25th Edition
We factor in both native and non-native speakers to determine the largest language in the world. Also includes our current list of the world's four most spoken languages.
For over 15 years, we've published a list of the largest languages in the world – often cited by top-tier publications. The Ethnologue 200 are the top 200 most spoken languages, accounting for most of the world's population.
Thousands of languages are spoken today. We dig into exactly how many there are, where they're from, their average size, and the 10 countries with the most languages.
Of the 142 different language families, six stand out as the major language families of the world. They can be found throughout the world, spreading uniquely to different regions and countries.
A language becomes endangered when its users begin to teach and speak a more dominant language to their children. We look at the number of endangered languages in the world today.
Languages are spread unequally throughout the world. We detail the ten countries where the most languages are spoken today, including all established and immigrant languages.
All of us are at risk. And for the millions who speak a lesser-known language, that risk is compounded by the lack of health materials in a language they understand.
Myriad factors – terrain, cultural history, the spread of ancient civilizations – play into how many languages have originated within a certain area.
Learning is crucial to human flourishing. However, research shows that more than one third of the world’s children spend their school days in classrooms where the language of instruction is not the language they use at home.
