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You may wonder what is the most spoken language in the world. This can be a bit difficult to know. First, we need to consider whether we only include native speakers or non native speakers as well? Also, do we include dialects? With that in mind, check out the top 100 most spoken languages in the world based on number of native speakers.
Table of Contents
#100 – 90. Most Spoken Language in the World
100. Konkani
Number of native speakers:7.4 million
Percentage of world population:0.11%
Spoken mostly in:India
99. Balochi
Number of native speakers:7.6 million
Percentage of world population:0.11%
Spoken mostly in:Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan
98. Belarusian
Number of native speakers:7.6 million
Percentage of world population:0.11%
Spoken mostly in:Belarusand Russia
97. Xhosa
Number of native speakers:7.6 million
Percentage of world population:0.11%
Spoken mostly in:South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho
96. Mossi
Number of native speakers:7.6 million
Percentage of world population:0.11%
Spoken mostly in:Burkina Faso,Benin,Ivory Coast,Ghana,Mali, and Togo
95. Hiligaynon/Ilonggo(Visayan)
Number of native speakers:8.2 million
Percentage of world population:0.12%
Spoken mostly in:Philippines
94. Uyghur
Number of native speakers:8.2 million
Percentage of world population:0.12%
Spoken mostly in:Xinjiang, China
93. Shona
Number of native speakers:8.3 million
Percentage of world population:0.13%
Spoken mostly in:Zimbabwe and Mozambique
92. Hmong
Number of native speakers:8.4 million
Percentage of world population:0.13%
Spoken mostly in:China,Vietnam,Laos,MyanmarandThailand
91. Swedish
Number of native speakers:8.7 million
Percentage of world population:0.13%
Spoken mostly in:Sweden, Finland, and Estonia
90. Kirundi
Number of native speakers:8.8 million
Percentage of world population:0.13%
Spoken mostly in:Burundi
#89 – 80. Most Spoken Language in the World
89. Quechua
Number of native speakers:8.9 million
Percentage of world population:0.13%
Spoken mostly in:Central Andes Mountains region
88. Ilocano
Number of native speakers:9.1 million
Percentage of world population:0.14%
Spoken mostly in:Philippines
87. Eastern Min(Fuzhounese)
Number of native speakers:9.5 million
Percentage of world population:0.14%
Spoken mostly in:Southern China and Taiwan
86. Haitian Creole
Number of native speakers:9.6 million
Percentage of world population:0.15%
Spoken mostly in:Haiti
85. Dhundhari
Number of native speakers:9.6 million
Percentage of world population:0.15%
Spoken mostly in:India
84. Kinyarwanda
Number of native speakers:9.8 million
Percentage of world population:0.15%
Spoken mostly in:Rwanda and Uganda
83. Czech
Number of native speakers:10 million
Percentage of world population:0.15%
Spoken mostly in:Czech Republic
82. Zulu
Number of native speakers:10.4 million
Percentage of world population:0.16%
Spoken mostly in:South Africa,Lesotho, and Swaziland
81. Sylheti
Number of native speakers:10.7 million
Percentage of world population:0.16%
Spoken mostly in:Bangladeshand India
80. Northern Min
Number of native speakers:10.9 million
Percentage of world population:0.16%
Spoken mostly in:China
#79 – 70. Most Spoken Language in the World
79. Kazakh
Number of native speakers:11 million
Percentage of world population:0.17%
Spoken mostly in:Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan
78. Akan
Number of native speakers:11 million
Percentage of world population:0.17%
Spoken mostly in:Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Benin
77. Deccan
Number of native speakers:11 million
Percentage of world population:0.17%
Spoken mostly in:South India
76. Chewa
Number of native speakers:12 million
Percentage of world population:0.17%
Spoken mostly in:Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe
75. Greek
Number of native speakers:12 million
Percentage of world population:0.18%
Spoken mostly in:Greece
74. Chhattisgarhi
Number of native speakers:12 million
Percentage of world population:0.19%
Spoken mostly in:India
73. Hungarian
Number of native speakers:13 million
Percentage of world population:0.19%
Spoken mostly in:Hungary
72. Haryanvi
Number of native speakers:14 million
Percentage of world population:0.21%
Spoken mostly in:India
71. Magahi
Number of native speakers:14 million
Percentage of world population:0.21%
Spoken mostly in:India
70. Marwari
Number of native speakers:14 million
Percentage of world population:0.21%
Spoken mostly in:India
#69 – 60. Most Spoken Language in the World
69. Somali
Number of native speakers:15 million
Percentage of world population:0.22%
Spoken mostly in:Horn of Africa
68. Madurese
Number of native speakers:15 million
Percentage of world population:0.23%
Spoken mostly in:Island of Madura, Sapudi Islands, Java, and Malaysia
67. Assamese
