Most Spoken Languages

Countries where English is an official language or primary language:

• Australia
• New Zealand
• United Kingdom (UK)
• United States of America (USA)
• Antigua & Barbuda
• Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Cook Islands
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Jamaica
• Liberia
• Papua New Guinea
• Saint Kitts & Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent & Grenadines
• Sierra Leone
• Trinidad & Tobago.

Countries where English is spoken as a minority language:

• Botswana
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Canada (not in Quebec, Nunavut and northern New Brunswick)
• Eswatini
• Fiji (used as a “lingua franca” trade language)
• Gambia
• Ghana (used as a “lingua franca” trade language)
• India (used officially and for education)
• Ireland (co-official language with Irish)
• Kenya (used in business and education)
• Kiribati
• Lesotho
• Malawi
• Malta (used officially and for education and business)
• Marshall Islands
• Mauritius
• Micronesia
• Namibia (used as a “lingua franca” trade language)
• Nauru (minority language but widely spoken)
• Nigeria (used as a “lingua franca” trade language)
• Niue
• Pakistan (minority language but used officially and for education)
• Palau
• Philippines (co-official language with Filipi)
• Rwanda (used officially and for education)
• Samoa
• Seychelles
• Singapore (used as a “lingua franca” trade language, widely spoken, used in education)
• Solomon Islands
• South Africa (used as a “lingua franca” for trade and used officially in education)
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Tanzania
• Tonga
• Tuvalu
• Uganda (used officially for education)
• Vanuatu
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe (used as a “lingua franca” trade language).

Tops the list of the most spoken languages in the world.

• China (as Putonghua)
• Taiwan (as Guoyu)
• Singapore (as Huayu)

Countries where Mandarin Chinese is spoken as a minority language:

• Myanmar (Wa State)
• United States of America (Minority language. Chinese is the third most spoken language in the USA).

Mandarin is second in the list of the most spoken languages in the world and tops the list of the most spoken first languages in the world.

• India.

Hindu is third in the list of the most spoken languages in the world.

• Spain
• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Canary Islands
• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Cuba
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Equatorial Guinea
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Puerto Rico (USA Territory)
• Uruguay
• United States of America. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the USA.
• Venezuela.

Spanish is widely spoken across Central & South America, apart from Brazil, and fourth in the list of the most spoken languages in the world.

Countries where French is an official language or primary language:

• France
• Belgium
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Canada
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Comoros
• Congo / Congo Republic
• Djibouti
• DR Congo / Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• Gabon
• Guinea
• Haiti
• Côte d’Ivoire / Ivory Coast
• Luxembourg
• Madagascar
• Mali
• Monaco
• Niger
• Rwanda
• Senegal
• Seychelles
• Switzerland
• Togo
• Vanuatu.

French Territories where French is an official language or primary language:

• Aosta Valley
• Clipperton
• French Polynesia
• French Southern Territories
• New Caledonia
• Saint Barthélemy
• Saint Martin
• Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
• Wallis & Futuna.

Fifth in the list of the most spoken languages in the world.

• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Chad
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• Iraq
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Morocco
• Saudi Arabia
• Somalia
• United Arab Emirates (UAE)
• Yemen.

Arabic is one of the 10 most spoken languages in the world and the most widely spoken language across the Middle East, Arabian Peninsula and North Africa.

• Bangladesh
• India (West Bengal, Tripura, Assam’s Barak Valley and Jharkhand).

Countries where Russian is an official language or primary language:

• Russia
• Abkhazia (disputed state, co-official)
• Belarus
• Kazakhstan (co-official)
• Kyrgyzstan (co-official)
• Moldova (Gagauzia (co-official), Transnistria (disputed state. co-official)
• South Ossetia (disputed state)
• Tajikistan
• Turkmenistan (inter-ethnic communication)

Countries where Russian is spoken as a minority language:

• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• China
• Cyprus
• Czechia / Czech Republic
• Israel
• Latvia
• Moldova
• Mongolia
• North Korea
• Poland
• Romania (regional and minority)
• Slovakia
• Ukraine (disputed Republic of Crimea)
• Uzbekistan (inter-ethnic communication).

Countries and territories where Portuguese is an official language:

• Portugal
• Brazil (most spoken language)
• Angola (minority and second language)
• Cape Verde / Cabo Verde (mostly spoken as a second language)
• East Timor / Timor-Leste (minority language)
• Equatorial Guinea (minority language)
• Guinea-Bissau (minority language)
• Macau China SAR (minority language)
• Mozambique (minority language)
• São Tomé & Príncipe (most spoken language).

• Indonesia
• East Timor / Timor-Leste.

• India (as Hindi, Urdu)
• Pakistan (as Urdu).

Countries and territories where German is an official language:

• Germany
• Austria (most spoken language)
• Belgium (minority language spoken in German communities)
• Liechtenstein (most spoken language)
• Luxembourg (co-official language with French and Luxembourgish)
• Switzerland (co-official language at federal level with French, Italian and Romansh).

• Japan
• Brazil
• Palau
• United States of America. Japanese is a minority language in the USA.

Countries and territories where Swahili is an official language:

• DR Congo / Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Kenya
• Rwanda
• Tanzania
• Uganda.

Countries where Swahili is spoken as a minority language:

• Burundi
• Mozambique.

• India (Primarily spoken in Maharashtra, Goa and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (DNHDD) union territory).

• India (primarily in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Yanam, Andaman and Nicobar Islands).

• Turkey
• Northern Cyprus (disputed territory)
• Cyprus.

Countries where Turkish is spoken as a minority language:

• Bosnia & Herzegovina
  Greece
  Iraq
  Kosovo
  North Macedonia
  Romania.

• China, Hong Kong as Chinese
• China, Macau as Chinese.

• Sri Lanka
• Singapore
• India (Tamil Nadu, Puducherry)

Countries where Tamil is spoken as a minority language:

• Malaysia
• Mauritius
• South Africa

• Pakistan (spoken is Punjab, Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions).

• China (Anhui, Fujian, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shanghai, Zhejiang and SAR Hong Kong and Macau
• Overseas Chinese communities worldwide with origins from Shanghai, Jiangsu and/or Zhejiang.

• North Korea
• South Korea
• China (Yanbian Prefecture and Changbai County).

Countries where Korean is spoken as a minority language:

• Russia (Primorsky Krai).

• Vietnam

Countries where Vietnamese is spoken as a minority language:

• Czechia / Czech Republic
• Cambodia (Kampong Luong, floating village)
• France
• Germany
• United States of America (USA).

• Niger
• Nigeria
• Ghana.

Countries where Hausa is spoken as a minority language:

• Benin
• Cameroon
• Côte d’Ivoire / Ivory Coast
• Libya
• Togo.

• Indonesia (Java island).

• Egypt.

• Italy
• San Marino
• Switzerland
• Vatican City / Holy See.

Countries where Italian is spoken as a minority language:

• Slovenia (Slovenian Istria region)
• Croatia (Istria County).

• Thailand

Countries where Thai is spoken as a minority language:

• Cambodia (Koh Kong province)
• Malaysia (Kedah, Kelantan states)
• Myanmar (Tanintharyi region).

• India (Primarily spoken in Gujarat and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (DNHDD) union territory).

• India (Karnataka state).

• Iran
• Afghanistan (as Dari)
• Tajikistan (as Tajik).