Saturday, April 23, 2005
Top 100 Languages by Population
Top 100 Languages by Population - First Language Speakers
Top 100 Languages by Population
These are the top 100 languages in order of number of first language speakers.
This is from the 13th Edition of the Ethnologue (1996).
More up-to-date information may well be avaliable
www.ethnologue.com is by far, the best language resource I've found on the web and much more detailed information about individual languages is avaliable there.
Rank Language Name Primary Country Population
1 CHINESE, MANDARIN China 885,000,000
2 SPANISH Spain 332,000,000
3 ENGLISH United Kingdom 322,000,000
4 BENGALI Bangladesh 189,000,000
5 HINDI India 182,000,000
6 PORTUGUESE Portugal 170,000,000
7 RUSSIAN Russia 170,000,000
8 JAPANESE Japan 125,000,000
9 GERMAN, STANDARD Germany 98,000,000
10 CHINESE, WU China 77,175,000
11 JAVANESE Indonesia, Java, Bali 75,500,800
12 KOREAN Korea, South 75,000,000
13 FRENCH France 72,000,000
14 VIETNAMESE Viet Nam 67,662,000
15 TELUGU India 66,350,000
16 CHINESE, YUE China 66,000,000
17 MARATHI India 64,783,000
18 TAMIL India 63,075,000
19 TURKISH Turkey 59,000,000
20 URDU Pakistan 58,000,000
21 CHINESE, MIN NAN China 49,000,000
22 CHINESE, JINYU China 45,000,000
23 GUJARATI India 44,000,000
24 POLISH Poland 44,000,000
25 ARABIC, EGYPTIAN SPOKEN Egypt 42,500,000
26 UKRAINIAN Ukraine 41,000,000
27 ITALIAN Italy ?x'37,000,000'
28 CHINESE, XIANG China 36,015,000
29 MALAYALAM India 34,022,000
30 CHINESE, HAKKA China 34,000,000
31 KANNADA India 33,663,000
32 ORIYA India 31,000,000
33 PANJABI, WESTERN Pakistan 30,000,000
34 SUNDA Indonesia 27,000,000
35 PANJABI, EASTERN India 26,013,000
36 ROMANIAN Romania 26,000,000
37 BHOJPURI India 25,000,000
38 AZERBAIJANI, SOUTH Iran 24,364,000
39 FARSI, WESTERN Iran 24,280,000
40 MAITHILI India 24,260,000
41 HAUSA Nigeria 24,200,000
42 ARABIC, ALGERIAN SPOKEN Algeria 22,400,000
43 BURMESE Myanmar 22,000,000
44 SERBO-CROATIAN Yugoslavia 21,000,000
45 CHINESE, GAN China 20,580,000
46 AWADHI India 20,540,000
47 THAI Thailand 20,047,000
48 DUTCH Netherlands 20,000,000
49 YORUBA Nigeria 20,000,000
50 SINDHI Pakistan 19,720,000
51 ARABIC, MOROCCAN SPOKEN Morocco 19,542,000
52 ARABIC, SAIDI SPOKEN Egypt 18,900,000
53 UZBEK, NORTHERN Uzbekistan 18,466,000
54 MALAY Malaysia, Peninsular 17,600,000
55 AMHARIC Ethiopia 17,413,000
56 INDONESIAN Indonesia 17,050,000
57 IGBO Nigeria 17,000,000
58 TAGALOG Philippines 17,000,000
59 NEPALI Nepal 16,056,000
60 ARABIC, SUDANESE SPOKEN Sudan 16,000,000
61 SARAIKI Pakistan 15,015,000
62 CEBUANO Philippines 15,000,000
63 ARABIC, NORTH LEVANTINE SPOKEN Syria 15,000,000
64 THAI, NORTHEASTERN Thailand 15,000,000
65 ASSAMESE India 14,634,000
66 HUNGARIAN Hungary 14,500,000
