List of languages of the world by the number of native speakers

Posted in Miscellaneous

This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use. Languages are listed for secondary locations only when spoken by more than 1% of the population.

Since the definition of a single language is to some extent arbitrary, some mutually intelligible idioms with separate national standards or self identification have been listed separately, depending on conventional use, for example Scandinavian, Hindustani, and Malay.

The relevant estimate for the number of native speakers for the purposes of this list is that of SIL Ethnologue. Other estimates may vary, and the numbers should not be taken as more than indicating the rough order of magnitude of a linguistic community.  

Language  Family  Ethnologue (2005 estimate) Encarta estimate Other estimates #
Mandarin Sino-Tibetan, Chinese 873 million -- 873 million native, 178 million second language = 1.05 billion total  1
Spanish Indo-European, Italic, Romance 322 million 322 million Encarta also says 322 to 358 million , 400 million native, 100 million second language = 500 million   2
English Indo-European, Germanic, West 309 million 341 million 375 million native, over 1.5 billion worldwide.  3
Arabic Afro-Asiatic, Semitic 206 million 422 million Total population of Arab countries: 323 million (CIA 2006 est). 4
Standard Hindi Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 181 million 366 million   5
Portuguese Indo-European, Italic, Romance 177.6 million 176 million   6
Bengali Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 171 million 207 million 196 million native (2004 CIA) (includes 14 million Chittagonian and 10.3 million Sylheti). 7
Russian Indo-European, Slavic, East 145 million 167 million 145 million native (2004 CIA), 110 million second language = 255 million total (2000 WCD) 8
Japanese Japanese-Ryukyuan 122 million 125 million 128 million native, 2 million second language = 130 million total 9
German Indo-European, Germanic, West 95.4 million 100.1 million 101 million native (95 million Standard German [2004 CIA], 5 million Swiss German), 60 million second language in EU  + 5 - 20 million worldwide. 101 million native, ~70 million second language, ~170 million total 10
Wu Sino-Tibetan, Chinese 77.2 million -- 77 million native 11
Javanese Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Sunda-Sulawesi 75.5 million 75.6 million 70-75 million 12
Telugu Dravidian, South Central 69.7 million 69.7 million 76 million native, 10 million second language, = 86 million total (2001) 13
Marathi Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 68 million 68 million 68 million native, 3 million second language, = 71 million total 14
Vietnamese Austro-Asiatic, Mon-Khmer, Vietic 67.4 million 68 million 70 million native, perhaps up to 16 million second language, = ~ 86 million total 15
Korean Considered either language isolate or Altaic 67 million 78 million 71 million 16
Tamil Dravidian, Southern 66 million 66 million 68 million native, 9 million second language, = 77 million total  17
French Indo-European, Italic, Romance 64.8 million 78 million
115 million "real speakers" (includes some second-language speakers),  250 million second language (worldwide including Africa and North Africa) = 365 million total and up to 500 million total with significant knowledge of the language 
18
Italian Indo-European, Italic, Romance 61.5 million 62 million 61 million native 19
Punjabi Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan Western Punjabi: 60.8 million
Eastern Punjabi: 28 million
57 million 61?62 million (2000 WCD) (taken together with Eastern Punjabi (28 million) and Siraiki (14 million): 104 million total) 20
Urdu Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 60.5 million 60.3 million 61 million native, 43 million second language, = 104 million total 21
Cantonese Sino-Tibetan, Chinese 54.8 million -- 66 million native, perhaps up to about 100 million total 22
Turkish Altaic, Turkic, Oghuz 50.6 million 61 million 74 million (2006 estimate) + 15 million second language = 89 million 23
Min Sino-Tibetan, Chinese 46.2 million -- Southern Min: 49m, Northern Min 10.43m 25
Gujarati Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 46.1 million 46.1 million -- 26
Maithili Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 45 million (included in "Hindi")   27
Polish Indo-European, Slavic, West 42.7 million 52 million -- 28
Ukrainian Indo-European, Slavic, East 39.4 million 47 million -- 29
Persian/Farsi Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian 39.4 million 31.3 million ca. 72 million; sometimes taken to include all of Southwestern Iranian (Luri, Tati, and other); ca. 62 million second language, ca. 134 million total 30
Malayalam Dravidian, Southern 35.8 million 35.7 million 38 million native, 10 million second language = 48 million 31
Kannada Dravidian, Southern 35.4 million 35.4 million 55 million native, 9 million second language, = 64 million total 32
Oriya Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 31.7 million 32.3 million -- 33
Azerbaijani Altaic, Turkic, Oghuz 31 million 31.4 million 25?35 million native, including Qashqai (data for Iran uncertain); 8 million second language (outside Iran) 34
Hakka Sino-Tibetan, Chinese 29.9 million -- 34 million 35
Bhojpuri Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 26 million (included in "Hindi") 126 million total 36
Burmese Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Lolo-Burmese 22 million (1996) 32.3 million (2006) 32 million native, 10 million second language, = 42 million total 37
Gan Sino-Tibetan, Chinese 21 million -- 48 million, 29 million in Jiangxi 38
Thai Tai-Kadai, Kam-Tai, Be-Tai, Tai-Sek, Tai 20.05 million (1996) 46.1 million (2006) ~31 million native (1983 SIL, 1990 Diller, 2000 WCD) (dated data), = ~60 million first and second language (2001 A. Diller). Includes Southern Thai, Northern Thai/Western Lao, but not Shan, Isan, or Lao. 39

 

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