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List of languages by number of native speakers

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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, Dutch and Afrikaans, Indonesian 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.

Current distribution of Human Language Families
Current distribution of Human Language Families

Contents

1 Top 20 2 10 to 60 million native speakers 3 2 to 10 million native speakers 4 1 to 2 million native speakers 5 100,000 to 1 million speakers 6 10,000 to 100,000 speakers 7 Below 10,000 8 Macrolanguages 9 References 10 See also 11 External links

Top 20

Further information: Ethnologue list of most spoken languages
Language Family Ethnologue (2005 estimate)[1] Encarta estimate[2] Other estimates Ranking by Ethnologue estimate
Mandarin Sino-Tibetan, Chinese 873,000,000 *1,210,000,000[2] 882,000,000 native, 178,000,000 second language = 1,050,000,000 total[3]
*Encarta estimate includes all Chinese dialects 1
Hindustani Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 366,000,000[4] 366,000,000 Standard Hindi 325,000,000, Ancient Hindi 100,000,000; A total of 650,000,000 including Urdu and secondary speakers, does not include Maithili. All Hindi dialects are mutually intelligible. 2
Spanish Indo-European, Italic, Romance 322,300,000[5] 322,000,000 - 358,000,000[6] Ethnologue 14th edition listed 358 million native speakers[7]. Total of 417 million including second-language speakers (1999).[8][9] 3
English Indo-European, Germanic, West 309,350,000[10] 341,000,000 Over 1,500,000,000 worldwide.[11] Also see List of countries by English-speaking population which numbers 850,000,000 worldwide (as a total of first and additional language spoken). 4
Arabic Afro-Asiatic, Semitic 206,000,000 422,039,637

According to Encarta, which classified Chinese as a single language, Arabic is perceived to be the second largest language among native speakers[12] Used by more than a billion Muslims around the world, it is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.[13]

5
Portuguese Indo-European, Italic, Romance 177,500,000 246,000,000

176 million native[14].

6
Bengali Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 171,000,000 207,000,000 196 million native (2004 CIA) (includes 14 million Chittagonian and 10.3 million Sylheti). 7
Russian Indo-European, Slavic, East 145,000,000 167,000,000 165 million native, 110 million second language = 275 million total 8
Japanese Japanese-Ryukyuan 122,400,000 125,000,000 128 million native, 2 million second language = 130 million total 9
German Indo-European, Germanic, West 95,400,000 100,100,000 101 million native (88 million Standard German, 5 million Swiss German, 8 million Austrian German), 60 million second language in EU[15] + 5 - 20 million worldwide. 10
Punjabi Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 88,000,000 57,000,000 61–62 million (2000 WCD) (taken together with Eastern Punjabi (28 million) and Siraiki (14 million): 104 million total) 11
Wu Sino-Tibetan, Chinese 77,200,000 -- 77 million native 12
Javanese Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Sunda-Sulawesi 75,500,000 75,600,000 70-75 million 13
Telugu Dravidian, South Central 69,700,000 69,700,000 70 million native, 5 million second language, = 75 million total (2001)[16] 14
Marathi Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 68,000,000 68,000,000 68 million native, 3 million second language, = 71 million total 15
Vietnamese Austro-Asiatic, Mon-Khmer, Vietic 67,400,000 68,000,000 70 million native, perhaps up to 16 million second language, = ~ 86 million total 16
Korean Considered either language isolate or Altaic 67,000,000 77,000,000 79 million if including secondary and non-native speakers.[17] 17
Tamil Dravidian, Southern 66,000,000 66,000,000 68 million native, 9 million second language, = 77 million total[16] 18
French Indo-European, Italic, Romance 64,860,000[18]
 78,000,000
 113 million “native and real speakersâ€[19] (includes 64,473,140 French people) , 250 million second language (worldwide including Africa and North Africa) = 363 million (as a total of first and additional language spoken) and up to 500 million total with significant knowledge of the language (2008).[20] 19
Italian Indo-European, Italic, Romance 61,500,000 62,000,000 Regarded as fourth or fifth most studied language in the world, therefore there are about 120 million italophones in the world. 20

