The 100 most spoken languages on the world

Posted on June 28, 2009 by frankherles

“A language is a dialect with army and navy.” – Max Weinreich

By Frank Herles Matos

The classification of languages related here is the result of the sum of native speakers and those who speak a second language. This base date: 31/12/07 – estimated by the governments of respective countries, but compared with data – separated by language – of civil organizations. This test has become necessary to depoliticize the primary data and allow the information to approach the end of reality as possible. Thus, languages that often appear in similar relationships with force is known by many, examples of the “Kurdish” (the people without homeland), the “Berber” (widely used in North Africa, but discredit by various governments in the region for reasons political and religious); African languages as the “Hausa“, “Oromo“, “Yoruba” and, speaking South America as “Kichwa” (used daily by millions of people in the region of the Andes), the resurgence of the “Hebrew“, etc.

A curious fact about the relationship of language most spoken is considerable variation in the numbers of estimates. According to several linguists, technical factors (on different dates and different sources of data – census and estimates) and political (or even nationalist government alone) are the main cause of these variations. See sources.

The current (2007) 6,702 languages/dialects in the world, “between 3400 to 6120 will disappear before 2100′ due to natural disasters (such as the devastating earthquake that killed thousands of Kutchi on 26/01/2001, India), military invasions (such as the Islamic conquests in the centuries 7 and 8 in the Middle East and North Africa), colonizations and “discoveries” (such the European colonizations in Africa and discovered the Americas, Australia, etc.), religion (charges of “holy”languages after military victories), epidemics and the increasingly internationalization of human society.

Ord	Continent	Language		Speakers
Ord	Continent	Nunber	%	Number	%	Avarage	Half
———————————————————————————————-
01	Africa	2,082	31.1	677,674,518	11.8	25,391	323,082
02	Americas	1,001	14.9	59,895,891	0.8	2,000	47,464
03	Asia	2,159	32.2	4,012,678,007	57.9	10,171	1,538,077
04	Europe	239	3.6	1,746,815,517	26.3	220,000	6,294,532
05	Pacific	1,221	18.2	6,798,207	0.1	800	4,675
Total		6,702	100.0	6,503,862,140	100.0	7,000	828,105

Source: Ethnologue

Click Here to see the current world population.

Some languages listed here are technically dialects, not separate languages. Were listed separately because they are mutually incomprehensible, like the language/dialect Chinese, Hindi/Urdu and Arabic – see Notes.

Of the 6.5 billion (at 31/12/2007) of inhabitants of the planet, about 5,8 (89.23%) billion speak a 100 language related below:

