The 33 Most Spoken Languages in the World (Updated 2023)

We are living in an increasingly globalized world, and as a result of this globalization, many different languages have been introduced into our lives. Of course, some have emerged as the most spoken languages in the world.

Different countries, cultures, and ethnicities all have their own languages which they use to communicate with others in their area or region. In fact, we live in a diverse world where more than seven thousand different languages exist!

Let’s take a look at the top 33 most spoken languages in the world, including facts about them that you may not know. But first, here’s a data visualization that shows the top 10 most spoken languages in the world and how they compare to each other in terms of speakers. You can hover over each language to see how many speakers it has.

As the graph above shows, English is clearly the most spoken language in the world. Mandarin and Hindi follow English in terms of total speakers. However, Mandarin actually has more native speakers than English. Urdu rounds out the top 10 with 231.1 million speakers, and its total number of speakers is only about 16% of the number of English speakers. This visualization shows just how much linguistic diversity there is in our world.

Keep reading to learn more about each language. I also show you some of the best apps to learn each of them!

What Are The Most Spoken Languages in the World?

The table below shows 33 of the most spoken languages in the world, ranked by total number of speakers. The data comes from Ethnologue. These numbers include people who are native speakers of the language as well as people who have learned the language. Scroll down to learn more about each language.

Language	Total Number of Speakers
English	1,452,000,000
Mandarin Chinese	1,118,000,000
Hindi	602,200,000
Spanish	548,300,000
French	274,100,000
Modern Standard Arabic	274,000,000
Bengali	272,700,000
Russian	258,200,000
Portuguese	257,700,000
Urdu	231,300,000
Indonesian	199,000,000
German	134,600,000
Japanese	125,400,000
Nigerian Pidgin	120,700,000
Marathi	99,100,000
Telugu	95,700,000
Turkish	88,100,000
Tamil	86,400,000
Yue Chinese	85,600,000
Vietnamese	85,300,000
Tagalog	82,300,000
Wu Chinese	81,800,000
Korean	81,700,000
Iranian Persian (Farsi)	77,400,000
Hausa	77,100,000
Egyptian Spoken Arabic	74,800,000
Swahili	71,400,00
Javanese	68,300,000
Italian	67,900,000
Western Punjabi	66,400,000
Kannada	64,000,000
Gujarati	62,000,000
Thai	60,700,000

English – 1.452 Billion Speakers

In total, there are approximately 1.452 billion people who speak English.

It’s the official language of 67 countries and is also an official language of many large international organizations. These include the United Nations, the European Union, the World Trade Organization, and the International Monetary Fund.

Additionally, 55% of the internet is in English, and it’s the most studied language in the world. The benefits of speaking English are endless!

RELATED: Best Apps to Learn English

Mandarin Chinese – 1.118 Billion Speakers

There are around 1.118 billion speakers of Mandarin Chinese, and it has been spoken in China for more than 3,000 years. Mandarin Chinese is also the official language of Singapore and Taiwan. There are many other languages in China (like Cantonese), but Mandarin is by far the most widely spoken.

Many people mistake Mandarin for the most spoken language in the world. In reality, it’s the language with the most native speakers and is the most spoken language in Asia. This means there are a lot of great advantages for people who speak Mandarin.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Chinese

Hindi – 602.2 Million Speakers

Hindi is one of the two official languages of India (the other is English). There are many different dialects of Hindi, but not all dialects can be understood by each other.

Interestingly, even though Hindi is an official language in India, not everyone in the country speaks it. There are 22 scheduled languages in India with hundreds of others spoken across the country!

People speak different variations of Hindi around the world. You can hear Hindi in Fiji (where it’s an official language) and also in some Caribbean countries, like Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, and Guyana.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Hindi

Spanish – 548.3 Million Speakers

Spanish, also known as Castilian in Spain, is the official language of 20 countries. It’s one of the official languages of the United Nations, as well as other international organizations, including the African Union and the European Union. Outside of that, Spanish has also influenced several other languages, like Tagalog.

If you’re in the United States, you may be surprised to find out that Spanish is the second most spoken language in the country. There are over 40 million Spanish speakers in the US!

Over the past couple years, Spanish has become more influential in pop culture, too. If you listen to an English-language radio or television station, chances are you’ll hear some Spanish-language songs.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Spanish

French – 274.1 Million Speakers

French is not only one of the most spoken languages in the world, it’s also an official language of the UN, EU, and other major international organizations. It’s the official language of 29 countries and territories around the world, including Haiti and Rwanda.

