Summary by language size

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Table 2 summarizes the distribution of languages in the world by number of L1 users. The Population range column categorizes the languages by the number of digits in their population of first-language speakers.

The Count column gives the number of living languages within the specified population range. The Percent column gives the share of the count for that population range as a percentage of the total number of languages given at the bottom of the Count column. The Cumulative column gives the cumulative sum of the percentage of languages going from top to bottom in the column.

The Total column gives the total population of all the languages in the given range category. The second Percent column gives the percentage of the total country population as estimated at the bottom of the Total column. Note that if the table has a row for Unknown, representing languages for which the Ethnologue does not have a population estimate; the calculation of population percentage is not able to take those languages into account. The final Cumulative column gives the cumulative sums of the population percentages going from top to bottom in the column.

Table 3 lists the largest languages of the world in descending order of population of first-language speakers. The Primary Country column names the country in which the primary entry for the language is found. The Total Countries column gives the number of countries in the world in which the language is established and thus listed with an entry on the page for that language. The Speakers column gives the number of first-language speakers in millions. The table rows in italic type represent macrolanguages (see Macrolanguages in “The problem of language identification”); in these cases the Total Countries and Speakers columns are totals for all the individual languages listed in the macrolanguage entry as members of the macrolanguage. Individual languages that are members of a macrolanguage are not counted in the ranking, but are listed as indented entries below the macrolanguage. Note that the indented listing of individual languages does not include all member languages; it includes only those that have at least one million speakers.

Table 2. Distribution of world languages by number of first-language speakers

Population range Living languages Number of speakers
Count Percent Cumulative Total Percent Cumulative
100,000,000 to 999,999,999 8 0.1 0.1% 2,856,779,370 39.13138 39.13138%
10,000,000 to 99,999,999 93 1.3 1.4% 3,028,480,668 41.48330 80.61469%
1,000,000 to 9,999,999 327 4.6 6.0% 1,016,286,890 13.92082 94.53551%
100,000 to 999,999 1,001 14.0 20.0% 327,030,100 4.47957 99.01508%
10,000 to 99,999 1,843 25.8 45.8% 63,760,552 0.87337 99.88845%
1,000 to 9,999 1,977 27.6 73.4% 7,678,226 0.10517 99.99363%
100 to 999 1,023 14.3 87.7% 452,893 0.00620 99.99983%
10 to 99 312 4.4 92.1% 12,030 0.00016 99.99999%
1 to 9 124 1.7 93.8% 477 0.00001 100.00000%
0 315 4.4 98.2% 0 0.00000 100.00000%
Unknown 128 1.8 100.0%
Totals 7,151 100.0 7,300,481,206 100.00000

Table 3. Languages with at least 50 million first-language speakers

Rank Language Primary Country Total
Countries		 Speakers
(millions)
1 Chinese [zho] China 66 1,322
  Chinese, Gan [gan] China 1 22.2
  Chinese, Hakka [hak] China 14 43.8
  Chinese, Huizhou [czh] China 1 5.38
  Chinese, Jinyu [cjy] China 1 47.1
  Chinese, Mandarin [cmn] China 17 920
  Chinese, Min Bei [mnp] China 2 11.5
  Chinese, Min Dong [cdo] China 6 10.8
  Chinese, Min Nan [nan] China 10 49.3
  Chinese, Min Zhong [czo] China 1 3.62
  Chinese, Pu-Xian [cpx] China 3 3.19
  Chinese, Wu [wuu] China 1 81.8
  Chinese, Xiang [hsn] China 1 37.4
  Chinese, Yue [yue] China 14 85.2
  Pinghua, Northern [cnp] China 1 1.76
  Pinghua, Southern [csp] China 1 2.37
2 Spanish [spa] Spain 41 475
3 English [eng] United Kingdom 170 373
4 Arabic [ara] Saudi Arabia 90 362
  Arabic, Algerian Spoken [arq] Algeria 2 34.7
  Arabic, Chadian Spoken [shu] Chad 4 1.99
  Arabic, Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Spoken [avl] Egypt 4 2.43
  Arabic, Egyptian Spoken [arz] Egypt 2 74.8
  Arabic, Gulf Spoken [afb] Kuwait 10 10.7
  Arabic, Hadrami Spoken [ayh] Yemen 1 5.11
  Arabic, Hijazi Spoken [acw] Saudi Arabia 3 10.8
  Arabic, Libyan Spoken [ayl] Libya 3 5.34
  Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken [acm] Iraq 4 19.1
  Arabic, Moroccan Spoken [ary] Morocco 3 28.2
  Arabic, Najdi Spoken [ars] Saudi Arabia 4 18.2
  Arabic, North Levantine Spoken [apc] Syria 5 29.8
  Arabic, North Mesopotamian Spoken [ayp] Iraq 4 10.3
  Arabic, Omani Spoken [acx] Oman 5 2.88
  Arabic, Sa’idi Spoken [aec] Egypt 1 24.1
  Arabic, Sanaani Spoken [ayn] Yemen 1 12.6
  Arabic, South Levantine Spoken [ajp] Jordan 3 12.7
  Arabic, Sudanese Spoken [apd] Sudan 5 33.3
  Arabic, Ta’izzi-Adeni Spoken [acq] Yemen 3 11.8
  Arabic, Tunisian Spoken [aeb] Tunisia 2 11.7
5 Hindi [hin] India 5 344
6 Bengali [ben] Bangladesh 4 234
7 Portuguese [por] Portugal 16 232
8 Russian [rus] Russian Federation 22 154
9 Japanese [jpn] Japan 4 125
10 Lahnda [lah] Pakistan 11 101
  Hindko, Northern [hno] Pakistan 1 3.57
  Hindko, Southern [hnd] Pakistan 1 1.17
  Pahari-Potwari [phr] Pakistan 2 3.54
  Punjabi, Western [pnb] Pakistan 2 66.4
  Saraiki [skr] Pakistan 2 26.2
11 Vietnamese [vie] Vietnam 5 84.6
12 Marathi [mar] India 1 83.1
13 Telugu [tel] India 4 82.7
14 Turkish [tur] Turkey 10 82.2
15 Malay [msa] Malaysia 28 82.2
  Banjar [bjn] Indonesia 2 3.66
  Indonesian [ind] Indonesia 2 43.6
  Malay [zlm] Malaysia 3 16.2
  Malay, Central [pse] Indonesia 1 1.59
  Malay, Jambi [jax] Indonesia 1 1.00
  Malay, Kedah [meo] Malaysia 2 2.60
  Malay, Manado [xmm] Indonesia 1 1.82
  Malay, Pattani [mfa] Thailand 1 1.47
  Minangkabau [min] Indonesia 1 4.88
  Musi [mui] Indonesia 1 3.12
16 Korean [kor] South Korea 7 81.7
17 French [fra] France 99 79.9
18 Tamil [tam] India 9 78.4
19 German, Standard [deu] Germany 46 75.6
20 Urdu [urd] Pakistan 8 70.2
21 Javanese [jav] Indonesia 3 68.3
22 Persian [fas] Iran 34 65.8
  Dari [prs] Afghanistan 3 9.45
  Persian, Iranian [pes] Iran 7 56.4
23 Italian [ita] Italy 17 64.8
24 Gujarati [guj] India 8 57.0
25 Pushto [pus] Pakistan 16 53.4
  Pashto, Central [pst] Pakistan 1 8.49
  Pashto, Northern [pbu] Pakistan 4 28.8
  Pashto, Southern [pbt] Afghanistan 4 16.3
26 Bhojpuri [bho] India 3 52.3
27 Hausa [hau] Nigeria 9 50.8