10 Most Spoken Languages in the World

Do you know that there are more than 7,000 languages speaks across the globe? And, only 23 languages cover more than half of the world’s population.

Following are the 10 Most Spoken Languages in the World

English (1.13 Billion speakers)
Native speakers: 379 million
Non-native speakers: 753 million

English is today’s universal language. It is the default language in international business, tourism, technology, etc.

Mandarin (Chinese) (1.12 Billion speakers)
Native speakers: 918 million
Non-native speakers: 199 million

When native and non-native speakers are added together, Mandarin (Chinese)is the second most spoken language in the world. However, it is the first if only native speakers are taken into account.

Hindi (615 Million speakers)
Native speakers: 341 million
Non-native speakers: 274 million

Hindi is, along with English, one of the 22 official languages speak in India,

Spanish (534 Million speakers)
Native speakers: 460 million
Non-native speakers: 74 million

It is the second most spoken language in the world in terms of the number of native speakers. It is also the third most used on the Internet.

French (280 Million speakers)
Native speakers: 77 million
Non-native speakers: 203 million

Colonialism allowed the French to spread throughout the world. Today it is the official language of 29 countries on different continents.

Arabic (274 Million speakers)
Native speakers: 245 million
Non-native speakers: 29 million

Arabic is the official language of 26 countries. It is also the liturgical language of Islam.

Arabic is not only the language that treasures the enormous cultural legacy of the Arab world but also a necessary tool for business in this part of the world.

Bengali (265 Million speakers)
Native speakers: 228 million
Non-native speakers: 37 million

Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh. It is also spoken in parts of India (West Bengal, etc) and Burma.

Russian (258 Million speakers)
Native speakers: 154 million
Non-native speakers: 104 million

It is the official language of four countries but is also spoken in all those that were part of the former Soviet Union. It is the language with the largest number of native speakers in Europe.

Portuguese (234 Million speakers)
Native speakers: 221 million
Non-native speakers: 13 million

Portuguese is the official language of 9 countries divided between Europe, America, Africa, and Asia.

10. Indonesian (198 Million speakers)