World Languages

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Language Summaries

World Languages Summary

Here is a chart showing the 64 most spoken languages in the world. Mandarin is number one, with twice as many speakers as Hindi, the number 2 language. Spanish is number 3, followed by English.

This table lists every major language, in descending order by the number of speakers. The major country in which the language is spoken is also given.

Main World Languages Listed by Number of Speakers

Language

Native Speakers / Primary Country
# of TOTAL Speakers
(millions)

Language

Primary Country

# of TOTAL Speakers
(millions)
1

Mandarin

863
1,025
33

Hausa (Niger)

Africa

39
2

Hindi

357
476
34

Malayalam

India

36
3

Spanish

352
409
35

Persian

Iran

35
4

English

335
497
36

Hakka

China

34
5

Bengali

200
207
37

Burmese

Myanmar

32
6

Arabic

200
235
38

Oriya

India

31
7

Portuguese

173
187
39

Romanian

Romania

26
8

Russian

168
279
40

Sudanese

Africa

26
9

Japanese

125
126
41

Yoruba

Africa

22
10

German

99
126
42

Dutch-Flemish

Nether.-Belg.

21
11

French

75
127
43

Serbo-Croatian

Croatia- Serbia

21
12

Malay-Indonesian

57
170
44

Amharic

Africa

21
13

Urdu

Pakistan

104
45

Pashtu

Pakistan

19
14

Punjabi

India

94
46

Sindhi

Pakistan

19
15

Korean

Korea

77
47

Uzbek

Uzbekistan

18
16

Telugu

India

75
48

Igbo

Africa

18
17

Tamil

India

74
49

Nepali

Nepal

16
18

Cantonese

China

71
50

Hungarian

Hungary

14
19

Marathi

India

71
51

Fula

Africa

13
20

Wu

China

70
52

Sinhalese

Sri Lanka

13
21

Vietnamese

Vietnam

68
53

Czech

Czech

12
22

Javanese

Java

64
53

Greek

Greece

12
23

Italian

Italy

62
55

Kurdish

Iran, Iraq

11
24

Turkish

Turkey

61
56

Azeri

Azerbaijan

11
25

Tagalog

Phillipines

57
57

Oromo

Africa

10
26

Thai

Thailand

52
58

Byelorussian

Belarus

10
27

Min (China)

China

50
59

Madurese

Indonesia

10
28

Swahili

Africa

49
60

Assamese

India

10
29

Ukrainian

Ukrain

47
61

Malinke-Bambara

Africa

9
30

Kannada

India

46
62

Swedish

Sweden

9
31

Polish

Poland

44
63

Zulu

Africa

9
32

Gujarati

India

44
64

Afrikaans

Africa

9

5,144 million

..........

596 million

5.74 Billion Total speakers

30

120

80

60

40

40

100

90

60


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Vaughn's Summaries (One-Pagers)
©2004, 2005 Vaughn Aubuchon ... All Rights Reserved
http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com
This Vaughns 1-Pagers World Languages Summary chart web page was updated on 2006-11-07.