Number of native speakers:15 million
Percentage of world population:0.23%
Spoken mostly in:India
66. Turkmen
Number of native speakers:16 million
Percentage of world population:0.24%
Spoken mostly in:Turkmenistan,Iran,Afghanistan,Uzbekistan, and Russia
65. Khmer
Number of native speakers:16 million
Percentage of world population:0.24%
Spoken mostly in:Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand
64. Zhuang
Number of native speakers:16 million
Percentage of world population:0.24%
Spoken mostly in:China
63. Chittagonian
Number of native speakers:16 million
Percentage of world population:0.24%
Spoken mostly in:Bangladesh
62. Sinhalese
Number of native speakers:16 million
Percentage of world population:0.25%
Spoken mostly in:Sri Lanka
61. Nepali
Number of native speakers:17 million
Percentage of world population:0.25%
Spoken mostly in:Nepal
60. Saraiki
Number of native speakers:17 million
Percentage of world population:0.26%
Spoken mostly in:Pakistan
#59 – 50. Most Spoken Language in the World
59. Malagasy
Number of native speakers:18 million
Percentage of world population:0.28%
Spoken mostly in:Madagascar
58. Serbo-Croatian
Number of native speakers:19 million
Percentage of world population:0.28%
Spoken mostly in:Serbia,Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Montenegro, andKosovo
57. Kurdish
Number of native speakers:21 million
Percentage of world population:0.31%
Spoken mostly in:Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia
56. Dutch
Number of native speakers:21 million
Percentage of world population:0.32%
Spoken mostly in:Netherlands and Flanders
55. Cebuano(Visayan)
Number of native speakers:21 million
Percentage of world population:0.32%
Spoken mostly in:Philippines
54. Gan Chinese
Number of native speakers:22 million
Percentage of world population:0.33%
Spoken mostly in:China
53. Awadhi
Number of native speakers: 22 million
Percentage of world population:0.33%
Spoken mostly in:India, Nepal, and Fiji
52. Azerbaijani
Number of native speakers:23 million
Percentage of world population:0.34%
Spoken mostly in:Azerbaijan
51. Igbo
Number of native speakers:24 million
Percentage of world population:0.36%
Spoken mostly in:Nigeria
50. Oromo
Number of native speakers:24 million
Percentage of world population:0.36%
Spoken mostly in:Ethiopiaand Kenya
#49 – 40. Most Spoken Language in the World
49. Romanian
Number of native speakers:24 million
Percentage of world population:0.37%
Spoken mostly in:Romania and Moldova
48. Fula
Number of native speakers:24 million
Percentage of world population:0.37%
Spoken mostly in:Western Africa
47. Amharic
Number of native speakers:25 million
Percentage of world population:0.37%
Spoken mostly in:Ethiopia
46. Sindhi
Number of native speakers:26 million
Percentage of world population:0.39%
Spoken mostly in:South Asia
45. Uzbek
Number of native speakers:26 million
Percentage of world population:0.39%
Spoken mostly in: Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, and China
44. Maithili
Number of native speakers:27 million
Percentage of world population:0.41%
Spoken mostly in:India and Nepal
43. Yoruba
Number of native speakers:28 million
Percentage of world population:0.42%
Spoken mostly in:Nigeria,Benin, and Togo
42. Tagalog(Filipino)
Number of native speakers:28 million
Percentage of world population:0.42%
Spoken mostly in:Manila
41. Bhojpuri
Number of native speakers:29 million
Percentage of world population:0.43%
Spoken mostly in:India and Napal
40. Ukrainian
Number of native speakers:30 million
Percentage of world population:0.46%
Spoken mostly in:Ukraine
#39 – 30. Most Spoken Language in the World
39. Hakka
Number of native speakers:31 million
Percentage of world population:0.46%
Spoken mostly in:China and Taiwan
38. Burmese
Number of native speakers:33 million
Percentage of world population:0.5%
Spoken mostly in:Myanmar
37. Odia(Oriya)
Number of native speakers:33 million
Percentage of world population:0.5%
Spoken mostly in:India
36. Hausa
Number of native speakers:34 million
Percentage of world population:0.52%
Spoken mostly in:Niger and Nigeria
35. Sundanese
Number of native speakers:38 million
Percentage of world population:0.57%
Spoken mostly in:Java, Banten, and Jakarta
34. Malayalam
Number of native speakers:38 million
Percentage of world population:0.57%
Spoken mostly in:India
33. Xiang(Hunanese)
Number of native speakers:38 million
Percentage of world population:0.58%
Spoken mostly in:China
32. Kannada
Number of native speakers:38 million
Percentage of world population:0.58%
Spoken mostly in:India
31. Pashto
Number of native speakers:39 million
Percentage of world population:0.58%
Spoken mostly in:Afghanistanand Pakistan
30. Polish
Number of native speakers:40 million
Percentage of world population:0.61%
Spoken mostly in:Poland,Slovakia,Czech Republic,Germany,Hungary, and central-westernLithuania
