Nationalencyklopedin (2007)
The estimates used for this list are those of Nationalencyklopedin and is based on estimates published in 2007. As census methods in different countries vary to a considerable extent, and some countries do not record language in their censuses, any list of languages by native speakers, or total speakers, is based on estimates.
| Language | Native speakers (in millions) |
% of world population | Mainly spoken in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | 935 (955) | 14.1% | China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore | Part of Chinese |
| Spanish | 387 (407) | 5.85% | Hispanic America, Spain, United States, Equatorial Guinea | Mutually intelligible with Portuguese, see: Comparison of Spanish and Portuguese |
| English | 365 (359) | 5.52% | Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa | |
| Hindi | 295 (311) | 4.46% | India | Includes approx. 100 million speakers of other Hindi languages. Mutually intelligible with Urdu |
| Arabic | 280 (293) | 4.23% | North Africa, Western Asia (Middle East) | |
| Portuguese | 204 (216) | 3.08% | Angola, Brazil, Mozambique, Portugal | Mutually intelligible with Spanish, see: Comparison of Spanish and Portuguese |
| Bengali | 202 (206) | 3.05% | Bangladesh, West Bengal (India), Tripura (India) | |
| Russian | 160 (154) | 2.42% | Russia, former Republics of the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Israel | Mutually intelligible with Ukrainian and Belarusian |
| Japanese | 127 (126) | 1.92% | Japan | |
| Punjabi | 96 (102) | 1.44% | Punjab region (Pakistan, India) | |
| German | 92 (89) | 1.39% | Austria, Belgium (Eupen-Malmedy), Germany, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, South Tirol (in Italy) | |
| Javanese | 82 | 1.25% | Java (Indonesia) | |
| Wu | 80 | 1.20% | Shanghai (China) | Part of Chinese |
| Malay/Indonesian | 77 | 1.16% | Indonesia, Malaysia | |
| Telugu | 76 | 1.15% | Andhra Pradesh (India) | |
| Vietnamese | 76 | 1.14% | Vietnam | |
| Korean | 76 | 1.14% | North Korea, South Korea | |
| French | 74 | 1.12% | Belgium (Wallonia, Brussels), Canada (particularly Quebec, New Brunswick and Eastern parts of Ontario), France, Switzerland, Francophone Africa | |
| Marathi | 73 | 1.10% | Maharashtra (India) | |
| Tamil | 70 | 1.06% | Sri Lanka, Singapore, Tamil Nadu (India), Malaysia, Mauritius | |
| Urdu | 66 | 0.99% | Pakistan, India | Mutually intelligible with Hindi |
| Turkish | 63 | 0.95% | Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria | Mutually intelligible with Azeri |
| Italian | 59 | 0.90% | Italy, Switzerland, San Marino | |
| Cantonese | 59 | 0.89% | Hong Kong and Guangdong | Part of Chinese |
| Thai | 56 | 0.85% | Thailand | |
| Gujarati | 49 | 0.74% | Gujarat (India) | |
| Jin | 48 | 0.72% | Central China | Part of Chinese |
| Min Nan | 47 | 0.71% | Southeastern China | Part of Chinese |
| Persian | 45 | 0.68% | Iran, Afghanistan, Tadzhikistan | |
| Polish | 40 | 0.61% | Poland | |
| Pashto | 39 | 0.58% | Afghanistan, Pakistan | |
| Kannada | 38 | 0.58% | Karnataka (India) | |
| Xiang | 38 | 0.58% | Hunan (China) | |
| Malayalam | 38 | 0.57% | Kerala (India) | |
| Sundanese | 38 | 0.57% | Java (Indonesia) | |
| Hausa | 34 | 0.52% | Nigeria | |
| Oriya | 33 | 0.50% | Orissa (India) | |
| Burmese | 33 | 0.50% | Burma | |
| Hakka | 31 | 0.46% | Southern China | Part of Chinese |
| Ukrainian | 30 | 0.46% | Ukraine | |
| Bhojpuri | 29 | 0.43% | Bihar (India) | Part of Bihari. This is only a fraction of the speakers; the others are counted under 'Hindi' above. |
| Tagalog | 28 | 0.42% | Manila and Northern Philippines | |
| Yoruba | 28 | 0.42% | Nigeria, Benin and Togo | |
