List of countries by English-speaking population This is a list of countries of the world sorted by the total English-speaking population in that country. This includes both native speakers and second language speakers of English. Statistics on second language speakers are usually imprecise, in part because there is no widely agreed definition of second language speakers, so these figures should be treated with caution.
List in order of total speakers Rank
1
Country
Total
First language
As an additional language
United States 251,388,301 215,423,557 35,964,744
Comment
Source: US Census 2006: Language Use and EnglishSpeaking Ability: 2006, Table 1. Figure for second language speakers are respondents who reported they do not speak English at home but know it "very well" or "well". Note: figures are for population age 5 and older
2
India
100,000,000 178,598
65,000,000 Figures include both those who second speak English as a second language language and those who speak it as a third language. [1] [2] [3] [4] speakers. Number with English as a 35,000,000 third language mother tongue: 1991 Census of India speakers
3
Nigeria
79,000,000
>75,000,000 Figures are for speakers of
4,000,000
Nigerian Pidgin, an Englishbased pidgin or creole. Ihemere gives a range of roughly 3 to 5 million native speakers; the midpoint of the range is used in the table. Ihemere, Kelechukwu Uchechukwu. 2006. "A Basic Description and Analytic Treatment of Noun Clauses in Nigerian Pidgin." Nordic Journal of African Studies 15(3): 296–
313.
4
5
6
7
8
United Kingdom
Philippines
Germany
Canada
Australia
59,600,000
45,900,000
36,000,000
25,246,220
17,357,833
58,100,000
27,000
272,504
17,694,830
15,013,965
1,500,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
42,500,000
Total speakers: Census 2000, text above Figure 7. 63.71% of the 66.7 million people aged 5 years or more could speak English. Native speakers: Census 1995, as quoted by Andrew Gonzalez in The Language Planning Situation in the Philippines, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 19 (5&6), 487525. (1998)
36,000,000
Native speakers: Statistisches Bundesamt (cited here). Non-native speakers: 2006 Eurobarometer survey. Does not include foreign military personnel based in Germany.
7,551,390
Source: 2001 Census Knowledge of Official Languages and Mother Tongue. The native speakers figure comprises 122,660 people with both French and English as a mother tongue, plus 17,572,170 people with English and not French as a mother tongue.
2,343,868
Source: 2001 Census. [1] The figure shown in the first language English speakers column is actually the number of Australian residents who speak only English at home. The additional language column shows the number of other residents who claim to speak English "well" or "very well". Another 5% of residents did not state their home language or English proficiency.
9
Pakistan
17,000,000
17,000,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
10
France
16,000,000
16,000,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
11
Italy
14,000,000
14,000,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
10,000,000
Native speakers: 2001 Census: Census in Brief, page 15 (Table 2.5)
12
South Africa
13,700,000
3,673,203
Non-native speakers: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
13
Netherlands
12,000,000
12,000,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
14
Spain
10,000,000
10,000,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
15
Poland
9,200,000
9,200,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
16
Turkey
8,100,000
8,100,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
17
Cameroon
7,700,000
7,700,000
Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
18
Malaysia
7,400,000
7,000,000
Crystal (2005), p. 109.
200,000 (Hong Kong only)
Figures are for English users, not speakers. Source: Jian Yang (April 2006). "Learners and users of English in China". English Today 22 (2): 3–10. Hong Kong contributes an additional 2.5 million speakers, of whom 200,000 regard English as their "usual" language (1996 by-census [2]).
6,953,511
Source: Basic Results, Tables 4.4 and 4.1, Russian Census (2002). The "total" figure is the number of residents who reported English as one of the language they knew. The "first language" figure is the number of residents who reported "American" or "English" as their nationality. The "additional languages" figure is the difference.
6,600,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
5,300,000
Crystal (2005), p. 109.
19
380,000
China
20
Russia
6,955,315
1,804
21
Sweden
6,600,000
22
Zimbabwe
5,550,000
23
Romania
5,300,000
5,300,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
24
Belgium
5,100,000
5,100,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
250,000
25
Sierra Leone 4,900,000
500,000
4,400,000
Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
26
Mexico
4,855,000
4,855,000
Consulta Mitovsky-Tracking Poll Roy Campos: Las Lenguas Extranjeras en México, April 2007 [3]; and II Conteo de Población y Vivienda, Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI) [4].
27
Greece
4,200,000
4,200,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
28
Tanzania
4,000,000
4,000,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
29
Austria
3,900,000
3,900,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
30
Ireland
3,850,000
100,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
31
Denmark
3,800,000
3,800,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
32
New Zealand 3,673,623
33
Bangladesh
3,500,000
34
Papua New Guinea
3,150,000
35
Liberia
3,100,000
36=
Finland
37=
3,750,000
2006 Census: Language spoken. Native language figure is actually those who spoke English only, so will probably be too low. Both figures exclude those 75,567 people who spoke no language, e.g. were too young to talk, and the 196,224 people who did not state what languages they spoke. Crystal (2005), p. 109, gives figures of 3,700,000 native speakers and 150,000 second language speakers.