The 100 most spoken languages on the world
Ord	Language	Speakers – #	Where the language is spoken?
01	Mandarin Chinese	Nat – 1,081,9 b	China, Malaysia and Taiwan, with significant nucleous of speakers in South Africa, Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries.
		2nd – 38,6 m
		Tot 1,120,5 b
02	English [1]	Nat – 355,1 m	South Africa, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada (except Quebec), Dominica, United States, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, Fiji Islands, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Jamaica, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malaysia, Malawi, Malta, Mauritius, Micronesia, Namibia, Nigeria, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, United Kingdom, Rwanda, Samoa, St. Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Sierra Leon, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with significant nucleous of speakers in Bangladesh, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Philippines, India, Israel, Maldives, Micronesia, Nauru, Pakistan, Singapore and other countries.
		2nd – 198,8 m
		Tot – 553,9 m
03	Spanish	Nat – 298,7 m	Argentina, Bolivia, Canary Islands, Ceuta, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Melilla, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela, with significant nucleous of speakers in Belize, United States, Ivory Coast, Philippines, France and other countries.
		2nd – 49,4 m
		Tot – 348,1 m
04	Hindi [2]	Nat – 288,6 m	India – North, Central and West of this country.
		2nd – 39,2 m
		Tot – 327,8 m
05	Portuguese	Nat – 236,1 m	Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Damão, Diu and Goa (India), Galicia (Spain), Guine-Bissau, Macau (China), Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor, with significant nucleous of speakers in Germany, Canada, Spain, United States, France, Netherlands, UK, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Japan, Paraguay and other countries.
		2nd – 36,8 m
		Tot – 272,9 m
06	Russian [3]	Nat – 164,3 m	Abecasis (Georgia), Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova (Transnistria and Gagauzia) Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Transnistria (Moldova), Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, with significant nucleous of speakers in Israel and other countries.
		2nd – 98,7 m
		Tot – 263,0 m
07	French [4]	Nat – 108,4 m	Belgium (Brussels and Wallonia), Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central Republic African, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Ivory Coast, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Guadeloupe, Equatorial Guinea, France, Polynesia France, Gabon, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, India (Karikal, Punducherry), Italy (Valle d’Aosta), Lebanon, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Martinique, Mauritius, Monaco, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland (Berne, Canton of Freiburg, Canton of Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel, Valais, Vaud), Togo, with significant nucleous of speakers in the United States (Louisiana, especially), Vanuatu, United Kingdom (Guernsey and Jersey) and other countries.
		2nd – 121,3 m
		Tot – 229,7 m
08	Bengali	Nat – 199,7 m	Bangladesh, India – Tripura, West Bengal and Assam.
		2nd – 16,1 m
		Tot – 215,8 m
09	Malay/Indon esian [5]	Nat – 198,5 m	Indonesia, with significant nucleous of speakers in Malaysia, Philippines (South), East Timor, Singapore, New Caledonia and other countries.
		2nd – 4,7 m
		Tot – 203,2 m
10	German	Nat – 108,3 m	Germany, Austria, Belgium (East Canton), France (Alsace and Lorraine region), Italy (South Tyrol of Namibia and South), Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland (Oppeln), Switzerland (Aarfau, Appensell Exterior, Appenzell Interior, Basel-Countryside, Basel-City, Bern, Freiburg, Glarus, Lucerne, St. Gall, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, Zug, Zurich, Graubbden, Nidwald, Obwalden, Thurgau, Uri and Valais), with significant nucleous of speakers in United States, Brazil (South), Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Romania, Lithuania, Russia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania and Slovenia.
		2nd – 64,4 m
		Tot – 172,7 m
11	Japanese	Nat – 127,2 m	Japan, Palau (Angaur), Guam, with significant nucleous of speakers in Brazil, United States (Hawaii), Peru, South Korea, Taiwan, Marshall Islands and other countries.
