George H. J. Weber's Estimate
In an article published in December 1997, Weber posted estimates of primary and secondary speakers (this only includes the main land). Adding these, it is possible to obtain estimates for total speakers. However, since only graphs and not numerical figures are listed, readers are referred to his article.
George H. J. Weber's report on the number of total speakers of the top languages.
| Language | Native speakers | Secondary speakers | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Mandarin Chinese | 1,100 million | 20 mill. | 1,120 mill. |
| 2. English | 330 mill. | 150 mill. | 480 mill. |
| 3. Spanish | 300 mill. | 20 mill. | 320 mill. |
| 4. Russian | 160 mill. | 125 mill. | 285 mill. |
| 5. French | 75 mill. | 190 mill. | 265 mill. |
| 6. Hindi/Urdu | 250 mill. | 250 mill. | |
| 7. Arabic | 200 mill. | 21 mill. | 221 mill. |
| 8. Portuguese | 160 mill. | 28 mill. | 188 mill. |
| 9. Bengali | 185 mill. | 185 mill. | |
| 10. Japanese | 125 mill. | 8 mill. | 133 mill. |
| 11. Punjabi | 130 mill. | 130 mill. | |
| 12. German | 100 mill. | 9 mill. | 109 mill. |
Read more about this topic: List Of Languages By Total Number Of Speakers
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