10 to 60 million native speakers

Language Family Ethnologue (2005 estimate)[21] Encarta estimate[22] Other estimates Ranking by Ethnologue estimate
Cantonese Sino-Tibetan, Chinese 54.8 million -- 66 million 21
Sindhi Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan Official in India, Pakistan. Significant communities in People’s Republic of China (Hong Kong) ?, Oman? and Gibraltar. 54.5 million (2006) 41.5 million native, 13 million second language, = 30 million total (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk) 22
Turkish Altaic, Turkic, Oghuz 50 million 61 million 74 million (2006 estimate)[23] + 15 million second language = 89 million 23
Min Sino-Tibetan, Chinese 46.2 million -- Southern Min: 49m, Northern Min 10.43m 24
Gujarati Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 46.1 million 46.1 million -- 25
Maithili Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan 45 million (included in "Hindi") 26
Polish Indo-European, Slavic, West 42.7 million 52 million -- 27
Ukrainian Indo-European, Slavic, East 39.4 million 47 million -- 28
Persian Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian 39.4 million [24] 31.3 million ca. 72 million;[25] sometimes taken to include all of Southwestern Iranian (Luri, Tati, and other); ca. 62 million second language[citation needed], ca. 134 million total 29
Malayalam Dravidian, Southern - India 35.8 million 35.7 million 38 million native, 10 million second language = 48 million 30
Kannada Dravidian, Southern 35.4 million 35.4 million 55 million native, 9 million second language, = 64 million total[citation needed] 31
Tamazight (Berber) Afro-Asiatic, Berber, Northern National language in Algeria, Mali and Niger (Tuaregs); unrecognized in Morocco, Libya and Tunisia. Large migrant communities in France, Benelux, Spain and Germany . 32.3 million (2006) 37+ million (1998) 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[26] 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
Language Family Official status and where spoken natively, or as an immigrant language, by more than 1% of the population SIL estimate[2] Other estimates Ranking by SIL estimate
Sundanese Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Sunda-Sulawesi Native to Indonesia (origin in western Java) 27 million (2006) 27 million (1990) 40
Romanian Indo-European, Italic, Romance Official in Moldova, Romania, Serbia (Vojvodina). Significant communities in Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, USA. 26.3 million (2006) 26 million native,[2] 4 million second language. The total is about 30 million.[27] 41
Hausa Afro-Asiatic, Chadic, West Official in Niger, north Nigeria. Significant communities in Chad, Benin, Ghana, Sudan 24.2 million (2006) 24 million native, ~15 million second language, = ~40 million total 42
Pashto Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Eastern Official in Afghanistan. Native to Pakistan. Significant communities in Iran, United Arab Emirates. 60 million (2006) 65-70 million (data uncertain; ethnic population ~60 million) 43
Serbo-Croatian Indo-European, Slavic, South Official in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, under names Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian respectively. Significant communities in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia. 21.1 million (2006) 17 million 44
Uzbek Altaic, Turkic, Eastern Official in Uzbekistan. Native to Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan 20.1 million (2006) 20 million (1995) 45
Dutch Indo-European, Germanic, West Official in Belgium, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Suriname. Significant communities in South Africa, Bonaire island and Sint Maarten island 20 million (2006) 25 million[28][15] 46
Yoruba Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, Defoid, Yoruboid Official in Nigeria. 20 million (2006) 19 million native, 2 million second language, = 21 million total (1993) 47
Amharic Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, South Official in Ethiopia. Significant communities in Israel. 17.4 million (2006) 27 million native (32.7% Ethiopia [1994 census] and 2.7 million emigrants), 10% (7 million) as a second language = 34 million total 48
Oromo Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East Cushitic National language of Ethiopia. Significant communities in Kenya 17.2 million (2006) 24 million native (31.6% of Ethiopia [1994 census]), ~2 million second language, = 26 million total (1998 census) 49
Indonesian Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian 23.1 million, national language in Indonesia 17.1 million 140 million second language 50
Filipino Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Borneo-Philippines Official and Native in Philippines. Significant communities in Canada, People’s Republic of China (Hong Kong), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United States (Alaska, California, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands). 17 million (2006) 22 million native (2000 census), ~65 million second language, = 85 million total 51