		2nd – 8,1 m
		Tot – 135,3 m
12	Italian	Nat – 73,4 m	Croatia (Istrian County), Slovenia, Italy, San Marino, Switzerland (Graubbden, Ticino), with significant nucleous of speakers in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, United States (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island), France, Greece, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Uruguay, Vatican and other countries.
		2nd – 41,9 m
		Tot – 115,3 m
13	Persia n	Nat – 98,2 m	Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan, with significant nucleous of speakers in Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Uzbekistan and other countries.
		2nd – 6,1 m
		Tot – 104,3 m
14	Panjabi	Nat – 92,4 m	India (Panjab) and Pakistan, with significant nucleous of speakers in Kenya and Singapore.
		2nd – 9,8 m
		Tot – 102,2 m
15	Urdu [2]	Nat – 68,9 m	India (Kashmir, New Delhi, Jammu and Uttar Pradesh), Pakistan and Afghanistan, with significant nucleous of speakers in South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, UK, United States, Bahrain, Botswana, Fiji, Mauritius, Malawi, Oman and Qatar.
		2nd – 32,7 m
		Tot – 101,6 m
16	Marathi	Nat – 77,7 m	India (Maharashtra, Daman and Diu, Goa), with significant nucleous of speakers in Islands Mauritius.
		2nd – 13,4 m
		Tot – 91,1 m
17	Turkish	Nat – 72,4 m	Bulgaria (Kurdzhali Province and areas of South and West), Cyprus and Turkey, with significant nucleous of speakers in Australia, Austria, Georgia, Greece, Netherlands, Iran, Moldova, Macedonia, Syria, Azerbaijan and other countries.
		2nd – 17,8 m
		Tot – 90,2 m
18	Telugu	Nat – 72,8 m	India (Andhra Pradesh, district of Yanam), with significant nucleous of speakers in Bahrain, Islands Fiji, Islands Mauritius, Singapore and other countries
		2nd – 8,1 m
		Tot – 80,9 m
19	Eg yptian Arabic [6]	Nat – 48,7 m	Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, with significant nucleous of speakers in England, United States and other countries.
		2nd – 31,8 m
		Tot – 80,5 m
20	Javanese	Nat – 77,8 m	Indonesia, Java and Bali.
		2nd – 2,5 m
		Tot – 80,3 m
21	Wu Chinese	Nat – 76,4 m	China (Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Xuancheng Anhui), Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.
		2nd – 1,9 m
		Tot – 78,3 m
22	Korean	Nat – 76,7 m	North Korea, South Korea and China (Yanbian), with significant nucleous of speakers in Australia, United States (Guam, Hawaii, Marianas North), Japan, Brazil and other countries.
		2nd – 1,4 m
		Tot – 78,1 m
23	Thai	Nat – 31,8 m	Thailand and Laos.
		2nd – 41,5 m
		Tot – 73,3 m
24	Vietnamese	Nat – 69,1 m	Vietnam, with significant nucleous of speakers in Australia, Cambodia, United States (California), France (New Caledonia), Laos, Norway, and Vanuatu other countries.
		2nd – 4,1 m
		Tot – 73,2 m
25	Yue Chinese (Canton ese)	Nat – 69,7 m	China (South and Southeast), with significant nucleous of speakers in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other countries.
		2nd – 2,5 m
		Tot – 72,2 m
26	Tamil	Nat – 65,7 m	India (Tamil Nadu, and Karaikal districts of Pondicherry), Singapore, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, with significant nucleous of speakers in Bahrain, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, France (Réunion), Islands Fiji, Mauritius, Malaysia and other countries.
		2nd – 6,1 m
		Tot – 71,8 m
27	Maghrebi Arabic [7]	Nat – 53,5 m	Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya, with significant nucleous of speakers in France, Holland, Italy, Spain and other countries
		2nd – 8,9 m
		Tot – 62,4 m
28	Min Nan Chinese	Nat – 48,2 m	China and Taiwan, with significant nucleous of speakers in Brunei, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
		2nd – 2,7 m
		Tot – 50,9 m
29	Pol ish	Nat – 43,6 m	Poland, with significant nucleous of speakers in Belarus, United States (Connecticut, Illinois, NJ), Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Russia, Brazil and other countries.
		2nd – 6,5 m
		Tot – 50,1 m
30	Gugarati	Nat – 47,4 m	India (Gujarati, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli), with significant nucleous of speakers in South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Pakistan, United States, England, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Canada.
		2nd – 1,9 m
		Tot – 49,3 m
31	Jin Yu Chinese	Nat – 43,3 m	China and Taiwan.
		2nd – 3,6 m
		Tot – 46,9 m