The French vocabulary has also had a tremendous impact on other languages around the world, including English. Around 40% of English words have a French origin.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn French

Modern Standard Arabic – 274 Million Speakers

Arabic is truly a unique language because there are significant differences between dialects, and Modern Standard Arabic exists to attempt to bridge this gap. It’s not considered a mother tongue by any Arabic speaker. Arabic is the official language of 26 countries, but most countries and regions have their own dialects of Arabic that are used for communication.

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the standardized version of the language that’s mostly used in literature, mass media, and academia. It’s not typically spoken as a first language. Because MSA is mostly used for written communication, it’s necessary to learn a regional dialect if you want to speak with someone from a specific country. The most spoken dialects are Egyptian, Maghrebi, Gulf, and Levantine Arabic. Ultimately, you’ll need to learn both MSA and a dialect if you truly want to be fluent in Arabic.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Arabic

Bengali – 272.7 Million Speakers

Bengali, also known as Bangla, is the official language of Bangladesh, and it’s the second most spoken language in India, behind Hindi.

Some people have never heard of the Bengali language, and they definitely don’t know it’s one of the most spoken languages in the world!

People who speak Bengali are very proud of their language though. In fact, people around the world know Bengali for its language movements, and many people have sacrificed their lives for the sake of this language. The country of Bangladesh actually got its name from the language!

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Bengali

Russian – 258.2 Million Speakers

Russian is the official language of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. It was the official language of the Soviet Union, and people still use it in public life in all the former Soviet states, as well as Israel and Mongolia. Today, it’s the most spoken language in Europe.

Language experts consider Russian to be one of the richest and most complex languages in the world. Surprisingly, all words in the Russian language that begin with “A” come from other languages though!

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Russian

Portuguese – 257.7 Million Speakers

Portuguese is the official language of nine countries: Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe. Because of its colonial history, there are also many Portuguese speakers in parts of India.

In writing, a lot of Portuguese and Spanish words are usually mutually intelligible. Portuguese can also serve as a solid foundation if you want to learn other romance languages.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Portuguese

Urdu – 231.3 Million Speakers

Urdu is an Indo-Iranian language with 230 million speakers. It’s the official language of Pakistan and it’s also recognized as an official regional or secondary language in India, where speakers of both languages can understand one another.

Urdu has adopted several words directly from English, including airport, file, science, corrupt, bus, and library. English has also adopted words from Urdu and Hindi, like pajamas and khaki.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Urdu

Indonesian – 199 Million Speakers

Indonesia is the fourth most populated nation in the world, which is why Indonesian is one of the most spoken languages in the world. You may also hear people refer to Indonesia as bahasa baku, which is the standard dialect in Indonesia.

When you speak Indonesian, you will also be able to communicate with people in Malaysia and Brunei because it is very similar to the Malay language.

It is also by far one of the easiest Asian languages to learn when compared to other widely-spoken languages like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai.

RELATED: Best Apps to Learn Indonesian

German – 134.6 Million Speakers

German is an official language of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium (along with Dutch and French), Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg. People also speak it in parts of Italy and Poland.

German is a language of business, and speaking German can open up many opportunities to work in large companies anywhere in the world. Some of the biggest car manufacturers come from Germany, including Audi, Volkswagen, and Mercedes.

It is also the second most spoken language in scientific research. Germany is a significant contributor to international research and development efforts, and welcomes scientists from abroad to work in fellowships throughout Germany.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn German

Japanese – 125.4 Million Speakers

You can probably guess that Japanese is the most common language spoken in Japan, but did you know it’s not actually the official language? Japan does not recognize any language as its official language.

Japan is a very technologically-advanced nation, so if you’re interested in technology, especially robotics, learning Japanese will be very advantageous. Japanese inventors file around 420,000 technology patents every year!

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Japanese

Nigerian Pidgin – 120.7 Million Speakers

Nigerian Pidgin is a lingua franca, which means that it’s a bridge language. It’s a way for the more than 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria to communicate, but it’s not recognized as an official language in Nigeria.

It’s most closely related to English, but different ethnic groups will incorporate words from their native languages, which means it can vary from speaker to speaker. Nigerian Pidgin has become such a common language in Nigeria and across the West African Coast that BBC has started publishing news in pidgin.

Marathi – 99.1 Million Speakers

Marathi is the language of people in Maharashtra, India. It’s also a common language in the state of Goa, as well as several government and semi-government organizations throughout India.

Even though it’s one of the most spoken languages, Marathi’s geographical reach is relatively small compared to some of the other languages on this list. It’s one of the oldest languages on the planet though, which is cool in and of itself!

