The most spoken languages ​​in the world

The total number of languages ​​existing in the world is very difficult to calculate, since there is no single approach to distinguishing dialects of the same language. Conventionally, there are about 7000 languages, although their number is much larger.

From the whole set, we can single out the most common languages ​​in the world, which are included in our rating. Approximately 66% of the total population of the planet speaks them.

10 Persian | 113 million people

Persian (29 countries) opens the ranking of the most popular languages ​​in the world, and is native to 57 million inhabitants of Iran. It is one of the languages ​​that has a rich centuries-old tradition, including popular masterpieces of world literature. The largest part of Persian speakers is concentrated in Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. In addition, Persian is widely spoken in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Persian is spoken in about 29 countries around the world. The total number of speakers is about 113 million people.

9. Italian | 140 million people

Italian (10 countries) is one of the ten most popular languages ​​on earth. Officially, it is distributed in 10 countries of the world, but as the statistics of these states show, it is much more. Among them are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Egypt and others. About 70 million people in Italy are native speakers of Italian and about the same number of people speak it in other countries. Italian is recognized as the official language of the Vatican, Switzerland, San Marino, and is also a second language in some regions of Slovenia and Croatia. In total, about 140 million people speak Italian.

8. German | 180 million people

German (12 countries) occupies the eighth position in the ranking of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the world. More than 80 million Germans are native speakers. In addition to the Germans, Austrians, Liechtensteiners and many Swiss are fluent in the language. It is one of the official languages ​​of countries such as Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. In addition, German is included in the working languages ​​of the European Union. It is spoken by the peoples of 12 countries of the world. It is owned by over 80 thousand Australians, 400 thousand Argentines, 1,5 million Brazilians, 225 thousand Italians, 430 thousand Canadians. In the United States, about 1 million Americans own it – it is quite common there and is studied in schools. In Russia, about 2,5 million people speak German, of which only 400 are Germans. There are 180 million people who speak German in the world.

7. Portuguese | 240 million people

Portuguese (12 countries) is native to 203 million people in Portugal. It ranks eighth in the ranking as the most widely spoken language in the world. Portuguese speakers are called Lusophones. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil and is spoken by about 200 million Brazilians. It also speaks the peoples of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Macau and East Timor. Smaller numbers of native speakers can be found in countries such as the US, France, Canada, Japan, and Argentina. Portuguese is spoken by approximately 240 million people. It is one of the most significant languages ​​due to Brazil’s increased economic and world status.

6. Russian | 260 million people

Russian (16 countries) is one of the most popular and demanded languages ​​in the world, which is spoken in 16 countries. About 166 million people living on the territory of the Russian Federation speak Russian. It is one of the state languages ​​of Belarus. Russian is also official in the countries of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Worldwide, about 260 million people speak Russian. Among all the states that were part of the USSR, most of those who speak Russian are concentrated in Ukraine – about 40 thousand Ukrainians. About 730 thousand people live in the USA, for whom Russian is native. In Germany, the language is considered native, second or foreign for 350 thousand people. Russian is one of the international languages ​​of the world.

5. French | 280 million people

French (51 countries) are among the most common and popular languages ​​in the world. About 80 million French people speak it, and in total 280 million people in the world can speak French. With the exception of France, most of the francophones are concentrated in Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, in many African countries, and Luxembourg. French speakers can be found in 51 countries around the world. It is one of the six working languages ​​of the UN and one of the most studied languages ​​after English.

4. Arabic | 320 million people

Arab (60 countries) is the native language for 242 million inhabitants, and in total about 320 million people in the world speak it. Arabic is spoken by the peoples of Israel, Somalia, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Iraq, Egypt, Comoros and others. The language is the oldest in the world and is spoken in 60 countries. It is the third most difficult to learn, after Chinese and Japanese. The language of the Quran is spoken by millions of Muslims all over the world.

3. Spanish | 550 million people

Spanish (31 countries) opens the top three. About 550 million people around the world speak it, and for 400 million it is their native language. Spanish is the official language of Mexico – about 120 million Mexicans speak it. In addition to Mexico, countries with a significant Hispanic population include the United States (41 million people), Argentina (42 million people), Colombia (45 million people) and others. According to official data, the working language of the UN is the most common in 31 states. Spanish is considered the easiest to learn.

2. Chinese | 1,3 billion people

Chinese (33 countries) is one of the most widely spoken languages ​​on the planet. Its carrier is about 1,2 billion people in China, and all over the world it is owned by more than 1,3 billion people. Chinese is one of the official languages ​​of Singapore and Taiwan, as well as the official working languages ​​of the United Nations. In Russia, the number of Chinese speakers is approximately 71 thousand people. In addition to its prevalence, Chinese is considered one of the most difficult languages ​​in the world, which was listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

1. English | 1,5 billion people

English (99 countries) is the most popular language that covers 99 countries of the world. It has 340 English speakers and 1,5 billion people all over the world. The United States is home to the largest number of Anglophones, with approximately 215 million people. In the UK, 58 million speak English, 18 million in Canada, and so on. It is one of the working languages ​​of the UN. About 90% of all world information is stored in English, and about 70% of scientific publications are also published in this language. It is the international language of communication and the most studied in the world. According to some forecasts, in about 50 years, every second inhabitant of the planet will be English-speaking.