#29 – 20. Most Spoken Language in the World
29. Persian
Number of native speakers:45 million
Percentage of world population:0.68%
Spoken mostly in:Iran,Afghanistan,Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Russia, and Azerbaijan
28. Southern Min
Number of native speakers:47 million
Percentage of world population:0.71%
Spoken mostly in: China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar
27. Jin
Number of native speakers:48 million
Percentage of world population:0.72%
Spoken mostly in:China and Inner Mongolia
26. Gujarati
Number of native speakers:49 million
Percentage of world population:0.74%
Spoken mostly in:India
25. Thai
Number of native speakers:56 million
Percentage of world population:0.85%
Spoken mostly in:Shanghai
24. Yue(Cantonese)
Number of native speakers:59 million
Percentage of world population:0.89%
Spoken mostly in:Liangguang, westernHainan,Hong KongandMacau
23. Italian
Number of native speakers:59 million
Percentage of world population:0.9%
Spoken mostly in:Italy
22. Turkish
Number of native speakers:63 million
Percentage of world population:0.95%
Spoken mostly in:Turkey,Northern Cyprus,Cyprus,Bulgaria,Macedonia,Greece,Iraq, Syria,Azerbaijan,Kosovo,Romania,Iraq,Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Syria
21. Urdu
Number of native speakers:66 million
Percentage of world population:0.99%
Spoken mostly in:South Asia
20. Tamil
Number of native speakers:70 million
Percentage of world population:1.06%
Spoken mostly in:India and Sri Lanka
#19 – 10. Most Spoken Language in the World
19. Marathi
Number of native speakers:73 million
Percentage of world population:1.1%
Spoken mostly in:India
18. French
Number of native speakers:75 million
Percentage of world population:1.12%
Spoken mostly in:France, North Africa, West Africa, and Canada
17. Korean
Number of native speakers:76 million
Percentage of world population:1.14%
Spoken mostly in:Korea
16. Vietnamese
Number of native speakers:76 million
Percentage of world population:1.14%
Spoken mostly in:Vietnam
15. Telugu
Number of native speakers:76 million
Percentage of world population:1.15%
Spoken mostly in:India
14. Malay
Number of native speakers:77 million
Percentage of world population:1.16%
Spoken mostly in:Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor, Brunei, Singapore, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands
13. Wu(Shanghainese)
Number of native speakers:80 million
Percentage of world population:1.2%
Spoken mostly in:Shanghai
12. Javanese
Number of native speakers:82 million
Percentage of world population:1.25%
Spoken mostly in:Indonesia
11. German
Number of native speakers:95 million
Percentage of world population:1.39%
Spoken mostly in:Germany
10. Punjabi
Number of native speakers:100 million
Percentage of world population:1.44%
Spoken mostly in:India and Pakistan
#9 – 1. Most Spoken Language in the World
9. Japanese
Number of native speakers:125 million
Percentage of world population:1.92%
Spoken mostly in:Japan
8. Russian
Number of native speakers:155 million
Percentage of world population: 2.42%
Spoken mostly in:Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and other post-Soviet countries
7. Bengali
Number of native speakers:205 million
Percentage of world population:3.05%
Spoken mostly in:Bangladeshand India
6. Portuguese
Number of native speakers:215 million
Percentage of world population:3.08%
Spoken mostly in:Portugal and Brazil
5. Arabic
Number of native speakers:295 million
Percentage of world population:4.23%
Spoken mostly in:Countries of theArab League,parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe
4. Hindi[a]
Number of native speakers:310 million
Percentage of world population:4.46%
Spoken mostly in:Northern India
3. English
Number of native speakers:360 million
Percentage of world population:5.52%
Spoken mostly in:United States, England, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
2. Spanish
Number of native speakers:405 million
Percentage of world population:5.85%
Spoken mostly in:Spain,Hispanic America, and Equatorial Guinea
1. Mandarin
Number of native speakers: 955 million
Percentage of world population:14.1%
Spoken mostly in:Northern and southwestern China
Ideas for the top 100 most spoken language in the world were taken from the following sources.[1]Fluent in 3 Months –What are the Most Spoken Languages in the World?[2]Babbel –The 10 Most Spoken Languages In The World[3]Mikael Parkvall, “Världens 100 största språk 2007” (The World’s 100 Largest Languages in 2007), inNationalencyklopedin. Asterisks mark the2010 estimatesfor the top dozen… Continue reading
References[+]
FAQs
Which is the No 1 language of the world? ›
1. English (1,132 million speakers) Like Latin or Greek at the time, English is the universal language of today. It is the default language in international business, tourism, technology, and much more.