32	Ukrainian	Nat – 42,7 m	Ukraine and Transnistria (Moldova), with significant nucleous of speakers in Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Brazil, United States, Canada and other countries
		2nd – 3,9 m
		Tot – 46,6 m
33	Ha usa	Nat – 25,2 m	Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Foso, Cameroon, Ghana, Sudan and Togo
		2nd – 16,9 m
		Tot – 42,1 m
34	Kannada	Nat – 33,7 m	India (Karnataka).
		2nd – 8,0 m
		Tot – 41,7 m
35	Pashto	Nat – 31,4 m	Afghanistan (Southeast and Northwest) and Pakistan (West), with significant nucleous of speakers in India.
		2nd – 9,7 m
		Tot – 41,1 m
36	Xiang Chinese	Nat – 37,2 m	China.
		2nd – 2,7 m
		Tot – 39,9 m
37	Levantin e Arabic [8]	Nat – 34,8 m	Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel (and Judea Sesmaria), Gaza Strip and Jordan, with significant nucleous of speakers in Kuwait, Iraq and other countries.
		2nd – 4,5 m
		Tot – 39,3 m
38	Malayalam [9]	Nat – 34,9 m	India (Karalla, Lakshadweep and Mahe) with significant groups of speakers in Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and other countries.
		2nd – 4,2 m
		Tot – 39,1 m
39	Hakka Chinese	Nat – 35,1 m	China, with significant nucleous of speakers in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Panama, Singapore, Suriname, Taiwan and Thailand
		2nd – 1,2 m
		Tot – 36,3 m
40	Berber	Nat – 31,4 m	Algeria, with significant nucleous of speakers in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sahara West, Mali, France, Belgium, Spain, United States and Canada.
		2nd – 4,6 m
		Tot – 36,0 m
41	Am haric	Nat – 28,2 m	Ethiopia and Israel
		2nd – 7,4 m
		Tot – 35,6 m
42	Oromo	Nat – 33,8 m	Ethiopia and Kenya
		2nd – 1,6 m
		Tot – 35,4 m
43	B urmese	Nat – 33,5 m	Myanmar
		2nd – 1,6 m
		Tot – 35,1 m
44	Oriya	Nat – 32,0 m	India (Orissa), Mendipur (West Bengal), Saraikela Kharsawan district (Jharkhand) and Gujarati.
		2nd – 2,3 m
		Tot – 34,3 m
45	Nepali	Nat – 26,1 m	Nepal, India and Bhutan
		2nd – 7,6 m
		Tot – 33,7 m
46	Sundanese	Nat – 26,8 m	Indonesia
		2nd – 6,8 m
		Tot – 33,6 m
47	Bhojpuri	Nat – 28,7 m	India and Nepal.
		2nd – 4,1 m
		Tot – 32,8 m
48	Tagalo g	Nat – 23,7 m	Philippines (Cuzon’s Southern and Central)
		2nd – 8,2 m
		Tot – 31,9 m
49	Rom anian	Nat – 27,4 m	Romania and Moldova, with significant nucleous of speakers in Serbia, United States and other countries.
		2nd – 3,9 m
		Tot – 31,3 m
50	Kurdish	Nat – 29,8 m	Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria, with significant nucleous of speakers in Egypt, Israel, Iran, Jordan and Lebanon.
		2nd – 1,2 m
		Tot – 31,0 m
51	Haryanvi	Nat – 28,1 m	India (Haryana) and Pakistan
		2nd – 1,8 m
		Tot – 29,9 m
52	Dutch	Nat – 24,8 m	Netherlands, Belgium (North), France (Northeast), Suriname, Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, with significant nucleous of speakers in Germany, Indonesia, South Africa and other countries.
		2nd – 1,7 m
		Tot – 26,5 m
53	Azer baijani	Nat – 24,0 m	Azerbaijan, Iran, parts of neighboring countries such as: Georgia, Russia, Iraq, Turkey and Ukraine.
		2nd – 2,1 m
		Tot – 26,1 m
54	Yoruba	Nat – 23,6 m	Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Sierra Leon
		2nd – 2,3 m
		Tot – 25,9 m
55	Serbo-croatia n	Nat – 22,9 m	Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with significant nucleous of speakers in Albania, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey and Macedonia.
		2nd – 1,6 m
		Tot – 24,5 m
56	Uzbe k	Nat – 21,9 m	Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, with significant nucleous of speakers in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Russia, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
		2nd – 1,4 m
		Tot – 23,3 m
57	Gan Chinese	Nat – 20,8 m	China (regions of Fujian, Anhui and Hubei).
		2nd – 1,8 m
		Tot – 22,6 m
58	Assam ese	Nat – 21,5 m	India, Bangladesh and Bhutan
		2nd – 1,0 m
		Tot – 22,5 m
59	Sindhi	Nat – 20,4 m	India and Pakistan (Southeast).
		2nd – 1,8 m
		Tot – 22,2 m
60	Mala gasy	Nat – 17,1 m	Madagascar, France (Reunion), Comoros, Mayotte.
		2nd – 4,7 m
		Tot – 21,8 m
61	Khme	Nat – 19,8 m	Cambodia and Vietnam, with significant nucleous of speakers in Thailand, Taiwan, United States and Australia.
		2nd – 1,3 m
		Tot – 21,1 m
62	Igbo	Nat – 18,4 m	Nigeria
		2nd – 1,9 m
		Tot – 20,3 m
63	Sa’ide Arabic	Nat – 18,3 m	Egypt (south of Cairo to the border with Sudan).
		2nd – 1,4 m
		Tot – 19,7 m
64	Sudanes e Arabic	Nat – 18,1 m	Sudan.
		2nd – 1,5 m
		Tot – 19,6 m
65	Greek	Nat – 14,9 m	Greece and Cyprus, with significant nucleous of speakers in the United Kingdom and the United States.
