Number of Countries With The Same Official Language
This is a ranking of languages by number of sovereign countries in which they are de jure or de facto official.
| Language | World | Africa | Americas | Asia | Europe | Oceania | Countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 59 | 24 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 12 | India, United States, Pakistan, United Kingdom. See the full list |
| French | 29 | 21 | 2 | - | 5 | 1 | France, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Canada, Madagascar. See the full list |
| Arabic | 26 | 14 | - | 12 | - | - | Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Morocco. See the full list |
| Spanish | 21 | 1 | 19 | - | 1 | - | Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina. See the full list |
| Portuguese | 11 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola. See full list |
| Russian | 8 | - | - | 3 | 5 | - | Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Abkhazia*, South Ossetia*, Transnistria*. See also the full list |
| German | 6 | - | - | - | 6 | - | Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg |
| Italian | 4 | - | - | - | 4 | - | Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City |
| Malay | - | - | 4 | - | - | Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei | |
| Chinese | 3 | - | - | 3 | - | - | China, Taiwan, Singapore |
| Dutch | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | Netherlands, Belgium, Surinam | |
| Persian | - | - | 3 | - | - | Iran, Afghanistan (known as Dari), Tajikistan (known as Tajik) | |
| Romanian | - | - | - | 3 | - | Romania, Moldova, Transnistria* (uses Cyrillic script there) | |
| Serbian | - | - | - | 3 | - | Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo* | |
| Swahili | 3 | - | - | - | - | Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda |
Several languages are officially used in two countries, these are:
- Albanian - Albania and Kosovo*
- Armenian - Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh*
- Aymara, Quechua - Bolivia and Peru
- Chewa - Malawi and Zambia
- Croatian - Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Greek - Greece and Cyprus
- Korean - North Korea and South Korea
- Slovak - Slovakia and Czech Republic
- Sotho - South Africa and Lesotho
- Swati - South Africa and Swaziland
- Swedish - Sweden and Finland
- Tswana - South Africa and Botswana
- Turkish - Turkey and Cyprus
- Ukrainian - Ukraine and Transnistria*
- Note
- Asterisk shows the countries which independence is disputed
Read more about this topic: List Of Official Languages
Famous quotes containing the words number of, number, countries, official and/or language:
“As equality increases, so does the number of people struggling for predominance.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they express.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“Americans living in Latin American countries are often more snobbish than the Latins themselves. The typical American has quite a bit of money by Latin American standards, and he rarely sees a countryman who doesn’t. An American businessman who would think nothing of being seen in a sport shirt on the streets of his home town will be shocked and offended at a suggestion that he appear in Rio de Janeiro, for instance, in anything but a coat and tie.”
—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)
“I thought it altogether proper that I should take a brief furlough from official duties at Washington to mingle with you here to-day as a comrade, because every President of the United States must realize that the strength of the Government, its defence in war, the army that is to muster under its banner when our Nation is assailed, is to be found here in the masses of our people.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)