≥ 3,008,058
3,500,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
150,000
3,000,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
600,000
2,500,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
2,700,000
2,700,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
Kenya
2,700,000
2,700,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
38
Jamaica
2,650,000
50,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
39
Portugal
2,600,000
2,600,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
40
Uganda
2,500,000
2,500,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
41
Czech Republic
2,100,000
2,100,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
42
Hungary
2,000,000
2,000,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
43
Puerto Rico
1,940,000
1,840,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
2,600,000
100,000
44=
Sri Lanka
1,910,000
10,000
1,900,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
45=
Zambia
1,910,000
110,000
1,800,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
46
Croatia
1,800,000
1,800,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
1,128,158
Source: 2000 Census. Second language speaker figure only includes those literate in English aged 15 or more. Native speakers aged 5 or more, literate population, aged 15 or more, and percentage of literate population literate in English.
47
Singapore
1,793,245
665,087
48
Bulgaria
1,500,000
1,500,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
49=
Slovakia
1,400,000
1,400,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
50=
Ghana
1,400,000
1,400,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
51
Trinidad and 1,145,000 Tobago
52
Slovenia
950,000
950,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
53
Lithuania
900,000
900,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
54
Guyana
680,000
30,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
55
Botswana
630,000
630,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
56
Estonia
590,000
590,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
57=
Latvia
540,000
540,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
58=
Malawi
540,000
540,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
59
Lesotho
500,000
500,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
60
Cyprus
420,000
420,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
61
Suriname
410,000
260,000
150,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
62
Namibia
314,000
14,000
300,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
63
Bahamas
288,000
260,000
28,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
64
Malta
280,000
280,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
65
Barbados
275,000
262,000
13,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
66
Belize
246,000
190,000
56,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
67
Luxembourg 220,000
220,000
2006 Eurobarometer survey.
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
1,145,000
650,000
68
Mauritius
202,000
2,000
200,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
69
Vanuatu
180,000
60,000
120,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
70
Fiji
176,000
6,000
170,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
71
Solomon Islands
175,000
10,000
165,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
72
Ethiopia
171,712
1,986
169,726
73
Guam
158,000
58,000
100,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
74
Brunei
144,000
10,000
134,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
75
Saint Vincent and the 114,000 Grenadines
114,000
76
U.S. Virgin Islands
113,000
98,000
77=
Grenada
100,000
100,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
78=
Israel
100,000
100,000
Source: Ethnologue (2005) [5]
79
Samoa
94,000
1,000
80
Japan
>93,500
81
Bhutan
75,000
82
Saint Lucia
71,000
83
Northern Mariana Islands
84
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
15,000
93,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Native speaker figure is the number of foreign residents from the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.[6]
>93,500 75,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
31,000
40,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
70,000
5,000
65,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
Antigua and Barbuda
68,000
66,000
2,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
85
American Samoa
67,000
2,000
65,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
86
Micronesia
64,000
4,000
60,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
87=
Bermuda
63,000
63,000
88=
Dominica
63,000
3,000
89
Marshall Islands
60,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
60,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
60,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
90
Swaziland
50,000
91
Aruba
44,000
92
Gambia
40,000
93
Saint Kitts and Nevis
39,000
39,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
94
Cayman Islands
36,000
36,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
95
Seychelles
33,000
3,000
96
Honduras
31,500
31,500
97=
Gibraltar
30,000
28,000
98=
Tonga
99
Kiribati
100= Rwanda
9,000
50,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
35,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
40,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
30,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
2,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
30,000
30,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
23,000
23,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
20,000
20,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
101=
British Virgin 20,000 Islands
20,000
102
Palau
18,500
500
103
Anguilla
12,000
12,000
104
Nauru
10,300
800
105
Dominican Republic
8,000
8,000
106
Saint Helena 5,400
5,400
107= Cook Islands 4,000
1,000
108= Montserrat
4,000
4,000
109
British Indian Ocean 3,500 Territory
3,500
110
Lebanon
3,300
111
Niue
2,160
78
112
Falkland Islands
1,991
1,991
113
Netherlands Antilles
1,800
114
Norfolk Island 1,678
1,678
115
Turks and Caicos Islands
920
920
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
18,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
9,500
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109.
3,000
Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Source: Crystal (2005), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
3,300 2,082
1,800
116
Guadeloupe
200
200
117
Saint Pierre 188 and Miquelon
188
118
Pitcairn
46
46
119
Tokelau
40
40 Replacing French as second language, especially in Phnom Penh. Also used for mobile phone texting
Cambodia Total
800-900 million
Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Englishspeaking_population [l;ast accessed Nov 7, 2007