What is the most spoken language in the world? The answer depends on what parameters we choose to measure. Some statistics are more difficult to establish than others but it is necessary to take them all with a pinch. For example, the statistical estimation of the amount of people speaking a language as a second language is often presented by people who, for political or financial reasons, have every interest in showing that this language appears in a more or less good position in the language listing. This can distort the numbers.
Even the organizations that apply to present the information as objectively as possible rely on censuses and surveys to compile their statistics. The EU’s Eurobarometer report, for example, is based on the results of a survey of nearly 30,000 European citizens who were asked the question: in which languages, apart from your mother tongue, can you hold a conversation? However, it is well known that self-evaluation is always subjective enough, each using their own evaluation criteria.
Spanish is growing among English speaking countries, giving dramatically changing statistics year over year. Learning Spanish is also a trend between those interested in business and culture. Some people can even do immersion programs in Spain like these in Barcelona by expanish.
Languages in numbers across the world
After these few warnings, here are some statistics:
The most spoken languages by number of native speakers:
- Mandarin Chinese (908.7 million)
- Spanish (442.3 million)
- English (378.2 million)
- Hindi-Urdu (329.1 million)
- Arab (290 million)
- Bengali (242.6 million)
- Portuguese (222.7 million)
- Russian (153.9 million)
- Japanese (128.2 million)
- West Punjabi (119 million)
* updated in November 2018
These figures, which correspond to the number of native speakers for each language, are taken from the Ethnologue database, a highly respected encyclopedia that lists living languages around the world. At the time of the last update, there were 7,097 living languages in the world, but chances are that this figure has since decreased since some languages have become extinct.
When looking at numbers, keep in mind that accurate data is difficult to measure. For example, when the US government conducts a census and asks questions about languages, it considers the results to be about 90% accurate. In a country of (about) 328 million people, this makes a margin of error of (about) 32 million people. When it comes to providing figures for India, home to three of the languages on the list and more than a billion people, the challenge is even bigger.
The matter of second languages
For the most spoken languages in the world by total number of speakers Ethnologue proposes the following list, which combines the number of native speakers and non-native speakers:
- English (1.121 billion)
- Mandarin Chinese (1.107 billion)
- Hindi / Urdu (697.4 million)
- Spanish (512.9 million)
- Arabic (422 million)
- French (284.9 million)
- Malay (281 million)
- Russian (264.3 million)
- Bengali (261.8 million)
- Portuguese (236.5 million)
Estimating the number of second language speakers is extremely difficult and even the best estimates imply a number of assumptions. The British Council suggests that about 1.5 billion people in all speak English – a figure you will often hear – a much larger figure than the estimates used by Ethnologue.
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The most spoken languages by number of dependent countries / states where language is the official national language compared to the total number of native speakers, this figure is relatively easy to measure. Among the languages listed, Arabic is the language for which the figures are the most difficult to calculate because the oral languages that are grouped under the term “Arabic” are not mutually intelligible. However, classical Arabic is used as a written language in different countries where Arabic dialects are spoken.
- English (59)
- French (29)
- Arabic (26)
- Spanish (21)
- Portuguese (9)
This list shows the influence of the European colonial past on the linguistic map of the world. Languages with a large number of native speakers such as Japanese and Mandarin did not spread outside Asia, unlike European languages, which settlers exported to all corners of the globe.
The problem with establishing a list like this is that some countries, including the United States, do not have an official language (despite several attempts to introduce one). In these cases, de facto national languages have been taken into account, which, of course, raises questions. In other countries, measuring what can be considered a de facto national language can be a challenge.
Finally, what is the most spoken language in the world?
These lists provide an interesting overview of the most spoken and written languages around the world. Three of the ten most widely spoken mother tongues in the world are barely used for publishing, the web and international communication, areas in which English is predominant.
English remains the most important international language on all criteria, except when one considers the total number of speakers – but the calculation of this statistic is difficult in itself. A report published by the British Council estimates that about 2 billion people will learn English over the next decade. But even here, more than two-thirds of the planet will not speak English.