List of countries and territories where French is an official language

The following is a list of sovereign states and territories where French is an official or de facto language.

Countries where French is an official language

The following is a list of the 29 countries where French is an official language. Note that in most of these countries, French is not the only language, and therefore the population does not indicate the number of French-speakers.

In Belgium, the official languages are French, Dutch, and German. The country is divided in four linguistic parts: Brussels (officially bilingual, de-facto French-speaking majority), Wallonia (French) and Flanders (Dutch) and the German-speaking Community. See further:^{[clarification needed]}

French in Cameroon is another example of the heterogeneous Francophone world. It is different from the French spoken in France, Canada, or Gabon. There are different varieties of Cameroon French. French of Cameroon’s North part is different from French of the country’s South part. This is due to the fact that the country is neither socially nor culturally uniform. As a consequence, French will be different from one province/department to another.^[1] See further: languages of Cameroon.

In Canada, French was introduced during the 17th century with the French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1534. Quebec was founded by the French Samuel de Champlain in 1608. There are high chances that French immigrants going to Nouvelle-France (New-France) had to have good knowledge of regional French before their departure. Nowadays, the official languages in Canada are English and French; however, only the province of Quebec has a French-speaking majority. Sizable French-speaking minorities exist in the provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario, and Manitoba.


Nr.	Country	Continent	Population (2008)^[2]	French-speakers (2005 estimation)^[3]	Partial-French speakers (2005 estimation)	French-speakers, full and partial combined
#	-	Francophone World	367,428,669	NA	NA	162,348,020
1.	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Africa	66,514,506	60,800,000	6,240,000	61424000
2.	France	Europe	65,057,790	60,578,600¹	NA	60,578,600
3.	Canada	North America	33,143,600	7,741,955	2,848,745	10,590,700
4.	Madagascar	Africa	20,042,551	865,000	2,664,200	3,529,200
5.	Cameroon	Africa	18,467,692	2,950,300	4,393,100	7,343,400
6.	Ivory Coast	Africa	18,373,060	12,740,000	NA	12,740,000
7.	Burkina Faso	Africa	15,264,735	695,000	NA	695,000
8.	Niger	Africa	13,272,679	1,260,000	NA	1,260,000
9.	Senegal	Africa	12,853,259	1,170,000	2,457,000	3,627,000
10.	Mali	Africa	12,324,029	1,107,000	NA	1,107,000
11.	Rwanda	Africa	10,473,282	609,000	174,000	783,000
12.	Belgium	Europe	10,403,951	4,300,000	2,000,000	6,300,000
13.	Guinea	Africa	10,211,437	2,000,000	4,000,000	6,000,000
14.	Chad	Africa	10,111,337	1,940,000	NA	1,940,000
15.	Haiti	North America	8,924,553	5,664,000	5,622,500	6,286,500
16.	Burundi	Africa	8,691,005	390,000	234,000	624,000
17.	Benin	Africa	8,294,941	739,200	1,402,800	2,142,000
18.	Switzerland	Europe	7,581,520	1,509,600	2,072,000	3,582,120
19.	Togo	Africa	5,858,673	2,000,000	NA	2,000,000
20.	Central African Republic	Africa	4,434,873	945,000	NA	945,000
21.	Republic of the Congo	Africa	3,903,318	1,200,000	1,200,000	2,400,000
22.	Gabon	Africa	1,485,832	1,200,000	NA	1,200,000
23.	Comoros	Africa	731,775	312,200	NA	312,200
24.	Equatorial Guinea	Africa	616,459	100,000	200,000	300,000
25.	Djibouti	Africa	506,221	159,800		159,800
26.	Luxembourg	Europe	486,006	430,000	20,000	450,000
27.	Vanuatu	Oceania	215,446	99,000	NA	99,000
28.	Seychelles	Africa	82,247	4,000	44,000	48,000
29.	Monaco	Europe	32,796	23,400	NA	23,400

In addition to this, the Vatican City registers itself as a French-speaking country in the international organisations with which it has relationships.

