|
Top 20 countries by number of languages
Language statistics & facts
| Top 30 languages | 20
countries with the most languages
Language families: By speakers
- By languages | Languages
in the United States
While most countries have one or a handful of official or nationally
recognized languages, there are typically groups of people residing
in each country whose first language is something other than the nation's
lingua franca. The numbers of such groups differ from country to country,
and the size of these minority language "groups" can range
from a single individual to millions of speakers.
Top 20 Languages by Number of Languages
Spoken
Data source: Ethnologue: Languages
of the World, 15th ed. (2005) & CIA World Fact Book.
| |
Country |
# of languages |
|
% of world
languages |
|
Official or national language(s) |
Total population
(July 2005 est.) |
| 1. |
Papua New Guinea |
820 |
|
11.86% |
|
Hiri Motu, Tok Pisin,
English |
5,545,268 |
| 2. |
Indonesia |
742 |
|
10.73% |
|
Indonesian |
241,973,879 |
| 3. |
Nigeria |
516 |
|
7.47% |
|
Edo, Efik, Adamawa Fulfulde, Hausa, Idoma, Igbo, Central Kanuri,
Yoruba, English |
128,771,988 |
| 4. |
India |
427 |
|
6.18% |
|
Lingua franca: English & Hindi
Official languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati,
Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi,
Meitei, Nepali, Oriya, Eastern Panjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi,
Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. |
1,080,264,388 |
| 5. |
USA |
311 |
|
4.50% |
|
English
Regional: Hawaiian (in Hawaii), Spanish (in New Mexico) |
295,734,134 |
| 6. |
Mexico |
297 |
|
4.30% |
|
Spanish |
106,202,903 |
| 7. |
Cameroon |
280 |
|
4.05% |
|
English, French |
16,380,005 |
| 8. |
Australia |
275 |
|
3.98% |
|
English |
20,090,437 |
| 9. |
China |
241 |
|
3.49% |
|
Mandarin Chinese
Regional: Daur, Kalmyk-Oirat, Lu, Peripheral Mongolian,
Central Tibetan, Uyghur, Xibe, Northern Zhuang |
1,306,313,812 |
| 10. |
Democratic Republic of Congo |
216 |
|
3.12% |
|
Koongo, Lingala, Luba-Kasai, Congo Swahili, French |
60,085,804 |
| |
Country |
# of languages |
|
% of world
languages |
|
Official or national language(s) |
Total population
(July 2005 est.) |
| 11. |
Brazil |
200 |
|
2.89% |
|
Portuguese |
186,112,794 |
| 12. |
Philippines |
180 |
|
2.60% |
|
Filipino, English |
87,857,473 |
| 13. |
Malaysia |
147 |
|
2.13% |
|
Malay |
23,953,136 |
| 14. |
Canada |
145 |
|
2.10% |
|
English, French |
32,805,041 |
| 15. |
Sudan |
134 |
|
1.94% |
|
Standard Arabic |
40,187,486 |
| 16. |
Chad |
1.22 |
|
1.92% |
|
Standard Arabic, French |
9,826,419 |
| 17. |
Russia |
129 |
|
1.87% |
|
Russian |
143,420,309 |
| 18. |
Tanzania |
128 |
|
1.85% |
|
Swahili, English |
36,766,356 |
| 19. |
Nepal |
125 |
|
1.81% |
|
Nepali |
27,676,547 |
| 20. |
Vanuatu |
115 |
|
1.66% |
|
Bislama, English |
205,754 |
Language statistics & facts
| Top 30 languages | 20
countries with the most languages
Language families: By speakers
- By languages | Languages
in the United States
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