The following is a list of sovereign states and territories where French is an official or de facto language.
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The following is a list of the 29 countries where French is an official language. Note that in most of these countries, French is not the only language, and therefore the population does not indicate the number of French-speakers.
In Belgium, the official languages are French, Dutch, and German. The country is divided in four linguistic parts: Brussels (officially bilingual, de-facto French-speaking majority), Wallonia (French) and Flanders (Dutch) and the German-speaking Community. See further:
French in Cameroon is another example of the heterogeneous Francophone world. It is different from the French spoken in France, Canada, or Gabon. There are different varieties of Cameroon French. French of Cameroon’s North part is different from French of the country’s South part. This is due to the fact that the country is neither socially nor culturally uniform. As a consequence, French will be different from one province/department to another.[1] See further: languages of Cameroon.
In Canada, French was introduced during the 17th century with the French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1534. Quebec was founded by the French Samuel de Champlain in 1608. There are high chances that French immigrants going to Nouvelle-France (New-France) had to have good knowledge of regional French before their departure. Nowadays, the official languages in Canada are English and French; however, only the province of Quebec has a French-speaking majority. Sizable French-speaking minorities exist in the provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario, and Manitoba.
Nr. | Country | Continent | Population (2008)[2] | French-speakers (2005 estimation)[3] | Partial-French speakers (2005 estimation) | French-speakers, full and partial combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | - | Francophone World | 367,428,669 | NA | NA | 162,348,020 |
1. | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Africa | 66,514,506 | 6,080,000 | 18,240,000 | 24,320,000 |
2. | France | Europe | 65,057,790 | 60,578,6001 | NA | 60,578,600 |
3. | Canada | North America | 33,143,600 | 6,741,955 | 2,848,745 | 9,590,700 |
4. | Madagascar | Africa | 20,042,551 | 865,000 | 2,664,200 | 3,529,200 |
5. | Cameroon | Africa | 18,467,692 | 2,950,300 | 4,393,100 | 7,343,400 |
6. | Côte d'Ivoire | Africa | 18,373,060 | 12,740,000 | NA | 12,740,000 |
7. | Burkina Faso | Africa | 15,264,735 | 695,000 | NA | 695,000 |
8. | Niger | Africa | 13,272,679 | 1,260,000 | NA | 1,260,000 |
9. | Senegal | Africa | 12,853,259 | 1,170,000 | 2,457,000 | 3,627,000 |
10. | Mali | Africa | 12,324,029 | 1,107,000 | NA | 1,107,000 |
11. | Rwanda | Africa | 10,473,282 | 609,000 | 174,000 | 783,000 |
12. | Belgium | Europe | 10,403,951 | 4,300,000 | 2,000,000 | 6,300,000 |
13. | Guinea | Africa | 10,211,437 | 2,000,000 | 4,000,000 | 6,000,000 |
14. | Chad | Africa | 10,111,337 | 1,940,000 | NA | 1,940,000 |
15. | Haiti | North America | 8,924,553 | 5,664,000 | 5,622,500 | 6,286,500 |
16. | Burundi | Africa | 8,691,005 | 390,000 | 234,000 | 624,000 |
17. | Benin | Africa | 8,294,941 | 739,200 | 1,402,800 | 2,142,000 |
18. | Switzerland | Europe | 7,581,520 | 1,509,600 | 2,072,000 | 3,582,120 |
19. | Togo | Africa | 5,858,673 | 2,000,000 | NA | 2,000,000 |
20. | Central African Republic | Africa | 4,434,873 | 945,000 | NA | 945,000 |
21. | Republic of the Congo | Africa | 3,903,318 | 1,200,000 | 1,200,000 | 2,400,000 |
22. | Gabon | Africa | 1,485,832 | 1,200,000 | NA | 1,200,000 |
23. | Comoros | Africa | 731,775 | 312,200 | NA | 312,200 |
24. | Equatorial Guinea | Africa | 616,459 | 100,000 | 200,000 | 300,000 |
25. | Djibouti | Africa | 506,221 | 159,800 | 159,800 | |
26. | Luxembourg | Europe | 486,006 | 430,000 | 20,000 | 450,000 |
27. | Vanuatu | Oceania | 215,446 | 99,000 | NA | 99,000 |
28. | India | Asia | 82,247 | 4,000 | 44,000 | 48,000 |
29. | Monaco | Europe | 32,796 | 23,400 | NA | 23,400 |
In addition to this, the Vatican City registers itself as a French-speaking country in the international organisations with which it has relationship.