Dependent entities where French is an official language


Nr.	Entity	Continent	Population	Status
1.	Pondicherry	Asia	973,829	Union Territory of India
2.	French Polynesia	Oceania	267,000	Overseas Collectivity of France
3.	New Caledonia	Oceania	224,824	Overseas Collectivity of France
4.	[[\|]]	Europe	91,533	British Crown dependency
6.	Guernsey	Europe	65,726	British Crown dependency
7.	Saint Martin	North America	29,376	Overseas Collectivity of France
8.	Wallis and Futuna	Oceania	16,448	Overseas Collectivity of France
9	Saint Barthélemy	North America	7,492	Overseas Collectivity of France
10.	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	North America	7,044	Overseas Collectivity of France
11.	French Southern and Antarctic Lands	Antarctica, Africa	140	TAAF districts
12.	Clipperton	North America	0	French state private property

Sub-national regions located within countries where French is the official national language are not included in this list. The five overseas regions of France (Départements d'Outre-Mer, or DOM): Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion, have the same status as metropolitan France and are not listed here. French has a certain legal status in the US-Louisiana but it's not considered de-jure official.

Countries where French is commonly used but not official

After gaining independence in the 1950s and 1960s, the Arabic-speaking countries of the Maghreb: Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, strived to reduce the use of French by implementing different arabisation policies. However, the language switch was difficult because competence in Standard Arabic (which is different from the Maghrebi varieties) was far behind competence in French. French remains the language of the private sector and close contacts with France and other French-speaking countries ensures the language's survival. Mauritania, also an Arabic-speaking country, abolished French as a de jure official language in 1991, but has like its northern neighbours kept it as the de facto second language.

In Mauritius, English is considered the official language, however French is the dominant language of mass communications and business, the French-based Mauritian Creole is the main native language and serves as the country's lingua franca.

In the United States, French is de facto co-official with English in the states of Louisiana and Maine and is widely spoken in New England but speakers can be found nationwide. French is the second most widely studied foreign language after Spanish in the nation and along with English and Spanish, is also used in government notices and services.

French is spoken in small amounts mainly by the elderly and elite populations in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. This is due to the heavy French influence on the former territory known as French Indochina, which included these countries. However, since the early 1990s and 2000s, there has been a revival of the French language in these three countries and French is used for international relations and is at times used as an administrative language.^[4]

Lebanon is officially Arabic-speaking, but French is commonly spoken, especially by Christians, and the language receives some government recognition. Lebanon does not only count an important number of French speakers; it is also Francophile. The linguistic plurality of Lebanon is due to its important place in the business world. This explains why so many Lebanese speak fluent French and/or English. Until the civil war, some Christian communities refused to speak Arabic. Christians used to go to high schools where lessons were given in French. Thus theses communities became French speaking. French is generally more spoken by wealthy classes of the population. Although English developed these last years in the country, French stays the first foreign language in Lebanon. Indeed, 45% of the population is French speaking (against 30% of English speakers).

Catalan is the official language of Andorra, a small country which lies along the French-Spanish border, French is also commonly used and understood due to the country's proximity to France and French influence.

Location of Maghreb (French is a second language in all countries of the Grand Maghreb except Libya)


Nr.	Country	Continent	Population	Fluent French-speakers (2005 estimation)^[5]^[6]	Partial-French speakers	French-speakers, Fluent and partial combined
1.	Morocco	Africa	34,343,219	4,144,500	5,986,500	10,131,001
2.	Algeria	Africa	33,769,669	21,000,000	NA	21,000,000
3.	Tunisia	Africa	10,383,577	6,360,000	NA	6,360,000
4.	Lebanon	Asia	4,088,941	684,000	760,000	1,444,000
5.	Mauritania	Africa	3,364,940	167,400	155,000	322,400
6.	Mauritius	Africa	1,274,189	180,000	692,500	872,500
7.	Andorra	Europe	72,413	34,200	16,400	50,600