List of languages by total number of speakers

This is an approximate list of languages by the total number of speakers. It lists 37 languages having more than 45 million speakers. Lists such as these should be used with caution, for the following reasons:

First, it is difficult to define exactly what constitutes a language as opposed to a dialect. For example, some languages, including Chinese and Arabic, cover several mutually unintelligible varieties and are sometimes considered single languages and sometimes language families. Conversely, colloquial registers of Hindi and Urdu are almost completely mutually intelligible, so they are sometimes classified as one language, Hindustani, instead of two separate languages.^[a]

Second, there is no single criterion for how much knowledge is sufficient to be counted as a second-language speaker. For example, English has about 400 million native speakers but, depending on the criterion chosen, can be said to have as many as 2 billion speakers.^[1]

There are also difficulties in obtaining reliable counts of speakers, which vary over time because of population change and language shift. In some areas, there is no reliable census data, the data is not current, or the census may not record languages spoken, or record them ambiguously. Sometimes speaker populations are exaggerated for political reasons, or speakers of minority languages may be under-reported in favour of a national language.^[2] However, all such rankings should be used with caution, because it is not possible to devise a coherent set of linguistic criteria for distinguishing languages in a dialect continuum.^[3]

Top languages by population

Ethnologue (2020, 23rd edition)

The following 37 languages are listed as having 45 million or more total speakers in the 2020 edition of Ethnologue, a language reference published by SIL International, which is based in the United States.^[4] Entries identified by Ethnologue as macrolanguages are not included in this section.

Rank	Language	Family	Branch	First language (L1)		Second language (L2)		Total No. of speakers
Rank	Language	Family	Branch	No. of speakers	Rank	No. of speakers	Rank	Total No. of speakers
1	English	Indo-European	Germanic	370 million	3	898.4 million	1	1.268 billion^[5]
2	Mandarin Chinese (incl. Standard Chinese)	Sino-Tibetan	Sinitic	921 million	1	198.7 million	4	1.120 billion^[6]
3	Hindi	Indo-European	Indo-Aryan	342 million	4	295.3 million	2	637 million^[7]
4	Spanish	Indo-European	Romance	463 million	2	74.9 million	9	538 million^[8]
5	French	Indo-European	Romance	77.3 million	17	199.3 million	3	277 million^[9]
6	Standard Arabic	Afro-Asiatic	Semitic	—	—	274.0 million	—	274 million^[10]
7	Bengali	Indo-European	Indo-Aryan	228 million	5	36.8 million	13	265 million^[11]
8	Russian	Indo-European	Slavic	154 million	7	104.3 million	6	258 million^[12]
9	Portuguese	Indo-European	Romance	228 million	6	24.2 million	15	252 million^[13]
10	Indonesian	Austronesian	Malayo-Polynesian	43.6 million	—	155.4 million	5	199 million^[14]
11	Urdu	Indo-European	Indo-Aryan	69.0 million	20	101.6 million	7	171 million^[15]
12	Standard German	Indo-European	Germanic	75.5 million	19	56.1 million	10	132 million^[16]
13	Japanese	Japonic	—	126 million	8	0.1215 million	27	126 million^[17]
14	Swahili	Niger–Congo	Bantu	—	—	82.3 million	8	99 million^[18]
15	Marathi	Indo-European	Indo-Aryan	83.1 million	10	12.2 million	17	95 million^[19]
16	Telugu	Dravidian	South-Central	82.4 million	12	11.0 million	18	93 million^[20]
17	Turkish	Turkic	Oghuz	79.5 million	14	5.7 million	20	85 million^[21]
18	Yue Chinese (incl. Cantonese)	Sino-Tibetan	Sinitic	84.5 million	9	0.402 million	24	85 million^[22]
19	Tamil	Dravidian	Southern	77.8 million	16	6.0 million	19	84 million^[23]
20	Western Punjabi (Lahnda)	Indo-European	Indo-Aryan	82.8 million	11	—	—	83 million^[24]
21	Wu Chinese (incl. Shanghainese)	Sino-Tibetan	Sinitic	81.7 million	13	0.063 million	28	82 million^[25]
22	Korean	Koreanic	—	79.4 million	15	—	—	79 million^[26]
23	Vietnamese	Austroasiatic	Vietic	76.0 million	18	1.0 million	23	77 million^[27]
24	Hausa	Afro-Asiatic	Chadic	—	—	25.0 million	14	73 million^[28]
25	Javanese	Austronesian	Malayo-Polynesian	68.3 million	21	—	—	68 million^[29]
26	Egyptian Spoken Arabic	Afro-Asiatic	Semitic	67.8 million	22	—	—	68 million^[30]
27	Italian	Indo-European	Romance	64.6 million	23	3.1 million	22	68 million^[31]
28	Gujarati	Indo-European	Indo-Aryan	56.5 million	24	4.2 million	21	61 million^[32]
29	Thai	Kra–Dai	Zhuang–Tai	—	—	40.0 million	12	61 million^[33]
30	Amharic	Afro-Asiatic	Semitic	—	—	—	—	57 million^[34]
31	Kannada	Dravidian	Southern	—	—	12.9 million	16	56 million^[35]
32	Iranian Persian	Indo-European	Iranian	55.0 million	25	—	—	55 million^[36]
33	Bhojpuri	Indo-European	Indo-Aryan	52.2 million	26	0.160 million	26	52 million^[37]
34	Min Nan Chinese (incl. Hokkien)	Sino-Tibetan	Sinitic	48.2 million	—	0.387 million	25	49 million^[38]
35	Jinyu Chinese	Sino-Tibetan	Sinitic	47.1 million	—	—	—	47 million^[39]
36	Filipino	Austronesian	Malayo-Polynesian	—	—	45.0 million	11	45 million^[40]
37	Nigerian Pidgin	English Creole	—	—	—	—	—	45 million^[41]