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Marathi

Telugu – 95.7 Million Speakers

Telugu is a language with approximately 96 million speakers in India. It’s an interesting language for a variety of reasons. It has its own script – this helps it be an independent language and there are very few similarities to other languages.

The words are also written in syllables rather than letters. In fact, there are 60 different symbols in the Telugu writing system. Telugu is also one of the oldest languages on the planet, like Marathi.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Telugu

Turkish – 88.1 Million Speakers

Even though Turkish may not be the most popular language to learn, it is an important language to learn. It’s related to languages like Azerbaijani, Turkmen, and Uzbek. Learning Turkish will open up many opportunities for trade and business in these regions.

The Turkish language itself has a rich history that stretches back nearly 1,500 years. One of the most interesting aspects of the Turkish language is that it has 29 different letters, and it only started using the Latin alphabet in 1928.

RELATED: Best Apps to Learn Turkish

Tamil – 86.4 Million Speakers

The Tamil language is one of the oldest languages on the planet (like the other Indian languages on this list), with roots that stretch back nearly 1,500 years! It’s one of the most spoken languages in India with 85 million speakers. It’s also an official language in Singapore and Sri Lanka.

As Tamil belongs to the Dravidian family, it has a lot of similarities with other languages like Kannada and Malayalam. It is also related to some of the other languages spoken in Sri Lanka.

Yue Chinese – 85.6 Million Speakers

Yue Chinese is a language with origins from ancient Chinese. It has 85 million speakers primarily in the Guangdong province of China, Taiwan and also in Malaysia.

Yue was originally brought to coastal areas of what is now called southern China by traders when it first developed around 1000 BC – 400BC. Yue descends from both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects, so there are strong similarities between these languages which developed independently for over the past 2,500 years!

Vietnamese – 85.3 Million Speakers

The Vietnamese language is a tonal language spoken by 85.3 million people. Vietnamese uses the Latin alphabet with a total of 29 letters, as well as a number of different accents.

Vietnamese evolved from ancient languages that were spoken in southern China and it has been influenced over time by Chinese, French, and English. It originated during the first millennium, but it was only written down in Romanized script in 1918.

However, it didn’t stop here- the Vietnamese continued to add to their script which led to new symbols being developed like six tones that are used in the language today.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese

Tagalog – 82.3 Million Speakers

Tagalog is spoken as a first language by only a quarter of Filipinos but spoken as a second language by the majority of the rest of the population. It’s also referred to as Filipino and is a national language of the Philippines along with English.

Tagalog belongs to the Austronesian language family and is closely related to other languages like Malagasy, Javanese, and Malay

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Tagalog

Wu Chinese – 81.8 Million Speakers

Wu is a group of dialects that are part of the larger language family called Sino-Tibetan. The Wu dialects have been spoken for over 2,500 years and are related to languages like Cantonese and Mandarin, which developed independently.

Wu is classified as a literary language in the modern era, but it’s not used in schools primarily because there was no unified written form for the entire dialect for many centuries.

Unlike Mandarin, Wu speakers don’t use simplified Chinese characters. There are few similarities to Mandarin, and Wu’s vocabulary has many loan words from other languages like Japanese or Vietnamese.

Korean – 81.7 Million Speakers

The Korean language is related to the Altaic languages, which are spoken in countries like Turkey, Russia and Japan. The earliest written form of Korean appeared in 1446 CE during the Joseon Dynasty.

There are at least 82 million speakers of Korean all over the world – more than half of them live in Korea, while others live in China, the United States, Canada and elsewhere.

The Korean alphabet is called Hangul and it was invented between 1443-1444 CE by King Sejong. Hangul’s popularity is largely due to its simplicity; it has 24 letters and each letter corresponds to a sound (unlike English, where there are 26 letters that can have multiple sounds).

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Korean

Iranian Persian (Farsi) – 77.4 Million Speakers

The Persian language is a group of related languages that are spoken either in Iran or by Iranian people all over the world. The most widely spoken dialects of this language include Western and Eastern varieties, with other closely related languages like Kurdish, Pashto, Ossetic and Tati.

The earliest written form of Persian appeared during the Sassanid Era (226-651 CE). However, its usage declined during the Islamic era until it became popular again between 1925-1935 under Reza Shah’s dynasty. Reza Shah made Farsi a required school subject for all children in Iran.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Farsi

Hausa – 77.1 Million Speakers

The Hausa language is one of the few African languages that has a literary tradition. In fact, there are over 77 million speakers of this Niger-Congo language! It also has two different writing systems – the Latin-style boko script and the Arabic-influenced ajami script..