		2nd – 3,8 m
		Tot – 18,7 m
66	Saraiki	Nat – 17,6 m	Pakistan, with significant nucleous of speakers in India
		2nd – 0,2 m
		Tot – 17,8 m
67	Somali	Nat – 16,3 m	Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti
		2nd – 1,4 m
		Tot – 17,7 m
68	Cebuano	Nat – 16,3 m	Philippines
		2nd – 0,1 m
		Tot – 16,4 m
69	H ungarian	Nat – 14,9 m	Hungary, Austria, Israel, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Serbia
		2nd – 1,3 m
		Tot – 16,2 m
70	Chitag onian	Nat – 14,0 m	Bangladesh and Myanmar.
		2nd – 2,1 m
		Tot – 16,1 m
71	Mesopot amian Arabic	Nat – 13,5 m	Iraq and Syria (South), with significant nucleous of speakers in Iran and Turkey.
		2nd – 2,3 m
		Tot – 15,8 m
72	Zhuang Chinese	Nat – 13,1 m	China
		2nd – 2,2 m
		Tot – 15,3 m
73	Madur ese	Nat – 14,2 m	Madura Island (Indonesia), and Kangean islands and Sapudi in East Java.
		2nd – 1,1 m
		Tot – 15,3 m
74	Fula	Nat – 13,3 m	Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Republic Central Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Togo.
		2nd – 1,9 m
		Tot – 15,2 m
75	Shinhala	Nat – 14,0 m	Sri Lanka and India with significant nucleous of speakers in England and the United States.
		2nd – 1,1 m
		Tot – 15,1 m
76	Kazakh	Nat – 10,9 m	Kazakhstan, with significant nucleous of speakers in China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Russia and Iran
		2nd – 2,8 m
		Tot – 13,7 m
77	S wedish	Nat – 9,8 m	Sweden and Finland, with significant nucleous of speakers in the United States, Canada, Argentina and Australia.
		2nd – 3,6 m
		Tot – 13,4 m
78	Marwari	Nat – 12,9 m	India
		2nd – 0,3 m
		Tot – 13,2 m
79	Czec h	Nat – 11,5 m	Czech Republic, with significant nucleous of speakers in Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Israel, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine and the United States.
		2nd – 1,4 m
		Tot – 12,9 m
80	Hiligaynon	Nat – 9,4 m	Philippines (Visayas).
		2nd – 2,7 m
		Tot – 12,1 m
81	Magadhi	Nat – 11,3 m	India (south of Bihar).
		2nd – 0,6 m
		Tot – 11,9 m
82	Haitian Creole	Nat – 8,9 m	Haiti, with significant nucleous of speakers in Canada, United States, France, Republic Dominican, Cuba and Bahamas.
		2nd – 2,7 m
		Tot – 11,6 m
83	Quechua	Nat – 10,9 m	Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia and Argentina.
		2nd – 0,4 m
		Tot – 11,3 m
84	Chhattisgar h	Nat – 11,0 m	India (Chhattisgarh).
		2nd – 0,2 m
		Tot – 11,2 m
85	Uyghur	Nat – 8,3 m	China, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
		2nd – 2,9 m
		Tot – 11,2 m
86	De khni	Nat – 10,4 m	India.
		2nd – 0,7 m
		Tot – 11,1 m
87	Min Bei Chinese	Nat – 8,8 m	China, with significant nucleous of speakers in United States (California).
		2nd – 2,1 m
		Tot – 10,9 m
88	U yghur	Nat – 8,7 m	China (Xinjiang), with significant nucleous of speakers in Afghanistan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Belgium, Canada, United States, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, UK, Kyrgyz Republic, Sweden, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
		2nd – 2,1 m
		Tot – 10,8 m
89	B elarusian	Nat – 9,8 m	Belarus and Poland.
		2nd – 0,7 m
		Tot – 10,5 m
90	kinyarwanda	Nat – 9,3 m	Rwanda, Congo and Uganda
		2nd – 1,2 m
		Tot – 10,5 m
91	Ilokano	Nat – 8,1 m	Philippines and Hawaii..
		2nd – 2,3 m
		Tot – 10,4 m
92	Hebr ew	Nat – 6,1	Israel, with significant nucleous of speakers in United States, Gibraltar, Canada, Belgium, France, Argentina, UK, Germany, Russia and several other countries.
		2nd – 4,2 m
		Tot – 10,3 m
93	B ulgarian	Nat – 9,7 m	Bulgaria, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Serbia and Montenegro and Macedonia.
		2nd – 0,5 m
		Tot – 10,2 m
94	Najdi Arabic	Nat – 9,8 m	Saudi Arabia, with significant nucleous of speaking in Jordan, Iraq and Syria.
		2nd – 0,3 m
		Tot – 10,1 m
95	Zulu	Nat – 9,8 m	South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
		2nd – 0,1 m
		Tot – 9,9 m
96	Akan	Nat – 9,1 m	Ghana and Suriname.
		2nd – 0,2 m
		Tot – 9,3 m
97	Gulf Arabic	Nat – 8,2 m	Kuwait, the Saudi, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman.
		2nd – 0,7 m
		Tot – 8,9 m
98	Shona	Nat – 8,3 m	Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique.
		2nd – 0,2 m
		Tot – 8,5 m
99	Tatar	Nat – 8,1 m	Russia.
		2nd – 0,3 m
		Tot – 8,4 m
100	Fulfulde	Nat – 7,8 m	Nigeria.
		2nd – 0,5 m
		Tot – 8,3 m
X	Total	Nat– 5.769,6 b	Planet Earth
		2nd – 1.319,2 b
		Tot – 7.088,8 b
Nat = Native, 2nd = Second language and Tot = Total. m = million, b = billion

