bosnian 1.7%, Serbian (official) 1.6%, Turkish 1.1%, other 0.9% (includes Romani), unspecified 0.1% (2011 est.) | |
Arabic (official), English widely spoken | |
Kyrgyz (official) 71.4%, Uzbek 14.4%, Russian (official) 9%, other 5.2% (2009 est.) | |
Lao (official), French, English, various ethnic languages | |
Latvian (official) 56.3%, Russian 33.8%, other 0.6% (includes Polish, Ukrainian, and Belarusian), unspecified 9.4% (2011 est.) | |
Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian | |
Sesotho (official) (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa | |
English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages few of which can be written or used in correspondence | |
Arabic (official), Italian, English (all widely understood in the major cities); Berber (Nafusi, Ghadamis, Suknah, Awjilah, Tamasheq) | |
German 91.5% (official) (Alemannic is the main dialect), Italian 1.5%, Turkish 1.3%, Portuguese 1.1%, other 4.6% (2015 est.) | |
Lithuanian (official) 85.3%, Russian 6.8%, Polish 5.1%, other 1.1%, two mother tongues 1.7% (2021 est.) | |
Luxembourgish (official administrative and judicial language and national language (spoken vernacular)) 55.8%, Portuguese 15.7%, French (official administrative, judicial, and legislative language) 12.1%, German (official administrative and judicial language) 3.1%, Italian 2.9%, English 2.1%, other 8.4% (2011 est.) | |
Malagasy (official) 99.9%, French (official) 23.6%, English 8.2%, other 0.6% (2018 est.) | |
English (official), Chewa (common), Lambya, Lomwe, Ngoni, Nkhonde, Nyakyusa, Nyanja, Sena, Tonga, Tumbuka, Yao | |
Bahasa Malaysia (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai Note: Malaysia has 134 living languages - 112 indigenous languages and 22 non-indigenous languages; in East Malaysia, there are several indigenous languages; the most widely spoken are Iban and Kadazan | |
Dhivehi (official, dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English (spoken by most government officials) | |
French (official), Bambara 46.3%, Peuhl/Foulfoulbe 9.4%, Dogon 7.2%, Maraka/Soninke 6.4%, Malinke 5.6%, Sonrhai/Djerma 5.6%, Minianka 4.3%, Tamacheq 3.5%, Senoufo 2.6%, Bobo 2.1%, unspecified 0.7%, other 6.3% (2009 est.) | |
Maltese (official) 90.1%, English (official) 6%, multilingual 3%, other 0.9% (2005 est.) | |
Marshallese (official) 98.2%, other languages 1.8% (1999 census) | |
Arabic (official and national), Pular, Soninke, Wolof (all national languages), French | |
Creole 86.5%, Bhojpuri 5.3%, French 4.1%, two languages 1.4%, other 2.6% (includes English, the official language of the National Assembly, which is spoken by less than 1% of the population), unspecified 0.1% (2011 est.) | |
Spanish only 92.7%, Spanish and indigenous languages 5.7%, indigenous only 0.8%, unspecified 0.8% (2005) Note: indigenous languages include various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional languages | |
English (official and common language), Chuukese, Korean, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Ulithian, Woleaian, Nukuoro, Kapingamarangi | |
Moldovan/Romanian 80.2% (official) (56.7% identify their mother tongue as Moldovan, which is virtually the same as Romanian; 23.5% identify Romanian as their mother tongue), Russian 9.7%, Gagauz 4.2% (a Turkish language), Ukrainian 3.9%, Bulgarian 1.5%, Romani 0.3%, other 0.2% (2014 est.) | |
French (official), English, Italian, Monegasque | |
Mongolian 90% (official) (Khalkha dialect is predominant), Turkic, Russian (1999) | |
Serbian 42.9%, Montenegrin (official) 37%, Bosnian 5.3%, Albanian 5.3%, Serbo-Croat 2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 4% (2011 est.) | |
Arabic (official), Berber languages (Tamazight (official), Tachelhit, Tarifit), French (often the language of business, government, and diplomacy) | |
Makhuwa 26.1%, Portuguese (official) 16.6%, Tsonga 8.6%, Nyanja 8.1, Sena 7.1%, Lomwe 7.1%, Chuwabo 4.7%, Ndau 3.8%, Tswa 3.8%, other Mozambican languages 11.8%, other 0.5%, unspecified 1.8% (2017 est.) | |
Burmese, minority languages | |