| Maithili | 27 | 0.41% | Bihar (India) | Part of Bihari. This is only a fraction of the speakers; the others are counted under 'Hindi' above. |
| Uzbek | 26 | 0.39% | Uzbekistan | |
| Sindhi | 26 | 0.39% | Sindh (Pakistan and neighboring areas in India) | |
| Amharic | 25 | 0.37% | Ethiopia | |
| Fula | 24 | 0.37% | West and Central Africa, from Senegal to Sudan | |
| Romanian | 24 | 0.37% | Romania, Moldova | |
| Oromo | 24 | 0.36% | Ethiopia and Kenya | |
| Igbo | 24 | 0.36% | Nigeria | |
| Azerbaijani | 23 | 0.34% | Azerbaijan and Northern Iran | |
| Awadhi | 22 | 0.33% | Uttar Pradesh (India) | Part of Hindi. This is only a fraction of the speakers; the others are counted under 'Hindi' above. |
| Gan Chinese | 22 | 0.33% | Jiangxi in China | Part of Chinese |
| Cebuano | 21 | 0.32% | Central and Southern Philippines | |
| Dutch | 21 | 0.32% | Belgium (Flanders, Brussels), Netherlands and Suriname | |
| Kurdish | 21 | 0.31% | “Kurdistan”, northern Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria | |
| Serbo-Croatian | 19 | 0.28% | Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro | |
| Malagasy | 18 | 0.28% | Madagascar | |
| Saraiki | 17 | 0.26% | Sindh (Pakistan) | |
| Nepali | 17 | 0.25% | Nepal and neighbouring areas | |
| Sinhalese | 16 | 0.25% | Sri Lanka | |
| Chittagonian | 16 | 0.24% | Chittagong in Bangladesh | |
| Zhuang | 16 | 0.24% | Guangxi (Southern China) | |
| Khmer | 16 | 0.24% | Cambodia | |
| Assamese | 15 | 0.23% | Assam (India) | |
| Madurese | 15 | 0.23% | Madura, and Java (Indonesia) | |
| Somali | 15 | 0.22% | Somalia | |
| Marwari | 14 | 0.21% | Rajastan (India and Pakistan) | This is only a fraction of the speakers; the others are counted under 'Hindi' above. |
| Magahi | 14 | 0.21% | Bihar (India) | Part of Bihari |
| Haryanvi | 14 | 0.21% | Haryana (India) | Part of Hindi |
| Hungarian | 13 | 0.19% | Hungary and areas in neighbouring countries | |
| Chhattisgarhi | 12 | 0.19% | Chhattisgarh (India) | Part of Hindi. This is only a fraction of the speakers; the others are counted under 'Hindi' above. |
| Greek | 12 | 0.18% | Greece, Cyprus | |
| Chewa | 12 | 0.17% | Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe | |
| Deccan | 11 | 0.17% | Deccan (India) | Part of Urdu |
| Akan | 11 | 0.17% | Ghana, Ivory Coast | |
| Kazakh | 11 | 0.17% | Kazakhstan | |
| Min Bei | 10.9 | 0.16% | Fujian (China) | Part of Chinese |
| Sylheti | 10.7 | 0.16% | Northern Bangladesh and neighbouring parts of India | |
| Zulu | 10.4 | 0.16% | South Africa | |
| Czech | 10.0 | 0.15% | Czech Republic | |
| Kinyarwanda | 9.8 | 0.15% | Rwanda | Part of Rwanda-Rundi |
| Dhundhari | 9.6 | 0.15% | Rajastan (India) | |
| Haitian Creole | 9.6 | 0.15% | Haiti | |
| Min Dong | 9.5 | 0.14% | Fujian (China) | Part of Chinese |
| Ilokano | 9.1 | 0.14% | Northern Luzon in the Philippines | |
| Quechua | 8.9 | 0.13% | Peru and Bolivia | A language family, not a language |
| Kirundi | 8.8 | 0.13% | Burundi and Uganda | Part of Rwanda-Rundi |
| Swedish | 8.7 | 0.13% | Sweden and Finland | |
| Hmong | 8.4 | 0.13% | Laos and neighbouring areas | A language family, not a language |
| Shona | 8.3 | 0.13% | Zimbabwe | |
| Uyghur | 8.2 | 0.12% | Xinjiang (Western China) | |
| Hiligaynon | 8.2 | 0.12% | Western Visayas in the Philippines | |
| Mossi | 7.6 | 0.11% | Burkina Faso | |
| Xhosa | 7.6 | 0.11% | South Africa | |
| Belarusian | 7.6 | 0.11% | Belarus | |
| Balochi | 7.6 | 0.11% | Balochistan (province in Pakistan and Iran) | |
| Konkani | 7.4 | 0.11% | Goa (State in India) |
Read more about this topic: List Of Languages By Number Of Native Speakers
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