Notes

^ For further examples of mutually intelligible varieties that are often, and even legally, classified as separate languages, see Malay language, Persian language and Serbo-Croatian.

References

^ Crystal, David (March 2008). "Two thousand million?". English Today. 24: 3–6. doi:10.1017/S0266078408000023.
^ Crystal, David (1988). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge University Press. pp. 286–287. ISBN 978-0-521-26438-9.
^ Paolillo, John C.; Das, Anupam (31 March 2006). "Evaluating language statistics: the Ethnologue and beyond" (PDF). UNESCO Institute of Statistics. pp. 3–5. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
^ "Summary by language size". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
^ English at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Chinese, Mandarin at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Hindi at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Spanish at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ French at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Arabic, Standard at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Bengali at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Russian at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Portuguese at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Indonesian at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Urdu at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ German, Standard at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Japanese at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Swahili at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Marathi at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Telugu at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Turkish at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Chinese, Yue at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Tamil at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Punjabi, Western at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Chinese, Wu at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Korean at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Vietnamese at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Hausa at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Javanese at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Arabic, Egyptian Spoken at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Italian at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Gujarati at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Thai at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Amharic at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Kannada at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Persian, Iranian at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Bhojpuri at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Chinese, Min Nan at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Chinese, Jinyu at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Filipino at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
^ Pidgin, Nigerian at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

External links

[1] For further examples of mutually intelligible varieties that are often, and even legally, classified as separate languages, see Malay language, Persian language and Serbo-Croatian.

[2] Crystal, David (March 2008). "Two thousand million?". English Today. 24: 3–6. doi:10.1017/S0266078408000023.

[3] Crystal, David (1988). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge University Press. pp. 286–287. ISBN 978-0-521-26438-9.

[Paolillo&Das-4] Paolillo, John C.; Das, Anupam (31 March 2006). "Evaluating language statistics: the Ethnologue and beyond" (PDF). UNESCO Institute of Statistics. pp. 3–5. Retrieved 17 November 2018.

[5] "Summary by language size". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2020-11-14.

[6] English at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[7] Chinese, Mandarin at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[8] Hindi at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[9] Spanish at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[10] French at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[11] Arabic, Standard at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[12] Bengali at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[13] Russian at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[14] Portuguese at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[15] Indonesian at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[16] Urdu at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[17] German, Standard at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[18] Japanese at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[19] Swahili at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[20] Marathi at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[21] Telugu at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[22] Turkish at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[23] Chinese, Yue at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[24] Tamil at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[25] Punjabi, Western at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[26] Chinese, Wu at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[27] Korean at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[28] Vietnamese at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[29] Hausa at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[30] Javanese at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[31] Arabic, Egyptian Spoken at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[32] Italian at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[33] Gujarati at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[34] Thai at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[35] Amharic at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[36] Kannada at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[37] Persian, Iranian at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[38] Bhojpuri at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[39] Chinese, Min Nan at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[40] Chinese, Jinyu at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[41] Filipino at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[42] Pidgin, Nigerian at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

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Top languages by population

Ethnologue (2020, 23rd edition)

See also

Notes

References

External links