Notes

[1] English is the second most spoken language on the world (native speakers and others to use as a second language), but is the first language used on most world areas: scientific, commercial, diplomatic, academic, literature, internet, TV, Radio, Newspapers, etc.

[2] The Hindi is listed here separately from the Urdu to be different languages . The Hindi use Devanagari calligraphy, with extensive vocabulary inherited from Sanskrit and Urdu use Nastaliq calligraphy, with extensive vocabulary of Persian-Arabic origin. Despite this thousands of words have understood each other, so some linguists say language is the same – that the call of Hindustan – in two different forms of writing.

[3] A number of speakers of Russian language as a second language is decreasing in recent years due have been abolished “the obligation to study this language in the former USSR satellite countries.”

[4] The large number of people who use French as a second language is justified by scholars as
being a result of several factors, including: “… colonizations in the past, have been the diplomatic language International up to half of the 20th century, rich cultural production, efficient performance of the French alliance, and so on”.

[5] The Malay that in Indonesia is called the Indonesian language is the main language of the peoples who inhabit the Malay peninsula and the Indonesia. It is also called the Malay language in Singapore, Brunei and southern Thailand.

[6] The Egyptian Arabic is the most widespread form of Arabic due to the proliferation of films and other and cultural productions from Cairo (from the early 20th century) and the large number of Egyptian teachers who were hired to teach in several countries, especially in penísula Arabic.

[7] The Arab Maghrebi Arabic, called by the speakers of “Derija” (meaning dialect), is based on Arabic, French and Spanish and has a number of dialects – most understandable among themselves. It is the language/dialect predominant in the region of Maghreb – northern Africa, the Sahara desert and west of the Nile.

[8] Most of the words of Levantine Arabic is Arabic, but hundreds of others are of Turkish, Persian, English, French and Italian.

[9] Malayalam is not Malay, which is spoken in Malaysia.

Sources

01. Languages of the World – Languages Listing

02. David P Brown – Top 100 Languages by Population

03. G. Weber, “Top Languages“

04. CIA – World Factbook

05. UNESCO – Education

06. Index Mundi

07. Ethnologue: Languages of the World

08. Ethnologue – Languages of the World

09. Kryss Tal – The 30 Most Spoken Languages of the World

10. The World’s Most Widely Spoken Languages

11. 123 World Languages

12. Geographic Org – The 50 Most Widely Spoken Languages

13. Wikipedia – List of languages by number of native speaker

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Jornalista brasileiro residindo a 21 anos nos Estados Unidos - Boston MA. Trabalhando aqui a diversos anos na area da Construcao - Finish Carpentry

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47 Responses to The 100 most spoken languages on the world

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safitaa says:

July 7, 2009 at 11:30 pm

Each of the civilized world and his home Highfalutin and Syria, the cradle of civilization
http://www.safitaa.com

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Alexah32 says:

January 21, 2010 at 12:41 am

Congratulations for the content. It will be the basis of the work that I will present those coming weeks at school. Thanks.

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habib says:

January 24, 2010 at 5:09 pm

Turkish (Turkic) language is more than your list!!
because you sprated Turkic language to diffrent group like azeri, uygur, uzbek … it’s rong way to count number of spoken. Azeri, Uzbek, Uygur Kazak,.. are from same familiy of language TURKIC.
please!!!!!! 😦

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- frankherles says:
  
  January 24, 2010 at 9:06 pm
  
  Hi Habib
  Thank you for your comment.
  This issue is already related to research and the results will be used in the next update of this list. However, even when it comes to speaking the same family – as you correctly recorded, they are unintelligible to each other and use spelling rules inked.
  
  Reply
- brett says:
  
  January 26, 2011 at 3:49 pm
  
  hahahahaha hey HABIBI, rong is spelt rong by u hahahahahaa WRONG
  
  Reply
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Gonçalo says:

October 25, 2011 at 5:15 pm

Portuguese is not spoken by 270 million people, that’s impossible. You have to confirm your sources.
Around 205 million speak it as a mother tongue; around 220 million speak it as a mother and second language; and 240 million people live in the 9 countries and jurisdictions where Portuguese is the official or one of the co-official languages.

In Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Prince nearly 100% of the population speaks it. In Angola about 60% speak it. In Mozambique 40%. In Guinea-Bissau about 10%. in East Timor about 5%. And in Macau hardly 1%.

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Goku Saayan says:

January 1, 2012 at 1:16 pm

SWAHILI language… where is it on your list???…

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- frankherles says:
  
  January 1, 2012 at 9:52 pm
  
  We are checking sources to update this document, including the Swahili language. Thanks for your suggestion.
  
  Reply
  - emongaise says:
    
    April 20, 2012 at 12:11 pm
    
    where is your reply, swahili is being spoken by more than 200 million people in eastern and southern africa and is a national language for kenya, tanzania, uganda, comoros, democratic republic of congo, south sudan, somalia, rwanda, burundia, zambia etc
    
    Reply
    - frankherles says:
      
      April 21, 2012 at 11:23 am
      
      Dear Emongaise.
      Swahili (also known as Kiswahili ) is a Bantu language spoken in many African countries. However, your assertion that “…o Swahili is being spoken by more than 200 million people in
      eastern and southern africa” is quite different of the data that we have from variety sources (governments, universities, independent research …); examples:
      1. In the Comores the most spoken languages are Shikomoro (a blend of Swahili and Arabic), French and Arabic;
      2. In the Democratic Republic of Congo the official language is French and the most spoken languages are Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Lingala (trade language), Kikongo
      and Tshiluba;
      3. In the South Sudan the official language is English and all (more than 125, according to the government) indigenous languages are national languages (although there a strong
      program of “Arabization” in process along the northern border);
      4. In the Somalia the official language is Somali and the most spoken languages are Arabic, Swahili, English and Italian;
      5. In the Rwanda the official language is English and the most spoken languages are Rwanda (Ruanda or Rwandan – Kinyarwanda, Bantu vernacular), French and Kiswahili (Swahili)
      used in commercial centers;
      6. In the Zambia the official language is English and the most spoken languages are Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages.
      We would be grateful if you send us the sources of your information so we could check and cross with the data we have about this language.
      Thank you for your participation.
      
      Reply
      - Graham Stevenson says:
        
        September 12, 2013 at 4:57 pm
        
        population of Tanzania 45 million who ‘officially’ speak Kiswahili. Then add on those who speak it in Kenya and the surrounding countries (as you already have documented) and the fact that it is the official language of the East African Community and surely it must come on the list of 100 most spoken languages – at least 25th. A massive omission on your part I’m afraid.
        
        Reply
Luis Castro says:

January 28, 2012 at 1:59 pm

Hi. I am Galician (Spanish), and I must inform you that we DO NOT speak Portuguese in Galicia, we speak Spanish and Galician (which is a coofficially-recognized-language, apart from Portuguese) so you can start counting a couple 2,5 less million of Portuguese speakers. Thank you.

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- frankherles says:
  
  January 29, 2012 at 6:01 pm
  
  At no time were recorded as the Galician’s speaking Portuguese as mother tongue and even as a second language in the preparation of this work statistical table.
  Despite this, we know by governments documents from Spain and Portugal there is a small portion of the Galician population (on the border between Spain and Portugal) that, in addition to Spanish also speak Galician and Portuguese.
  Thank you for participating. Come back and participate whenever you want.
  
  Reply
P.R.RAJ says:

February 18, 2012 at 6:15 am

Tamil Language also spoken by Tamil people living in USA, United Kingtom, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Soudi Arabia,Bahrain Qatar, Kuwait & other Middle East Countries, South Africa & Australia- P.R. RAJ

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Tim Della says:

May 18, 2012 at 11:20 pm

Tagalog has 20+ million native speakers but almost all Filipinos know the language because it is the official language of the country along with English, and the Philippines itself has almost 100 million people. In addition, The US itself has almost 2 million Tagalog speakers as of 2010.

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سرا ئیکی says:

November 8, 2012 at 11:37 pm

Saraiki is the first language of more than 120 million people in the world.. (HEC, Islamabad pakistn.Letter No. 20-/R7D/09 -5243 Dated 20-01-2010″.So saraiki is the 9th largest language.)

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Carles Oriol says:

December 4, 2012 at 4:28 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language
There is catalan lenguage missing in this list. 11.5 million

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- [email protected] says:
  
  October 23, 2015 at 9:45 am
  
  El catalán no lo hablan ni en toda Cataluña. No llega ni a los 7 millones y no esta entre las primeras 150 lenguas del mundo. Es un dialecto residual.
  
