This list gives the most spoken languages in the world according to the Ethnologue, a widely cited reference for languages around the world. The Ethnologue is sometimes criticised for using out-of-date data, but there is no available fully authoritative source for numbers of first language speakers which uses the same criteria for counting in each case. Another tendency of the Ethnologue is to separate what many others (sometimes including speakers of the varieties) consider to be single languages: see for example comments in this article on English and German. This list, based on the 16th edition (2009), aims to count first language speakers only (though there are some difficulties with this criterion, as with any other, caused by issues such as multilingualism, differing perceptions of cultural identity and the questions of when language varieties are to be considered different languages or dialects). It also counts macrolanguages, as defined by the Ethnologue, such that Chinese and Arabic are counted as united languages rather than by the varieties also listed, such as Mandarin Chinese or Egyptian Arabic. The year bracketed next to the number of speakers is the year given in the Ethnologue for when the data was taken (for the country with most speakers). | Ranking by number of native speakers | Language | Number of speakers | Where spoken natively by more than 5% of the population or listed as an official language in the countries' constitution | Comments | | 1 | Chinese | 1,205m (1999) | People's Republic of China (including self-governing Special Administrative Regions), Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia, Singapore | This figure includes all varieties of Chinese such as Mandarin and Yue, which are not necessarily mutually intelligible | | 2 | Spanish | 429m | Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Andorra | | | 3 | English | 428m | United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland, British Overseas Territories, Singapore, Malaysia, Belize, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Northern Mariana Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, The Bahamas, Barbados, Guam, Cayman Islands,The Philippines, India, Pakistan,Trinidad and Tobago, Malta, Hong Kong, Botswana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Zimbabwe Also see List of countries by English-speaking population | Does not include significant populations in countries such as Jamaica and Guyana, where speakers are said to speak creoles. British Overseas Territories include places such as Falklands Islands, Ascension Island etc. See, List of countries by English-speaking population. | | 4 | Hindi | 260m (Khariboli dialect only) | India, Fiji | Speakers of the main Khariboli dialect. Indian census (2001) figure is 422m, and represents all Hindi dialects, which the Ethnologue deems mutually unintelligible. Hindi and Urdu are considered as separate languages although they are mutually intelligible when used in everyday conversation. They are written in two different scripts. | | 5 | Arabic | 221m | Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, Mauritania, Palestinian territories, Israel, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Chad, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Djibouti, Somalia, Western Sahara | Figure from all varieties of Arabic, which are not necessarily mutually intelligible | | 6 | Portuguese | 203m | Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Goa, Macau, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau | | | 7 | Bengali | 193m | Bangladesh, India | | | 8 | Russian | 144m | Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Israel, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania, Turkmenistan | | | 9 | French | 128m (2005) | Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Channel Islands, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Guinea, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Switzerland, Togo, Vanuatu, Andorra, Grenada, French overseas territories | Figure does include significant populations in countries such as Haiti and Mauritius, where speakers are said to speak creoles. 14th edition (2000) gives 77m total. | | 10 | Japanese | 122m | Japan | | | 11 | Standard German | 90m (1994) | Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein | This figure seems to include Swiss German, even though this is listed under a different code. Ethnologue divides "German" into 18 dialects[1] (Middle and Upper German, not including Low German and Yiddish), totalling to 114.2 million. Including Yiddish and Northern Low Saxon, the total is 118 million. | | 12 | Punjabi | 88.5m (2000) | Pakistan, India | Punjabi is the most spoken language of Pakistan 44.15% Pakistanis speak Punjabi as their native language and a large number of Punjabi also reside in India. Western/Pakistani Punjabi: 61–62 million, Eastern/Indian Punjabi: 27 million (2000 WCD) | | 13 | Javanese | 75.5m (1989) | Indonesia, Suriname | | | 14 | Telugu | 69.7m (1997) | India, Malaysia, Singapore | | | 15 | Marathi | 68m (1997) | India | | | 16 | Vietnamese | 67.4m (1999) | Vietnam | | | 17 | Korean | 67m (1986) | South Korea, North Korea | | | 18 | Tamil | 66m (1997) | India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Maldives | | | 19 | Italian | 65.5m | Croatia, Eritrea, Italy, Malta, San Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland, Vatican City | Population includes the entire population of Italy which comprises native bilinguals of Italian and regional varieties. Sicilian and Sardinian are included. All of Sicily and Sardinia speak Italian, as well, as they are part of Italy. | | 20 | Urdu | 60.5m (1997) | Pakistan, India, Afghanistan | Standard Hindi and Urdu are considered as separate languages although they are mutually intelligible when used in everyday conversation. They are written in two different scripts. | [edit] See also [edit] External links |
