List of languages by total number of speakers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the list of languages by the total number of speakers. Estimation of the total number of speakers can vary: highest, usual and lowest estimation. Some languages like Arabic and French also include creoles and other variants and these are considered during the process of evaluating.

Contents

[edit] Highest Estimation

Language Total number of speakers (million) Rank
English 1800 1
Chinese (all dialects) 1300 2
Hindustani[1] 905 3
Arabic (all variants) 873 4
French[2] 600 5
Spanish 500 6
Russian 285 7
Portuguese 230 8
Bengali 230 8
Indonesian/Malay 200 9
Punjabi 191 10
German 185 11
Persian 144 12
Japanese 130 13
Italian 120 14

[edit] Usual Estimation

Language Total number of speakers (million) Rank
Chinese (all dialects) 1120 1
English 480 2
Spanish 320 3
Russian 285 4
French 265 5
Hindustani[1] 250 6
Arabic[3] 221 7
Portuguese 188 8
Bengali 185 9
German 170 10
Japanese 133 11

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Hindi and Urdu are essentially the same language, Hindustani. As the official language of Pakistan it is written in modified Arabic script and thus called Urdu. As the official language of India it is written in the Devanagari script and called Hindi.
  2. ^ Creoles and third language speakers in the Maghreb area are considered as these aren't included in the native speakers' list or most language lists. Augmentation of speakers is especially apparent upon the rapid rise of population in Africa.
  3. ^ Includes 16 variants of the Arabic language.

[edit] Sources