The total number of languages available in the world is very difficult to compute, since there is no single approach to the allocation of dialects of the same language. About 7000 languages are conventionally numbered, although their number is much larger.
From the whole set it is possible to select the most common languages in the world, which are included in our rating. It is on them that about 66% of the entire population of the planet is talking.
10
Persian 113 million
The Persian ( 29 countries) opens the rating of the most popular languages of the world, and is native to 57 million Iranians. This is one of the languages that has a rich, centuries-old tradition, including popular masterpieces of world literature. The largest part of the Persian-speaking population is concentrated in Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. In addition, Persian has become widespread in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistan and Uzbekistan. In Persian they are spoken in about 29 countries of the world. The total number of speakers is about 113 million people.
9
Italian 140 million
The Italian ( 10 countries) is among the ten most popular languages on earth. Officially it is distributed in 10 countries of the world, but as the statistics of these states show much more. Among them are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Egypt and others. About 70 million Italians are Italian speakers and about the same number of people own it in other countries. Italian is recognized as the official language of the Vatican, Switzerland, San Marino, and is also the second language in some districts of Slovenia and Croatia. In total, about 140 million people speak Italian.
8
German 180 million
German ( 12 countries) is the eighth most popular language in the world. Native speakers of the native language are more than 80 million Germans. In addition to the Germans, the Austrians, Liechtensteiners and many Swiss are fluent in language. It is included in one of the official languages of such countries as Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. In addition, German is part of the working languages of the European Union. On it people of 12 countries of the world are talking. They are owned by over 80 thousand Australians, 400 thousand Argentines, 1.5 million Brazilians, 225 thousand Italians, 430 thousand Canadians. In the US it is owned by about 1 million Americans - there it is quite common and is studied in schools. In Russia, German owns about 2.5 million people, among which only 400 thousand Germans. Speaking German in the world, there are 180 million people.
7
Portuguese 240 million
Portuguese ( 12 countries) is native to 203 million people in Portugal. It occupies the eighth line of the rating, as the most widely spoken language in the world. Those who speak Portuguese are called lusophones. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil - it is spoken by about 200 million Brazilians. It also expresses the peoples of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Macao and East Timor. A smaller number of native speakers can be found in countries such as the USA, France, Canada, Japan and Argentina. Portuguese is owned by approximately 240 million people. It is one of the most important languages due to the increased economic and world status of Brazil.
6
Russian 260 million people
Russian ( 16 countries) is one of the most popular and popular languages of the world, which is distributed in 16 countries. About 166 million people living on the territory of the Russian Federation speak Russian. This is one of the state languages of Belarus. Also Russian is official in the countries of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Throughout the world, about 260 million people speak Russian. Among all the states that were part of the USSR, a larger number of those who speak Russian are concentrated in Ukraine - about 40 thousand Ukrainians. In the United States live about 730 thousand inhabitants, for which Russian is native. In Germany, the language is considered native, the second or foreign for 350 thousand people. Russian is one of the world's international languages.
5
French 280 million people
French ( 51 countries) is considered to be the most widely used and popular languages in the world. Its carrier is about 80 million French, and in all of the French in the world can express 280 million people. Apart from France, the most Francophones are concentrated in Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, in many African countries, Luxembourg. Speakers in French can be found in 51 countries around the world. It is one of the six working languages of the United Nations and one of the most studied languages, after English.
4
Arabic
Arabic ( 60 countries) is the mother tongue for 242 million inhabitants, and the world has about 320 million people. In Arabic, the peoples of Israel, Somalia, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Iraq, Egypt, the Comoros and others speak. The language is the oldest in the world and is distributed in 60 countries. He is the third most difficult to study, after Chinese and Japanese. In the language of the Koran, millions of Muslims speak in all corners of the planet.
3
Spanish 550 million people
Spanish ( 31 countries) opens the top three. They own about 550 million people around the world, and for 400 million it is the mother tongue. Spanish is the official language of Mexico - it is spoken by about 120 million Mexicans. In addition to Mexico, the United States( 41 million people), Argentina( 42 million people), Colombia( 45 million people) and others belong to countries with significant Hispanic populations. According to official data, the UN working language is most common in 31 states. Spanish is considered the easiest to learn.
2
Chinese 1.3 billion people
The Chinese ( 33 countries) is one of the most widely spoken languages on the planet. Its bearer is about 1.2 billion people in the PRC, and over 1.3 billion people worldwide. Chinese is referred to the official languages of Singapore and Taiwan, as well as the official working languages of the United Nations. In Russia, the number of speakers in Chinese is about 71 thousand people. In addition to its prevalence, Chinese is considered one of the most complex languages in the world, which was listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
1
English 1.5 billion
English ( 99 countries) is the most popular language that covers 99 countries. His carrier is 340 Englishmen, and 1.5 billion people own it all over the world. The United States has the largest number of anglophones, of which there are approximately 215 million people. In Britain, Britain owns 58 million, Canada - 18 million, etc. This is one of the working languages of the UN.In English, about 90% of all world information is stored, and about 70% of scientific publications are also produced in this language. It is the international language of communication and the most studied in the world. According to some forecasts in about 50 years, every second inhabitant of the planet will be English-speaking.