Kurdish Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern Official in Iraq. Native to Armenia, Iran, Syria, Turkey. Significant communities in Germany, Lebanon. 16 million (all varieties) ~31,417,000[citation needed] (see article for full list) 52
Language Family Official status and where spoken natively, or as an immigrant language, by more than 1% of the population SIL estimate[2] Number of speakers Ranking by number of native speakers
Somali Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East Official in Somalia. Native to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya. Significant communities in Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Yemen. 9.8 million (2006) 10-16 million native and at least 500,000 second-language speakers.million (2004 WCD) 49
Lao Tai-Kadai, Kam-Tai, Tai Official in Laos. Native to Thailand. 3.2 million (2006) ~19 million Lao-Phutai dialects (including Isan) (data dated) 50
Cebuano Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Borneo-Philippines Native to Philippines 15 million (2006) 18.5 million native, ~11.5 million second language, = 30 million total (2000 census) 51
Greek Indo-European, Greek Official in Cyprus, Greece. Significant communities in Albania, Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA. 15 million (2007) 12 million (2004), up to 10–12 million more second language 52
Malay Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Sunda-Sulawesi, Malayic Official in Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore. Native to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand. Significant communities in Australia, Bahrain. 23.6 million (2006) 18 million native, 3 million second language, = 21 million total (not counting Indonesian) 53
Igbo Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, Igboid Official in Nigeria 18 million (2006) 18 million native (1999 WA), unknown number second language. 54
Malagasy Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Borneo-Philippines, Barito Official in Madagascar. Significant communities in Mayotte, Réunion. 10.5 million (2006) 17 million 55
Nepali Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan Official in Nepal, India (Sikkim). Significant communities in Bhutan. approx. 30 million in Nepal, 16 million as native tongue and 15 million as a second language (2006) 40 million (2006) 56
Assamese Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan Official in India (Assam). Significant communities in Bhutan and Bangladesh. 15.4 million (2006) 15 million (1997). Assamese is spoken and/or understood by most everyone in the state of Assam. Assam had a population of 26.7 million in 2003-04. So, Assamese has another 8-10 million second language speakers. Assamese is also understood and spoken widely in Arunachal Pradesh with a population of 1.1 million. These are mostly second or third language speakers. Various tribes in Nagaland with a population 2 million use Nagamese, a variant of Assamese, for communication. Thus, a total of approximately, 28-30 million people speak and understand Assamese. 57
Shona Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantu National language of Zimbabwe. Significant communities in Botswana, Mozambique. 14 million (2006) 15 million native, 1.8 million second language, = 16–17 million total, including Ndau, Manyika (2000 A. Chebanne) 58
Khmer Austro-Asiatic, Mon-Khmer, Khmer Official in Cambodia. Significant communities in Thailand, United States (California), Vietnam 8 million (2006) 14 million native, 1 million second language, = 15 million total (2004) 59
Zhuang Tai-Kadai, Kam-Tai, Tai Official in People's Republic of China (Guangxi) 14 million (2006) 14 million native (1992), unknown number second language 60
Madurese Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Sunda-Sulawesi Native to Indonesia (Originally Java, Madura) 13.7 million (2006) 14 million (1995) 61
Hungarian Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Ugric Official in Hungary, Serbia (Vojvodina), Slovenia, Austria. Significant communities in Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, United States, Israel 14.5 million (2006) 14 million native (1995) 62
Sinhalese Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan Official in Sri Lanka. Significant communities in United Arab Emirates 13.2 million (2006) 13 million native, 2 million second language, = 15 million total (1993) 63
Fula Niger-Congo, Atlantic, Northern, Senegambian Official in Niger, Nigeria. National language in Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal. Significant communities in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Sierra Leone. 11.4 million (2006) ~13 million (all varieties) 64
Czech Indo-European, Slavic, West Official in Czech Republic. 12 million (2006) 12 million (1990 WA). 65