  Reply
  - Ismael Pelegrí Pons says:
    
    February 8, 2016 at 9:40 am
    
    God Bless your ignorance!
    
    Reply
  - Xavier says:
    
    February 10, 2016 at 4:57 am
    
    Menudo comentario, demuestras mucha ignorancia.
    
    For all the other readers, Catalan language is spoken in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, most part of the Valencian Country, Andorra, part of France, part of Aragon and the Italian city of Alghero. It is no dialect of any language as it has its own grammatical system, its own literature and it has developed by itself in the aforementioned territories. Currently it has 11.5 milion speakers and a very high social impact and presence, especially in Catalonia.It is missing in this list
    
    Mónica, puedes comprobar estos datos en la fuente que quieras. La ignorancia lleva a algunos a la falta de respeto; te invito a informarte y a respetar todo y a todos. Saludos.
    
    Reply
Aik Tun says:

December 14, 2012 at 2:22 am

Hi. I’m Aik Tun. I’m from Myanmar(Burma). I think Burmese speaker is not only 35 millions. It is more than you say. Burmese have more than 60 millions speaker and it is not only speak in Myanmar. It is speak in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Bangladesh. Please check it. Thanks…

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MAURICIO says:

January 7, 2013 at 12:49 am

You entered Uyghur twice in 85 and 88
also Fula and Fufulde same language and you entered in 74 and 100
make the list longer to include Wolof, Bamana, Chichewa, Lingala, Twi, Finnish. and please put Swahili on the list.

Reply
- nickson says:
  
  February 11, 2013 at 10:22 am
  
  how can i contact MAURICIO
  
  Reply
nickson says:

February 11, 2013 at 10:20 am

as MAURICIO says put Swahili on the list. am Nickson from Uganda

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adelmira says:

June 1, 2013 at 2:46 am

http://www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/Swahili/ http://www.soas.ac.uk/africa/languages/languages-of-africa-at-soas-swahili.html
http://www.baylor.edu/swahili/
http://www.mambomagazine.com/nutshell-guides/arts-and-culture/swahili-speak
http://www.translationstoday.com/history/swahili-language-history.html
http://swahili.indiana.edu/
http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/swahili
http://www.amesall.rutgers.edu/languages/108-swahili
swahili language has to be in the top ten

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Gilbert Growl says:

August 4, 2014 at 8:45 am

Tamil is not my mother tongue .But I love Tamil. It is the oldest Indian language formed 2000 BC years ago Sanskrit formed 1500 BC .

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- [email protected] says:
  
  January 7, 2015 at 11:16 am
  
  tuzya aayla gilbya Marathi bolayla shik…tuzya bapana tari shikli hoti ka tamil…makadtondya chal neegh…Jay maharashtra
  
  Reply
pkyaa says:

November 1, 2014 at 10:17 am

Tuhjya aayla bhadvya Arabic kuthe ahe?? Zavnya tuzyaa aycha kesat maakad mutla…Arbi taak 4th number war nahitar tula dakhvto tikda yeyon…Chal Jay Maharashtra

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MARIO SERGIO PASSOS says:

April 19, 2015 at 11:14 am

there´s an error in that calculation: Just in Brazil there´s 202.000,00 million of Portuguese speakers!!!

Country Population (est. 2014)

Brasil 202.656.788

Mozambique 24.692.144

Angola 24.300.000

Portugal 10.813.834

Guinea Bissau 1.693.398

East Timor 1.201.542

Equatorial Guinea 722.254

Macau 587.914

Cape Verde 538.535

São Tome and Principe 190.428

World Total of Portuguese Speakers 267.396.837

Source: The World factbook by CIA – USA

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Mohammad says:

December 21, 2015 at 12:48 am

Why is Arabic split into 8 different languages? That doesn’t make sense. The only split that makes sense is the Maghrebi Arabic, which is typically difficult for other Arabs to understand. Other than that, all the other dialects are perfectly mutually intelligible. It’s kind of like splitting english into British, American, Australian, etc english…

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Dr Anil Biltoo says:

July 14, 2016 at 7:56 am

Swahili is missing – despite being the first language of Sub-Saharan Africa, with the number of speakers (L1 and L2) exceeding 100 million.

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Muhammad Shahid says:

August 14, 2016 at 12:36 am

Urdu Language is very popular, but now a days it has not been estimated the people spkeaking that language, how much….

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