List of countries where Spanish is an official language

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 This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the Spanish Wikipedia. (February 2013)
Map highlighting countries where Spanish is an official language, or a de facto official language.

The following is a list of sovereign states and dependent territories where Spanish is an official language, the national language or the de facto official language.

Contents

Spanish as official or national language [edit]

Spanish is an official language in 21 sovereign states and one dependent entity, totalling around 423 million people.

De jure official and national langage [edit]

Sovereign states where Spanish is a de jure official language.

Country Population (2011)[1]
 Spain[2] 46,754,784
 Colombia[3] 44,725,543
 Peru[4] 29,248,943
 Venezuela[5] 27,635,743
 Ecuador[6] 15,007,343
 Guatemala[7] 13,824,463
 Cuba[8] 11,087,330
 Bolivia[9] 10,118,683
Honduras Honduras[10] 8,143,564
 Paraguay[11] 6,459,058
 El Salvador[12] 6,071,774
 Costa Rica[13] 4,576,562
 Panama[14] 3,460,462
 Equatorial Guinea[15] 668,225

Dependent entities where Spanish is a de jure official language.

Country Population (2011)[1]
 Puerto Ricoa [16] 3,989,133
Eastern Island 5813

De facto official and national language [edit]

Sovereign states where Spanish is a de facto official language. Spanish is the main or only language of communication of the vast majorite of the population; official documents are written chiefly or solely in that language; and it is spoken and taught in schools as part of the official curriculum; yet, it is not established by legislation as an official Language.

Country Population (2011)[1]
 Mexico[17] 113,724,226
 Argentina[18] 41,769,726
 Chile[19] 16,888,760
 Dominican Republic[20] 9,956,648
 Nicaragua[21] 5,666,301
 Uruguay[22] 3,308,535
 Western Sahara 513,000

a Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the U.S. where Spanish and English are the official languages[16] and Spanish is the primary language.

Former official language [edit]

In the Philippines, Spanish was the country's first lingua franca from the beginning of Spanish rule in the late 16th century, through the country's independence, until a constitutional change in 1973. Spanish was then re-designated an official language by presidential decree, and remained official until the 1987 Constitution removed its official status.[citation needed]

On 8 August 2007, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced that the Philippine government asked help from the Spanish Government in her plan to reintroduce the Spanish as a required subject in the Philippine school system.[23] The Constitution of the Philippines states that "Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis" and that the Constitution itself will be translated into Spanish.[24] It is estimated that in 1996 there were 1,816,389 Spanish speakers in the Philippines.[25]

Commonly used language [edit]

Spanish is the most studied foreign language in the United States and many important public documents are published in both English and Spanish.[26] Spanish is also de facto official in the U.S. state of New Mexico along with English and is increasingly used alongside English nationwide in business and politics.[27] With over 50 million native speakers and second language speakers, the United States now has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world after Mexico.[28] The Spanish language is not official but also holds a special status (in the education system, the media, and some official documents) in Andorra and Gibraltar.[29] Spanish is used for international commerce in Brazil due to being surrounded mostly by Spanish-speaking countries and Spanish is widely taught as a foreign language. A similar situation exists in Belize, where Spanish is the first language of almost half of the population.

Country Population Native speakers
 United States 314,687,369 37,579,787
 Philippines 92,337,852 440,000
 Belize 301,270 106,795
 Andorra 84,484 29,907
 Gibraltar 27,967 13,857

Spanish-based creole language [edit]

The Spanish-based creole language of Papiamentoa is official in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.[citation needed] Chavacano is spoken in the Philippines, and Palenquero is spoken in Colombia but are not official.

a Papiamento is considered both a Spanish- and Portuguese-based creole language.[31][32]

International organizations where Spanish is official [edit]

Country Creole language Estimated speakers[30] Year Status
 Philippines Chavacano 689,000[25] 1992 Regional.[citation needed]
 Bonaire and  Curaçao Papiamento 185,155[25] 1981 Official.[citation needed]
 Aruba Papiamento 60,000[citation needed] N/A Official.[citation needed]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c "The World Factbook". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2009-08-11. 
  2. ^ Spanish Constitution, Art. 3-1
  3. ^ Constitution of Colombia, Art. 10
  4. ^ Constitution of Peru, Art. 48
  5. ^ Constitution of Venezuela, Art. 9
  6. ^ Constitution of Ecuador, Art. 2
  7. ^ Constitution of Guatemala, Art. 143
  8. ^ Constitution of Cuba, Art. 2
  9. ^ Constitution of Bolivia, Art. 5
  10. ^ Constitution of Honduras, Art. 6
  11. ^ Constitution of Paraguay, Art. 140
  12. ^ Constitution of El Salvador, Art. 62
  13. ^ Constitution of Costa Rica, Art. 76
  14. ^ Constitution of Panama, Art. 7
  15. ^ Constitution of Equatorial Guinea, Art. 4
  16. ^ a b Constitution of Puerto Rico, Art. 3, Section 5: It is mandatory to be able to read and write in either English or Spanish in order to be a member of the Legislative Assembly.
  17. ^ Mexico does not have an official language at the federal level [1]; however, Spanish is the national language and spoken by the majority.[citation needed]
  18. ^ The Argentine Constitution does not establish Spanish as an official language.
  19. ^ The Constitution of Chile does not establish Spanish as an official language. However, Chilean legislation establishes that schools must teach sex students to communicate in the "Castilian language" (General Law on Education (Articles 29 and 30), Chile Library of Congress.)
  20. ^ The Constitution of the Dominican Republic does not establish Spanish as an official language.
  21. ^ The Constitution of Nicaragua does not establish Spanish as an official language.
  22. ^ The Constitution of Uruguay does not establish Spanish as an official language.
  23. ^ "La presidenta filipina pedirá ayuda a España para oficializar el español" (in Spanish). MSN Noticias. Archived from the original on 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2007-08-30. 
  24. ^ Constitution of the Philippines, Article XIV, Sections 7–8.
  25. ^ a b c Número de hispanohablantes en países y territorios donde el español no es lengua oficial, Instituto Cervantes.
  26. ^ "Language Rights and New Mexico Statehood", The Excluded Student: Educational Practices Affecting Mexican Americans in the Southwest, Mexican American Education Study, Report III, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972, pp. 76–82[dead link]
  27. ^ [2]
  28. ^ "Más 'speak spanish' que en España". Retrieved 2007-10-06.  (Spanish)
  29. ^ Constitution of Gibraltar
  30. ^ "Ethnologue". Retrieved 2008-06-13. 
  31. ^ Attila Narin (June 1998). "Papiamentu Facts". Retrieved 2008-06-13. 
  32. ^ Dalby, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of Languages. Bloomsbury Publishing plc. p. 489. ISBN 0-7475-3117-X. 
 
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