The World's Most Widely Spoken Languages

(Work updated on July 21, 2010)

Comrie (1998), Weber (1997), and the Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) 1999
Ethnologue Survey comparing the number of speakers of each language and the
number of countries using each language.

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This question is a very interesting one that has a rather complicated answer.
Estimates of how many people speak a language are quite general and can vary
considerably. For example, nglish estimates vary from 275 to 450 million,
Spanish from 150 to over 300 million, Hindi from 150 to 350 million, and Russian
from 150 to 180 million.

To further complicate matters, the definition of ͞speaker͟ can be vague. Some

surveys of languages give information on native speakers only. Others count both
native speakers and „
 speakers (those who use the language regularly or
primarily even though it is not their native language).

Lastly, it is important to consider not only the population (number) of language

speakers, but also the geographic distribution of these languages. Some
languages have relatively large populations of native speakers but are used
almost exclusively in a few countries. On the other hand, other languages have
relatively small populations of native speakers but are used in many different
countries as an official or national language.

The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) thnologue Survey (1999) lists the
following as the top languages by population:
(number of native speakers in parentheses)

1.c jhinese* (937,132,000)

2.c Spanish (332,000,000)
3.c nglish (322,000,000)
4.c rengali (189,000,000)
5.c Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000)
6.c Îrabic* (174,950,000)
7.c åortuguese (170,000,000)
8.c Russian (170,000,000)
 9.c Rapanese (125,000,000)
10.cüerman (98,000,000)
11.c0rench* (79,572,000)

* The totals given for Chinese, Arabic, and French include more than one SIL
variety.

The following list is from Dr. rernard jomrie͛s article for the 



(1998):
(number of native speakers in parentheses)

1.c Mandarin jhinese (836 million)

2.c Hindi (333 million)
3.c Spanish (332 million)
4.c nglish (322 million)
5.c rengali (189 million)
6.c Îrabic (186 million)
7.c Russian (170 million)
8.c åortuguese (170 million)
9.c Rapanese (125 million)
10.cüerman (98 million)
11.c0rench (72 million)

The following list is from üeorge Weber͛s article in O


 (Vol. 2, Dec
1997):
(number of native speakers in parentheses)

1.c Mandarin jhinese (1.1 billion)

2.c nglish (330 million)
3.c Spanish (300 million)
4.c Hindi/Urdu (250 million)
5.c Îrabic (200 million)
6.c rengali (185 million)
7.c åortuguese (160 million)
8.c Russian (160 million)
9.c Rapanese (125 million)
10.cüerman (100 million)
11.cåunjabi (90 million)
 12.cRavanese (80 million)
13.c0rench (75 million)

However, in terms of „
 speakers, Weber submits the following list:

(number of speakers in parentheses)

1.c 0rench (190 million)

2.c nglish (150 million)
3.c Russian (125 million)
4.c åortuguese (28 million)
5.c Îrabic (21 million)
6.c Spanish (20 million)
7.c jhinese (20 million)
8.c üerman (9 million)
9.c Rapanese (8 million)

Thus, if you add the secondary speaker populations to the primary speaker
populations, you get the following (and I believe more accurate) list:
(number of speakers in parentheses)

1.c Mandarin jhinese (1.12 billion)

2.c nglish (480 million)
3.c Spanish (320 million)
4.c Russian (285 million)
5.c 0rench (265 million)
6.c Hindi/Urdu (250 million)
7.c Îrabic (221 million)
8.c åortuguese (188 million)
9.c rengali (185 million)
10.cRapanese (133 million)
11.cüerman (109 million)

The following is a list of these languages in terms of the number of countries

where each is spoken. The number that follows is the total number of countries
that use that language (from Weber, 1997):

1.c nglish (115)

2.c 0rench (35)
3.c Îrabic (24)
 4.c Spanish (20)
5.c Russian (16)
6.c üerman (9)
7.c Mandarin (5)
8.c åortuguese (5)
9.c Hindi/Urdu (2)
10.crengali (1)
11.cRapanese (1)

The number of countries includes
 
 

 „ (where the language has full legal
or official status), 

 
 
 „(where the language has some legal or
official status and is an influential minority language, such as English in India or
French in Algeria)and 
 
 „ (where the language has no legal status,
but is an influential minority language in trade, tourism, and the preferred foreign
language of the young, such as English in Japan or French in Romania).

After weighing six factors (number of primary speakers, number of secondary

speakers, number and population of countries where used, number of major
fields using the language internationally, economic power of countries using the
languages, and socio-literary prestige), Weber compiled the following list of the
world's ten most influential languages:
(number of points given in parentheses)

1.c nglish (37)

2.c 0rench (23)
3.c Spanish (20)
4.c Russian (16)
5.c Îrabic (14)
6.c jhinese (13)
7.c üerman (12)
8.c Rapanese (10)
9.c åortuguese (10)
10.cHindi/Urdu (9)

Source: A research of Saint Ignatius High School, jleveland, OH, USÎ.