Nr. | Entity | Continent | Population | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Pondicherry | Asia | 973,829 | Union Territory of India |
2. | French Polynesia | Oceania | 267,000 | Overseas Collectivity of France |
3. | New Caledonia | Oceania | 224,824 | Overseas Collectivity of France |
4. | Aosta Valley | Europe | 128,000 | Autonomous region of Italy |
5. | Jersey | Europe | 91,533 | British Crown dependency |
6. | Guernsey | Europe | 65,726 | British Crown dependency |
7. | Saint Martin | North America | 29,376 | Overseas Collectivity of France |
8. | Wallis and Futuna | Oceania | 16,448 | Overseas Collectivity of France |
9 | Saint Barthélemy | North America | 7,492 | Overseas Collectivity of France |
10. | Saint Pierre and Miquelon | North America | 7,044 | Overseas Collectivity of France |
11. | French Southern and Antarctic Lands | Antarctica, Africa | 140 | TAAF districts |
12. | Clipperton | North America | 0 | French state private property |
Sub-national regions located within countries where French is the official national language are not included in this list. The five overseas regions of France (Départements d'Outre-Mer, or DOM): Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion, have the same status as metropolitan France and are not listed here. French has a certain legal status in the US-Louisiana but it's not considered de-jure official.
After gaining independence in the 1950s and 1960s, the Arabic-speaking countries of the Maghreb: Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, strived to reduce the use of French by implementing different arabisation policies. However, the language switch was difficult because competence in Standard Arabic (which is different from the Maghrebi varieties) was far behind competence in French. French remains the language of the private sector and close contacts with France and other French-speaking countries ensures the language's survival. Mauritania, also an Arabic-speaking country, abolished French as a de jure official language in 1991, but has like its northern neighbours kept it as the de facto second language.
In Mauritius, English is considered the official language, however French is the dominant language of mass communications and business, the French-based Mauritian Creole is the main native language and serves as the country's lingua franca.
In the United States, French is de facto co-official with English in the states of Louisiana and Maine and is widely spoken in New England but speakers can be found nationwide. French is the second most widely studied foreign language after Spanish in the nation and along with English and Spanish, is also used in government notices and services.
French is spoken in small amounts mainly by the elderly and elite populations in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. This is due to the heavy French influence on the former territory known as French Indochina, which included these countries. However, since the early 1990s and 2000s, there has been a revivial of the French language in these three countries and French is used for international relations and is at times used as an administrative language.[4]
Lebanon is officially Arabic-speaking, but French is commonly spoken, especially by Christians, and the language receives some government recognition. Lebanon does not only count an important number of French speakers; it is also Francophile. The linguistic plurality of Lebanon is due to its important place in the business world. This explains why so many Lebanese speak fluent French and/or English. Until the civil war, some Christian communities refused to speak Arabic. Christians used to go to high schools where lessons were given in French. Thus theses communities became French speaking. French is generally more spoken by wealthy classes of the population. Although English developed these last years in the country, French stays the first foreign language in Lebanon. Indeed, 45% of the population is French speaking (against 30% of English speakers).
Catalan is the official language of Andorra, a small country which lies along the French-Spanish border, French is also commonly used and understood due to the country's proximity to France and French influence.
Nr. | Country | Continent | Population | French-speakers (2005 estimation)[5][6] | Partial-French speakers | French-speakers, real and partial combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Morocco | Africa | 34,343,219 | 4,144,500 | 5,986,500 | 10,131,001 |
2. | Algeria | Africa | 33,769,669 | 21,000,000 | NA | 21,000,000 |
3. | Tunisia | Africa | 10,383,577 | 6,360,000 | NA | 6,360,000 |
4. | Lebanon | Asia | 4,088,941 | 684,000 | 760,000 | 1,444,000 |
5. | Mauritania | Africa | 3,364,940 | 167,400 | 155,000 | 322,400 |
6. | Mauritius | Africa | 1,274,189 | 180,000 | 692,500 | 872,500 |
7. | Andorra | Europe | 72,413 | 34,200 | 16,400 | 50,600 |
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