Table of Contents
What language has the largest number of speakers?
The most spoken languages in the world
- English (1.132 million speakers)
- Mandarin (1.117 million speakers)
- Spanish (534 million speakers)
- French (280 million speakers)
- Arabic (274 million speakers)
- Russian (258 million speakers)
- Portuguese (234 million speakers)
What language has more speakers than any other?
Ethnologue (2021, 24th edition)
| Rank | Language | Total speakers (L1+L2) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | 1.348 billion |
| 2 | Mandarin Chinese (incl. Standard Chinese, but excl. other varieties) | 1.120 billion |
| 3 | Hindi (excl. Urdu) | 600 million |
| 4 | Spanish | 543 million |
Which country has the largest number of different spoken languages?
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea is the most multilingual country, with over 839 living languages, according to Ethnologue, a catalogue of the world’s known languages. The site ranked countries and territories based on the number of languages spoken as a first language within their borders.
How many languages have more than 45 million total speakers?
The following 34 languages are listed as having 45 million or more total speakers in the 2019 edition of Ethnologue, a language reference published by SIL International, which is based in the United States.
What is the difference between the world’s largest and least spoken languages?
While many of the world’s endangered languages have increasingly fewer speakers, the world’s largest languages continuing growing. In fact, the difference is so great that the world’s most spoken language has over one billion speakers while some of the world’s least spoken languages are down to only a handful.
How many languages are there in the world?
This is an approximate list of languages by the total number of speakers. It lists 34 languages having more than 45 million speakers. Lists such as these should be used with caution, for the following reasons: First, it is difficult to define exactly what constitutes a language as opposed to a dialect.
Why is the number of speakers of some languages exaggerated?
Sometimes speaker populations are exaggerated for political reasons, or speakers of minority languages may be under-reported in favour of a national language. The following languages are listed as having 40 million or more total speakers in the 2021 edition of Ethnologue.