67 CHITTAGONIAN Bangladesh 14,000,000
68 ARABIC, MESOPOTAMIAN SPOKEN Iraq 13,900,000
69 MADURA Indonesia, Java, Bali 13,694,000
70 SINHALA Sri Lanka 13,220,000
71 HARYANVI India 13,000,000
72 MARWARI India 12,104,000
73 CZECH Czech Republic 12,000,000
74 GREEK Greece 12,000,000
75 MAGAHI India 12,000,000
76 CHHATTISGARHI India 10,985,000
77 DECCAN India 10,709,800
78 CHINESE, MIN BEI China 10,537,000
79 BELARUSAN Belarus 10,200,000
80 ZHUANG, NORTHERN China 10,000,000
81 ARABIC, NAJDI SPOKEN Saudi Arabia 9,800,000
82 PASHTO, NORTHERN Pakistan 9,685,000
83 SOMALI Somalia 9,472,000
84 MALAGASY Madagascar 9,398,700
85 ARABIC, TUNISIAN SPOKEN Tunisia 9,308,000
86 RWANDA Rwanda 9,306,800
87 ZULU South Africa 9,142,000
88 BULGARIAN Bulgaria 9,000,000
89 SWEDISH Sweden 9,000,000
90 LOMBARD Italy 8,974,000
91 OROMO, WEST-CENTRAL Ethiopia 8,920,000
92 PASHTO, SOUTHERN Afghanistan 8,206,000
93 KAZAKH Kazakhstan 8,000,000
94 ILOCANO Philippines 8,000,000
95 TATAR Russia 8,000,000
96 FULFULDE, NIGERIAN Nigeria 7,611,000
97 ARABIC, SANAANI SPOKEN Yemen 7,600,000
98 UYGHUR China 7,595,512
99 HAITIAN CREOLE FRENCH Haiti 7,372,000
100 AZERBAIJANI, NORTH Azerbaijan 7,059,000
101 NAPOLETANO-CALABRESE Italy 7,047,400
102 KHMER, CENTRAL Cambodia 7,039,200
103 FARSI, EASTERN Afghanistan 7,000,000
104 AKAN Ghana 7,000,000
105 HILIGAYNON Philippines 7,000,000
106 KURMANJI Turkey 7,000,000
107 SHONA Zimbabwe 7,000,000 ¶ 9:34 PM
Top 100 Languages by Population
These are the top 100 languages in order of number of first language speakers.
This is from the 13th Edition of the Ethnologue (1996).
More up-to-date information may well be avaliable
www.ethnologue.com is by far, the best language resource I've found on the web and much more detailed information about individual languages is avaliable there.
Rank Language Name Primary Country Population
1 CHINESE, MANDARIN China 885,000,000
2 SPANISH Spain 332,000,000
3 ENGLISH United Kingdom 322,000,000
4 BENGALI Bangladesh 189,000,000
5 HINDI India 182,000,000
6 PORTUGUESE Portugal 170,000,000
7 RUSSIAN Russia 170,000,000
8 JAPANESE Japan 125,000,000
9 GERMAN, STANDARD Germany 98,000,000
10 CHINESE, WU China 77,175,000
11 JAVANESE Indonesia, Java, Bali 75,500,800
12 KOREAN Korea, South 75,000,000
13 FRENCH France 72,000,000
14 VIETNAMESE Viet Nam 67,662,000
15 TELUGU India 66,350,000
16 CHINESE, YUE China 66,000,000
17 MARATHI India 64,783,000
18 TAMIL India 63,075,000
19 TURKISH Turkey 59,000,000
20 URDU Pakistan 58,000,000
21 CHINESE, MIN NAN China 49,000,000
22 CHINESE, JINYU China 45,000,000
23 GUJARATI India 44,000,000
24 POLISH Poland 44,000,000
25 ARABIC, EGYPTIAN SPOKEN Egypt 42,500,000
26 UKRAINIAN Ukraine 41,000,000
27 ITALIAN Italy ?x'37,000,000'