Which country has 37 language? ›Bolivia. Although Zimbabwe is considered the country with the most official languages at a national level, Bolivia has a far higher number. Their Constitution recognizes 37 different languages on a regional level!
What are the 7000 languages? ›7000 Languages is a non-profit that creates free language-learning software in partnership with Indigenous communities around the world. Research has shown that kids who learn their heritage language have higher self-esteem, do better in school, and are more likely to graduate.
What are the 23 main languages? ›The Top 23 Languages On Earth
Chinese, English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Persian, German, Russian, Malay, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, Lahnda, Tamil, Urdu, Korean, Hindi, Bengali, Japanese, Vietnamese, Telugu, and Marathi.
- English – 1,121 million speakers. ...
- Mandarin Chinese – 1,107 million speakers. ...
- Hindi – 698 million speakers. ...
- Spanish – 512 million speakers. ...
- French – 284 million speakers. ...
- Arabic – 273 million speakers. ...
- Bengali – 265 million inhabitants. ...
- Russian – 258 million speakers.
Arabic. Arabic is fifth out of the most spoken languages in the world, with the number of native speakers amounting to 319 million. Originating in the Arabian Peninsula, Arabic has several dialects that are not necessarily compatible with each other and the dialects do differ from one another.
What are the 11 official languages? ›South Africa's Constitution recognises 11 official languages: Sepedi (also known as Sesotho sa Leboa), Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu. For centuries South Africa's official languages were European – Dutch, English, Afrikaans.
What's the hardest language? ›Mandarin
As mentioned before, Mandarin is unanimously considered the most difficult language to master in the world! Spoken by over a billion people in the world, the language can be extremely difficult for people whose native languages use the Latin writing system.
Italian language, or Italiano—as it is commonly known, is a Romance language and one of the languages most people would readily agree on as one of the softest and sweetest languages in existence. The language of revolutionists like Dante da Vinci, and Pavarotti, Italian is spoken by 66 million people globally.
What is the easiest language to learn? ›- Frisian. Frisian is thought to be one of the languages most closely related to English, and therefore also the easiest for English-speakers to pick up. ...
- Dutch. ...
- Norwegian. ...
- Spanish. ...
- Portuguese. ...
- Italian. ...
- French. ...
- Swedish.
Which language sounds the best? ›
- 1 French. When I hear the online platform I use to learn French speak a sentence, I am captivated by how nice it sounds. ...
- 2 Italian. ...
- 3 Japanese. ...
- 4 Spanish. ...
- 5 Portuguese. ...
- 6 Arabic. ...
- 7 English. ...
- 8 Russian.
This pick should come as no surprise. Spanish has always been a go-to language for English speakers to learn due to its practicality and wide reach. Well, it's also one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers.
Which country speaks less English? ›The Methodology
To narrow down this list, we first looked at the 13 countries where fewer than 10 percent of the population speaks English, according to The Telegraph. These include China, The Gambia, Malawi, Colombia, Swaziland, Brazil, Russia, Argentina, Algeria, Uganda, Yemen, Chile and Tanzania.
Belgium. Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French and German.
How many countries speak English? ›A mammoth list of English speaking countries. English is the official language of 67 different countries and 27 non-sovereign entities around the world. But apart from that, English is also spoken in many countries where it's not an official language.
