This page attempts to present a list of languages by total native speakers. Note, however, that lists such as this may vary somewhat depending upon the definition given to certain terms. In particular, the exact difference between "dialect" and "language" is often important. An example of where this can have an impact is the case of Arabic, which can be considered either a single language or a group of related languages. Ethnologue and the CIA World Factbook, the sources of the tables given below, consider it to be multiple languages, and it is therefore not listed here. If one chose to count it as a single language, however, it would appear in the top ten. A similar situation occurs with Chinese. If all the varieties of Chinese are counted as a single language, then Chinese appears in first place with over 1.2 billion speakers. If counted separately, then five varieties of Chinese are found in the top 25. The lists only take into account first-language (native) speakers. Counting second language speakers is extremely difficult and approximate at best.

Contents

1 Ethnologue estimates (1996) 2 Ethnologue estimates (1995) 3 CIA World Factbook estimates (2000) 4 World Book estimates (2004) 5 See also 6 External links

Ethnologue estimates (1996)

The following data were collected in 1996, and should be considered out of date. We are attempting to find a more recent source. Linked pages may not agree with data here because of differing sources. Rankings were removed from some linked pages because of ambiguity and the age of these data.

1. Mandarin (Chinese), 950 million
2. Spanish, 400 million
3. English, 360 million
4. Bengali, 190 million
5. Hindi, 350 million
6. Portuguese, 220 million
7. Russian, 150 million
8. Japanese, 125 million
9. German 100 million
10. Telugu 80 million
11. Wu (Chinese) 77 million
12. Javanese 75 million
13. Korean 75 million
14. French 75 million
15. Vietnamese 68 million
16. Cantonese (Chinese) 90 million
17. Marathi 65 million
18. Tamil 63 million
19. Turkish 65 million
20. Urdu 58 million
21. Min Nan (Chinese) 49 million
22. Jin (Chinese) 45 million
23. Gujarati 44 million
24. Polish 40 million
25. Egyptian Arabic 43 million
26. Ukrainian 30 million
27. Italian 40 million

Source: Ethnologue (http://www.ethnologue.com)

Ethnologue estimates (1995)

Order number and language	Countries with more than 1% as native speakers	Total number of native speakers (million)
1. Mandarin Chinese	Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand	885
2. Spanish	Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, C�te d'Ivoire, Madagascar, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Togo, Tunisia, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela	332
3. English	Australia, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Guyana, India, Ireland, Israel, Lesotho, Liberia, Malaysia, Micronesia, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Suriname, Swaziland, Tonga, United Kingdom, United States, Vanuatu, Zimbabwe	322
4. Arabic	Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iraq, Lebanon	257.4
5. Bengali	Bangladesh, India, Singapore	189
6. Hindi	India, Nepal, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda	182
7. Portuguese	Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, France, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, S�o Tom� e Pr�ncipe	170
8. Russian	China, Israel, Mongolia, Russia, United States, all of the former Soviet Republics	170
9. Japanese	Japan, Singapore	125
10. German	Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakstan, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Paraguay, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, United States	120
11. Wu	China	77.2
12. Javanese	Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore	75.5
13. Korean	China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Singapore, Kazakstan, Vietnam, United States,Uzbekistan Thailand	75
14. French	Algeria, Andorra, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, France, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, C�te d'Ivoire, Laos, Luxemburg, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Monaco, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Vanuatu, Vietnam	72
15. Turkish	Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Uzbekistan	67.7
16. Vietnamese	Cambodia, China, United States, Vietnam	67.7
17. Telugu	India, Singapore	66.4
18. Cantonese (Yue)	Brunei, China, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Malaysia, Panama, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam	66
19. Marathi	India	64.8
20. Tamil	India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka	63.1
21. Italian	Croatia, Eritrea, France, Italy, San Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland	59
22. Urdu	Afghanistan, India, Mauritius, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand	58
23. Punjabi	India, Pakistan, Kenya, Singapore	30
24. Min Nan	Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand	49
25. Jinyu	China	45
26. Gujarati	India, Kenya, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe	44
27. Polish	Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Poland, Romania, Slovakia	44
28. Ukrainian	Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia	41
29. Persian	Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Oman, Qatar, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates	61.7
30. Xiang	China	36
31. Malayalam	India, Singapore	34
32. Hakka	Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Panama, Singapore, Suriname, Taiwan, Thailand	34
33. Kannada	India	33.7
34. Oriya	India	31
35. Sunda	Indonesia	27
36. Romanian	Hungary, Israel, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Ukraine	26
37. Bihari	India, Mauritius, Nepal	25
38. South Azerbaijani	Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey	24.4
39. Maithili language	India, Nepal	24.3
40. Hausa	Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Togo	24.2
41. Burmese	Bangladesh, Myanmar	22
42. Gan	China	20.6
43. Awadhi	India, Nepal	20.5
44. Thai	Singapore, Thailand	20
45. Yoruba	Benin, Nigeria	20
46. Sindhi	Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Singapore	19.7

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Source: Ethnologue (http://www.ethnologue.com)

CIA World Factbook estimates (2000)

The CIA World Factbook provides the following estimates of "first language" speakers for the year 2000.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Chinese, Mandarin Hindi English Spanish Bengali Portuguese Russian Japanese German, Standard Korean French

14.37% 6.02% 5.61% 5.59% 3.4% 2.75% 2.63% 2.06% 1.64% 1.28% 1.27%

Source: CIA - The World Factbook -- World (http://cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/xx.html#People)

World Book estimates (2004)

The World Book 2004 estimates are as follows:

1. Mandarin (Chinese) 874 million
2. Hindi 366 million
3. English 341 million
4. Spanish 322 million
5. Bengali 207 million
6. Portuguese 176 million
7. Russian 167 million
8. Japanese 125 million
9. German 100 million

See also

• List of languages
• Wikipedia articles per population

External links

• CIA - The World Factbook (http://cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2098.html)
• M.Turner compares five language surveys (http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm) - first language vs total speakers, degree of influence, etc. Plus graphs and charts.
• 100 most widely spoken languages (http://www.geobop.com/world/Facts/Languages/Languages/)
• Top 100 languages (http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/help/top-100-languages-by-population.html)
• Ethnologue (http://www.ethnologue.com)
• Hindi Urdu combination 1 billion speakers (http://www.hindustani.tv)

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