There is no universal standard for pronunciation, however, so you’ll find that each country has its own way of speaking and writing the language.

Egyptian Spoken Arabic– 74.8 Million Speakers

Even though Modern Standard Arabic is number 6 on this list with 274 million speakers, that number doesn’t include dialects, like the type of Arabic spoken in Egypt by 74.9 million people.

Also referred to as Egyptian or Masri, it’s the most widely-understood dialect because of Egypt’s cultural influence on cinema and music. Egyptian Arabic is also the most-studied variety of Arabic.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Arabic

Swahili – 71.4 Million Speakers

The Swahili language is a Bantu language spoken by 71.4 million people, primarily in Eastern Africa and the Comoros Islands. It’s also found in pockets elsewhere around the world. Swahili has different dialects, including Coastal, Kiunga, and Wete.

Swahili speakers have a vast variety of pronunciations, so it’s difficult to create one standard that everyone could use!

The coastal dialect has heavy influences from the Arabic language and is mainly spoken by Muslims living on the east coast of Africa. Kiunga incorporates English words into its grammar while Wete contains words from Portuguese and Arabic languages.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Swahili

Javanese – 68.3 Million Speakers

Javanese is spoken mainly on the island of Java, an Indonesian island. There are 3 main dialects: Central Javanese, Eastern Javanese, and Western Javanese. Most Javanese speakers also speak Indonesian for official purposes and to speak with the non-Javanese speakers in their country.

There are a concentrated number of Javanese speakers in Malaysia and Singapore, and there are even immigrant communities that speak Javanese as far away as Sri Lanka and Suriname.

Italian – 67.9 Million Speakers

The Italian language is a Romance language spoken by 68 million people all over the world. It’s also the official language of Italy, Switzerland, and San Marino.

Italian developed from Latin and it has been heavily influenced by French. The Italian alphabet consists of 21 letters with 5 vowels and 16 consonants.

Italian has been a popular language to learn for centuries. It is a beautiful and romantic language that is full of history, food, art, and fashion!

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Italian

Western Punjabi – 66.4 Million Speakers

Punjabi is divided into 2 different dialects. Western Punjabi is spoken as a first language in the Punjab province of Pakistan, and Easter Punjabi is spoken mostly in the Punjab state in India. Western Punjabi is not considered an official language of Pakistan, so Punjabi speakers use Urdu or English for official purposes. 

While Punjabi is largely based on Sanskrit, Western Punjabi has many loan words Persian, Arabic, and Urdu because of its proximity to these languages.

Kannada – 64 Million Speakers

Kannada is mostly spoken in the southwestern area of India. It’s an official language in the state of Karnataka.

Kannada is one of the oldest languages in the world and has influenced many modern languages that are spoken today. In fact, it was being spoken long before English and Hindi. It’s a unique language because there are 10 vowels and every word ends in a vowel.

Gujarati – 62 Million Speakers

This language is mainly spoken by the Gujarati people in the state of Gujarat in India. It’s an Indo-European language and is over 1000 years old.

Although it’s one of the most spoken languages in the world, only about 5% of Indians speak it. There are large Gujarati-speaking communities outside of India, especially in some African countries and England. Gujarati was the native language of Mahatma Gandhi!

Thai – 60.7 Million Speakers

Thai is one of the most studied languages in Southeast Asia. The earliest written form of Thai appeared in 1292 CE during the Ayutthaya era.

Thai can be a little difficult for English speakers to learn. This is because Thai has many sounds that don’t exist in our language – such as consonants pronounced with a throaty sound or vowels opened almost like a whistle. Some are similar sounding while others are more difficult to distinguish at first glance.

RELATED: The Best Apps to Learn Thai

Why Should You Learn the Most Spoken Languages in the World?

It’s important to learn another language because it can help you in many ways. For example, knowing about another culture is a huge advantage because it provides an opportunity to understand how others think and understand what they care about. Understanding their principles will allow you to see things from their perspective.

Learning another language can also help you to stay mentally focused. It’s stimulating for your brain and keeps your mind sharp! Learning another language also opens up new opportunities, like being able to move to a new country or work with international companies. You never know when opportunities will pop up so you should always be prepared for anything!

Conclusion

If you want to learn a new language, there are plenty of options. The most spoken languages in the world span all corners of the globe and include Thai (spoken by 60.7 million people), Spanish (spoken by 548 million people), and Mandarin Chinese (spoken by 1.12 billion speakers).

And if you’re not sure where to start, I can help! I’ve created these language guides to help you speak another language fluently, quickly, and easily. All it takes is deciding which language you want to learn!