How many dead languages are there? ›Currently, there are 573 known extinct languages. These are languages that are no longer spoken or studied. Many were local dialects with no records of their alphabet or wording, and so are forever lost. Others were major languages of their time, but society and changing cultures left them behind.
What is meant by a dead language? ›/ˌded ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪdʒ/ a language that is no longer spoken by anyone as their main language: Latin is a dead language.
How many languages have existed? ›It's hard to come up with exact numbers, but linguists have estimated something like 31,000 languages have existed in human history (and that's the lowest estimate). Currently, there are roughly six thousand languages spoken in the world.
What are the top 20 most spoken languages in the world? ›- English – 1,121 million speakers. ...
- Mandarin Chinese – 1,107 million speakers. ...
- Hindi – 698 million speakers. ...
- Spanish – 512 million speakers. ...
- French – 284 million speakers. ...
- Arabic – 273 million speakers. ...
- Bengali – 265 million inhabitants. ...
- Russian – 258 million speakers.
- 1 French. When I hear the online platform I use to learn French speak a sentence, I am captivated by how nice it sounds. ...
- 2 Italian. ...
- 3 Japanese. ...
- 4 Spanish. ...
- 5 Portuguese. ...
- 6 Arabic. ...
- 7 English. ...
- 8 Russian.
Which language is hardest to learn? ›
- Russian.
- Hindi.
- Vietnamese.
- Thai.
- Korean.
- 13. Japanese.
- Mandarin Chinese.
- Arabic.
- Frisian. Frisian is thought to be one of the languages most closely related to English, and therefore also the easiest for English-speakers to pick up. ...
- Dutch. ...
- Norwegian. ...
- Spanish. ...
- Portuguese. ...
- Italian. ...
- French. ...
- Swedish.
South Africa's Constitution recognises 11 official languages: Sepedi (also known as Sesotho sa Leboa), Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu. For centuries South Africa's official languages were European – Dutch, English, Afrikaans.
What is the first language in the world in 2022? ›Online language tool Babbel reports that English is the most spoken language in the world, with a number of speakers totaling more than 1.4 billion in 2022, according to Statistic & Data. This combines both native and non-native speakers.
Is English hard to learn? ›The English language is widely regarded as one of the most difficult to master. Because of its unpredictable spelling and challenging to learn grammar, it is challenging for both learners and native speakers.
What is the cutest language? ›- Italian. When it comes to the most attractive languages, for many people the native language of Italy likely springs to mind. ...
- Arabic. ...
- English. ...
- (Brazilian) Portuguese. ...
- 5. Japanese. ...
- Turkish. ...
- French.
Italian language, or Italiano—as it is commonly known, is a Romance language and one of the languages most people would readily agree on as one of the softest and sweetest languages in existence. The language of revolutionists like Dante da Vinci, and Pavarotti, Italian is spoken by 66 million people globally.
What are the top 5 most difficult languages? ›- Mandarin Chinese.
- Arabic.
- Korean.
- Thai.
- Hungarian.
2. Arabic. Arabic is the queen of poetic languages, the 6th official language of the UN and second on our list of toughest languages to learn.
What is the 20 hardest language to learn? ›- Hindi (17/30) Number of native speakers: 260 million. ...
- Polish (17/30) Number of native speakers: 45 million. ...
- Czech (17/30) Number of native speakers: 10.7 million. ...
- Persian (18/30) ...
- Gaelic (18/30) ...
- Arabic (19/30) ...
- Korean (20/30) ...
- Mandarin Chinese (21/30)
What is the 3rd hardest language to learn? ›
- Mandarin Chinese. Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. ...
- Arabic. ...
- Polish. ...
- Russian. ...
- Turkish. ...
- Danish.
- Mandarin. Mandarin is spoken by 70% of the Chinese population, and is the most spoken language in the world. ...
- Arabic. ...
- 3. Japanese. ...
- Hungarian. ...
- Korean. ...
- Finnish. ...
- Basque. ...
- Navajo.
However, the closest major language to English, is Dutch. With 23 million native speakers, and an additional 5 million who speak it as a second language, Dutch is the 3rd most-widely spoken Germanic language in the world after English and German.
Can you learn 2 languages at once? ›Answer: Thankfully, your brain can definitely handle learning two (or more!) languages at once! (Two down, 6,998 to go.) But there are also some ways you can make this linguistic task easier on yourself.