Which Languages Are the Official Language of the Most Countries?

There are 55 countries around the world that recognize English as their official language, with many of these being found in Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, and other places in between. From Word.tips, this infographic takes a look at the official languages that are found in the most countries worldwide.

Click below to view the full-size infographic

The five most widespread languages around the world are English, French, Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese. According to data researched by Word.tips, English is the most commonly spoken language worldwide, having more than 1.13 billion native speakers.

It’s the official language of 55 different countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Jamaica, Indie, Dominica, Fiji, Ireland, Pakistan, and Singapore, among many others. The second most used official language is French, which is the official language of several countries including France, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Cameroon, Guinea, Haiti, and Madagascar.

For the third most used language around the world, Arabic, it’s the official language of 22 different countries, including Yemen, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and United Arab Emirates. According to the infographic there are several languages that are the official languages of just two countries each, including but not limited to Korean, Swedish, Greek, Turkish, Albanian, Swati, and Romanian.

It’s interesting to note that while English is the language with the highest total number of speakers, it’s actually Mandarin Chinese that has the most total native speakers. It’s estimated that there are 1.11 billion total speakers of Mandarian Chinese worldwide, and approximately 918 million people that speak it.

2 Responses

  1. Romie Frederick Littrell

    Rather confusing statements:
    “… English is the most commonly spoken language worldwide, having more than 1.13 billion native speakers.”

    “It’s interesting to note that while English is the language with the highest total number of speakers, it’s actually Mandarin Chinese that has the most total native speakers. It’s estimated that there are 1.11 billion total speakers of Mandarian (sic) Chinese worldwide, and approximately 918 million people that speak it.”

    Reply
  2. Peter Eggleton

    I am not sure that English is the official language of India, although it probably is in practice the language of officialdom. I believe the Mr Modi decided to make Hindi the official language, although by no means all, or even a majority, of Indians speak it.

    Reply

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