28 CHINESE, XIANG China 36,015,000
29 MALAYALAM India 34,022,000
30 CHINESE, HAKKA China 34,000,000
31 KANNADA India 33,663,000
32 ORIYA India 31,000,000
33 PANJABI, WESTERN Pakistan 30,000,000
34 SUNDA Indonesia 27,000,000
35 PANJABI, EASTERN India 26,013,000
36 ROMANIAN Romania 26,000,000
37 BHOJPURI India 25,000,000
38 AZERBAIJANI, SOUTH Iran 24,364,000
39 FARSI, WESTERN Iran 24,280,000
40 MAITHILI India 24,260,000
41 HAUSA Nigeria 24,200,000
42 ARABIC, ALGERIAN SPOKEN Algeria 22,400,000
43 BURMESE Myanmar 22,000,000
44 SERBO-CROATIAN Yugoslavia 21,000,000
45 CHINESE, GAN China 20,580,000
46 AWADHI India 20,540,000
47 THAI Thailand 20,047,000
48 DUTCH Netherlands 20,000,000
49 YORUBA Nigeria 20,000,000
50 SINDHI Pakistan 19,720,000
51 ARABIC, MOROCCAN SPOKEN Morocco 19,542,000
52 ARABIC, SAIDI SPOKEN Egypt 18,900,000
53 UZBEK, NORTHERN Uzbekistan 18,466,000
54 MALAY Malaysia, Peninsular 17,600,000
55 AMHARIC Ethiopia 17,413,000
56 INDONESIAN Indonesia 17,050,000
57 IGBO Nigeria 17,000,000
58 TAGALOG Philippines 17,000,000
59 NEPALI Nepal 16,056,000
60 ARABIC, SUDANESE SPOKEN Sudan 16,000,000
61 SARAIKI Pakistan 15,015,000
62 CEBUANO Philippines 15,000,000
63 ARABIC, NORTH LEVANTINE SPOKEN Syria 15,000,000
64 THAI, NORTHEASTERN Thailand 15,000,000
65 ASSAMESE India 14,634,000
66 HUNGARIAN Hungary 14,500,000
67 CHITTAGONIAN Bangladesh 14,000,000
68 ARABIC, MESOPOTAMIAN SPOKEN Iraq 13,900,000
69 MADURA Indonesia, Java, Bali 13,694,000
70 SINHALA Sri Lanka 13,220,000
71 HARYANVI India 13,000,000
72 MARWARI India 12,104,000
73 CZECH Czech Republic 12,000,000
74 GREEK Greece 12,000,000
75 MAGAHI India 12,000,000
76 CHHATTISGARHI India 10,985,000
77 DECCAN India 10,709,800
78 CHINESE, MIN BEI China 10,537,000
79 BELARUSAN Belarus 10,200,000
80 ZHUANG, NORTHERN China 10,000,000
81 ARABIC, NAJDI SPOKEN Saudi Arabia 9,800,000
82 PASHTO, NORTHERN Pakistan 9,685,000
83 SOMALI Somalia 9,472,000
84 MALAGASY Madagascar 9,398,700
85 ARABIC, TUNISIAN SPOKEN Tunisia 9,308,000
86 RWANDA Rwanda 9,306,800
87 ZULU South Africa 9,142,000
88 BULGARIAN Bulgaria 9,000,000
89 SWEDISH Sweden 9,000,000
90 LOMBARD Italy 8,974,000
91 OROMO, WEST-CENTRAL Ethiopia 8,920,000
92 PASHTO, SOUTHERN Afghanistan 8,206,000
93 KAZAKH Kazakhstan 8,000,000
94 ILOCANO Philippines 8,000,000
95 TATAR Russia 8,000,000
96 FULFULDE, NIGERIAN Nigeria 7,611,000
97 ARABIC, SANAANI SPOKEN Yemen 7,600,000
98 UYGHUR China 7,595,512
99 HAITIAN CREOLE FRENCH Haiti 7,372,000
100 AZERBAIJANI, NORTH Azerbaijan 7,059,000
101 NAPOLETANO-CALABRESE Italy 7,047,400
102 KHMER, CENTRAL Cambodia 7,039,200
103 FARSI, EASTERN Afghanistan 7,000,000
104 AKAN Ghana 7,000,000
105 HILIGAYNON Philippines 7,000,000
106 KURMANJI Turkey 7,000,000
107 SHONA Zimbabwe 7,000,000 ¶ 9:34 PM