Namibia has 13 recognized national languages, including 10 indigenous African languages and 3 European languages. Oshiwambo languages 49.7%, Nama/Damara 11%, Kavango languages 10.4%, Afrikaans 9.4% (also a common language), Herero languages 9.2%, Zambezi languages 4.9%, English (official) 2.3%, other African languages 1.5%, other European languages .7%, other 1% (2016 est.) | |
Nauruan 93% (official, a distinct Pacific Island language), English 2% (widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes), other 5% (includes I-Kiribati 2% and Chinese 2%) (2011 est.) | |
Nepali (official) 44.6%, Maithali 11.7%, Bhojpuri 6%, Tharu 5.8%, Tamang 5.1%, Newar 3.2%, Bajjika 3%, Magar 3%, Doteli 3%, Urdu 2.6%, Avadhi 1.9%, Limbu 1.3%, Gurung 1.2%, Baitadeli 1%, other 6.4%, unspecified 0.2% (2011 est.) | |
Dutch (official) Note: Frisian is an official language in Fryslan province; Frisian, Low Saxon, Limburgish, Romani, and Yiddish have protected status under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages; Dutch is the official language of the three special municipalities of the Caribbean Netherlands; English is a recognized regional language on Sint Eustatius and Saba; Papiamento is a recognized regional language on Bonaire | |
English (de facto official) 95.4%, Maori (de jure official) 4%, Samoan 2.2%, Northern Chinese 2%, Hindi 1.5%, French 1.2%, Yue 1.1%, New Zealand Sign Language (de jure official) .5%, other or not stated 17.2% (2018 est.) | |
Spanish (official) 95.3%, Miskito 2.2%, Mestizo of the Caribbean coast 2%, other 0.5% (2005 est.) | |
French (official), Hausa, Djerma | |
English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani, over 500 additional indigenous languages | |
Macedonian (official) 61.4%, Albanian (official) 24.3%, Turkish 3.4%, Romani 1.7%, other (includes Aromanian (Vlach) and Bosnian) 2%, persons for whom data were taken from administrative sources and no language data was available 7.2% (2021 est.) | |
Bokmal Norwegian (official), Nynorsk Norwegian (official), small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities | |
Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Swahili, Urdu, Indian dialects | |
Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Saraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashto (alternate name, Pashtu) 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official; lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski, and other 8% | |
Palauan (official on most islands) 65.2%, other Micronesian 1.9%, English (official) 19.1%, Filipino 9.9%, Chinese 1.2%, other 2.8% (2015 est.) | |
Fusha (official, often used by government and legal business), Palestinian Arabic, Shami Arabic, Hebrew | |
Spanish (official), indigenous languages (including Ngabere (or Guaymi), Buglere, Kuna, Embera, Wounaan, Naso (or Teribe), and Bri Bri), Panamanian English Creole (similar to Jamaican English Creole; a mixture of English and Spanish with elements of Ngabere; also known as Guari Guari and Colon Creole), English, Chinese (Yue and Hakka), Arabic, French Creole, other (Yiddish, Hebrew, Korean, Japanese) | |
Tok Pisin (official), English (official), Hiri Motu (official), some 839 indigenous languages spoken (about 12% of the world's total). | |
Spanish (official) and Guarani (official) 46.3%, only Guarani 34%, only Spanish 15.2%, other (includes Portuguese, German, other indigenous languages) 4.1% , no response .4% (2012 est.) | |
Spanish (official) 82.9%, Quechua (official) 13.6%, Aymara (official) 1.6%, Ashaninka 0.3%, other native languages (includes a large number of minor Amazonian languages) 0.8%, other (includes foreign languages and sign language) 0.2%, none .1%, unspecified .7% (2017 est.) | |
Unspecified Filipino (official; based on Tagalog) and English (official); eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinan | |
Polish (official) 98.2%, Silesian 1.4%, other 1.1%, unspecified 1.3% (2011 est.) Recognized minority languages include Kashub, Czech, Hebrew, Yiddish, Belarusian, Lithuanian, German, Armenian, Russian, Slovak, Ukrainian,Karaim, Lemko, Romani, and Tatar. | |
Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official, but locally used) | |
Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language | |
Romanian (official) 85.4%, Hungarian 6.3%, Romani 1.2%, other 1%, unspecified 6.1% (2011 est.) | |
Russian (official) 85.7%, Tatar 3.2%, Chechen 1%, other 10.1% (2010 est.) | |
Kinyarwanda (official, universal Bantu vernacular) 93.2%, French (official) <.1, English (official) <.1, Swahili/Kiswahili (official, used in commercial centers) <.1, more than one language, other 6.3%, unspecified 0.3% (2002 est.) | |
English (official), Saint Kitts Creole | |
English (official), French patois | |
English, Vincentian Creole English, French patois | |
Samoan (Polynesian) (official) 91.1%, Somoan/English 6.7%, English (official) 0.5%, other 0.2%, unspecified 1.6% (2006 est.) | |
Italian | |
Portuguese 98.4% (official), Forro 36.2%, Cabo Verdian 8.5%, French 6.8%, Angolar 6.6%, English 4.9%, Lunguie 1%, other (including sign language) 2.4% (2012 est.) | |
Arabic (official) | |
French (official), Wolof, Pular, Jola, Mandinka, Serer, Soninke | |
Serbian (official) 88.1%, Hungarian 3.4%, Bosnian 1.9%, Romani 1.4%, other 3.4%, undeclared or unknown 1.8% (2011 est.) | |
Seychellois Creole (official) 89.1%, English (official) 5.1%, French (official) 0.7%, other 3.8%, unspecified 1.4% (2010 est.) | |
English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%) | |
English (official) 48.3%, Mandarin (official) 29.9%, other Chinese dialects (includes Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka) 8.7%, Malay (official) 9.2%, Tamil (official) 2.5%, other 1.4%; note - data represent language most frequently spoken at home (2020 est.) | |
Slovak (official) 81.8%, Hungarian 8.5%, Roma 1.8%, other 2.2%, unspecified 5.7% (2021 est.) | |
Slovene (official) 91.1%, Serbo-Croatian 4.5%, other or unspecified 4.4%, Italian (official, only in municipalities where Italian national communities reside), Hungarian (official, only in municipalities where Hungarian national communities reside) (2002 census) | |
Melanesian pidgin (in much of the country is lingua franca), English (official but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population), 120 indigenous languages | |
Somali (official, according to the 2012 Transitional Federal Charter), Arabic (official, according to the 2012 Transitional Federal Charter), Italian, English | |
isiZulu (official) 25.3%, isiXhosa (official) 14.8%, Afrikaans (official) 12.2%, Sepedi (official) 10.1%, Setswana (official) 9.1%, English (official) 8.1%, Sesotho (official) 7.9%, Xitsonga (official) 3.6%, siSwati (official) 2.8%, Tshivenda (official) 2.5%, isiNdebele (official) 1.6%, other (includes Khoi, Nama, and San languages) 2%; note - data represent language spoken most often at home (2018 est.) | |
English (official), Arabic (includes Juba and Sudanese variants), regional languages include Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Zande, Shilluk | |
Castilian Spanish (official nationwide) 74%, Catalan (official in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Community 17%, Galician (official in Galicia) 7%, Basque (official in the Basque Country and in the Basque-speaking area of Navarre) 2%, Aranese (official in the northwest corner of Catalonia (Vall d'Aran). Aragonese, Aranese Asturian, Basque, Calo, Catalan, Galician, and Valencian are recognized as regional languages. | |
Sinhala (official and national language) 87%, Tamil (official and national language) 28.5%, English 23.8% (2012 est.) | |
Arabic (official), English (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, Fur | |
Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is the native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese | |
Swedish (official) | |
German (or Swiss German) (official) 62.1%, French (official) 22.8%, Italian (official) 8%, English 5.7%, Portuguese 3.5%, Albanian 3.3%, Serbo-Croatian 2.3%, Spanish 2.3%, Romansh (official) 0.5%, other 7.9%; note - German, French, Italian, and Romansh are all national and official languages; shares sum to more than 100% because respondents could indicate more than one main language (2019 est.) | |
Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, French, English | |
Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min Nan), Hakka dialects, approximately 16 indigenous languages | |
Tajik (official) 84.4%, Uzbek 11.9%, Kyrgyz .8%, Russian .5%, other 2.4% (2010 est.) | |
Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguja (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages | |
Thai (official) only 90.7%, Thai and other languages 6.4%, only other languages 2.9% (includes Malay, Burmese) (2010 est.) | |
French (official, the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north) | |
Tongan and English 76.8%, Tongan, English, and other language 10.6%, Tongan only (official) 8.7%, English only (official) 0.7%, other 1.7%, none 2.2% (2016 est.) | |
English (official), Trinidadian Creole English, Tobagonian Creole English, Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Trinidadian Creole French, Spanish, Chinese | |
Arabic (official, one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce), Berber (Tamazight) | |
Turkish (official), Kurdish, other minority languages | |
Turkmen (official) 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% | |
Tuvaluan (official), English (official), Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui) | |
English (official language, taught in schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages and the language used most often in the capital), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili (official), Arabic | |
Ukrainian (official) 67.5%, Russian (regional language) 29.6%, other (includes small Crimean Tatar-, Moldovan/Romanian-, and Hungarian-speaking minorities) 2.9% (2001 est.) | |
Arabic (official), English, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Pashto, Tagalog, Persian | |
English Note: the following are recognized regional languages: Scots (about 30% of the population of Scotland), Scottish Gaelic (about 60,000 speakers in Scotland), Welsh (about 20% of the population of Wales), Irish (about 10% of the population of Northern Ireland), Cornish (some 2,000 to 3,000 people in Cornwall) (2012 est.) | |
English only 78.2%, Spanish 13.4%, Chinese 1.1%, other 7.3% (2017 est.) Note: data represent the language spoken at home; the US has no official national language, but English has acquired official status in 32 of the 50 states; Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii, and 20 indigenous languages are official in Alaska | |
Spanish (official), Portunol, or Brazilero | |
Uzbek (official) 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% | |
local languages (more than 100) 63.2%, Bislama (official; creole) 33.7%, English (official) 2%, French (official) 0.6%, other 0.5% (2009 est.) | |
Italian, Latin, French, various other languages | |
Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects | |
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer, mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) | |
Standard Arabic, Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Berber, Spanish, French | |
Arabic (official); Socotri is widely used on Socotra Island and Archipelago; Mahri is widely spoken in eastern Yemen. | |
Bemba 33.4%, Nyanja 14.7%, Tonga 11.4%, Lozi 5.5%, Chewa 4.5%, Nsenga 2.9%, Tumbuka 2.5%, Lunda (North Western) 1.9%, Kaonde 1.8%, Lala 1.8%, Lamba 1.8%, English (official) 1.7%, Luvale 1.5%, Mambwe 1.3%, Namwanga 1.2%, Lenje 1.1%, Bisa 1%, other 9.7%, unspecified 0.2% (2010 est.) | |
Shona (official; most widely spoken), Ndebele (official, second most widely spoken), English (official; traditionally used for official business), 13 minority languages (official; includes Chewa, Chibarwe, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Shangani, sign language, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda, and Xhosa) |
The (Official) List of Languages
Africa has an astounding amount of linguistic diversity. The Afro-Asiatic branch of languages alone has over 300 different languages!
Would you like to learn more about the languages of Africa? Check out our African Languages resource page!