2 to 10 million native speakers

Language Family Official status and where spoken natively by more than 1% of the population SIL estimate[29] Number of speakers Ranking by number of native speakers
Zulu Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantu Official in South Africa. Significant communities in Lesotho, Swaziland 9.6 million (2006) 9.6 million native, ~16 million second language, = ~25 million total (1996 census) 68
Quechua Quechuan Official in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru. Significant communities in Argentina 8.3 million (2006) 10.4 million, all varieties 69
Kazakh Altaic, Turkic, Northwestern, Southern Official in Kazakhstan. Significant communities in People's Republic of China (Xinjiang), Russia, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan 8.2 million (2006) 12 million 70
Tajik Indo-European, Indo-Iranian Official in Tajikistan. Significant communities in Uzbekistan 4.4 million. 7.9-17 million native (estimates vary due to lack of official data, moreover these exclude Tajiks of Afghanistan) 71
Chichewa (Nyanja) Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantu Official in Malawi, Zambia. Significant communities in Mozambique, Zimbabwe. 9.3 million native (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk), 0.4 million second language (1999 WA), = 9.7 million total 72
Haitian Creole Indo-European, Romance, Creole Official in Haiti. Significant communities in Bahamas, Canada (Quebec), Cuba, Cayman Islands (UK), Dominican Republic, France (Guadeloupe), United States (Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York). 7.4 million (2006) 12 million (2005) 73
Belarusian Indo-European, Slavic, East Official in Belarus. Significant communities in Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland, Russia 10.2 million (2006) 9.1 million (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk) 74
Lombard Indo-European, Romance Native to Italy -- 5 million Western Lombard + 3 million Eastern Lombard + others = 9.13 million (Ethnologue 2006) 75
Hebrew Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, North Central Official in Israel. Significant communities in USA (New York, California) and Gibraltar. 9.42 million (2006) 90
Swedish Indo-European, Germanic, North National language of Sweden. National language in Finland. 9 million (2006) 8.8 million (1986), ~9 million (2005) 76
Kongo Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantu National language in Angola, Congo-Brazzaville (Kituba), Congo-Kinshasa. 4.7 million (2006) 8.7 million, all varieties, including Yombe and creolized Kituba (1986–2002) (dated data) 77
Akan Niger-Congo, Kwa National language in Ghana 7 million (2006) 8.3 million native, ~1 million second language, = ~10 million total (2004 SIL) 78
Albanian Indo-European, isolate Official in Albania, Macedonia, Republic of Kosovo . Significant communities in Greece, Italy. 6.0 million 3.6 million (data from Albania) 79
Hmong Hmong-Mien China. Significant communities in France (French Guiana), Laos, United States (Minnesota, Wisconsin), Vietnam 2.8 million (2006) ~4 million (Lemoine, 2005) 80
Yi Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Burmic People's Republic of China 4.2 million (2006) 7.8 million ethnic Yi (2000 census) 81
Tshiluba Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantu National language of Congo-Kinshasa 7.8 million native, 0.7 million second language, = 8.5 million total (1991 UBS). Includes 1.5 million Kiluba. 82
Ilokano Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Borneo-Philippines Philippines. Significant communities in United States (Hawaii). 8 million (2006) 7.7 million native (2000 census), ~2.3 second language = 10 million total 83
Uyghur Altaic, Turkic, Southeastern, Eastern Official in People's Republic of China (Xinjiang). Significant communities in Kazakhstan 7.6 million (2006) 7.6 million 84
Neapolitan Indo-European, Romance Native to Italy -- 7.5 million native 85
Bulgarian Indo-European, Slavic, South Official in Bulgaria. Significant communities in Moldova, Ukraine, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, USA 9 million (2006) 7.7 million in Bulgaria (2005) and ~1 million abroad = 8.5 million native 86
Kinyarwanda Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantu Official in Rwanda. Significant communities in Congo-Kinshasa, Uganda 7.3 million (1998) 87
Xhosa Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantu Official in South Africa. Significant communities in Lesotho 6.9 million (2006) 7.2 million (1996 census) 88