The
30 Most Spoken Languages
of the World
| Pos |
Language |
Family |
Script(s) Used |
Speakers
(Millions) |
Where Spoken (Major) |
| 1 |
Mandarin |
Sino-Tibetan |
Chinese Characters |
1120 |
China, Malaysia, Taiwan |
| 2 |
English |
Indo-European |
Latin |
510 |
USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand |
| 3 |
Hindi |
Indo-European |
Devanagari |
490 |
North and Central India |
| 4 |
Spanish |
Indo-European |
Latin |
425 |
Mexico, Central and South America, Spain |
| 5 |
Arabic |
Afro-Asiatic |
Arabic |
255 |
Middle East, Arabia, North Africa |
| 6 |
Russian |
Indo-European |
Cyrillic |
254 |
Russia, Central Asia |
| 7 |
Portuguese |
Indo-European |
Latin |
218 |
Brazil, Portugal, Southern Africa |
| 8 |
Bengali |
Indo-European |
Bengali |
215 |
Bangladesh, Eastern India |
| 9 |
Malay, Indonesian |
Malayo-Polynesian |
Latin |
175 |
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore |
| 10 |
French |
Indo-European |
Latin |
130 |
France, Canada, West Africa, Central Africa |
| 11 |
Japanese |
Altaic |
Chinese Characters and 2 Japanese Alphabets |
127 |
Japan |
| 12 |
German |
Indo-European |
Latin |
123 |
Germany, Austria, Central Europe |
| 13 |
Farsi (Persian) |
Indo-European |
Nastaliq |
110 |
Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia |
| 14 |
Urdu |
Indo-European |
Nastaliq |
104 |
Pakistan, India |
| 15 |
Punjabi |
Indo-European |
Gurumukhi |
103 |
Pakistan, India |
| 16 |
Vietnamese |
Austroasiatic |
Based on Latin |
86 |
Vietnam, China |
| 17 |
Tamil |
Dravidian |
Tamil |
78 |
Southern India, Sri Lanka, Malyasia |
| 18 |
Wu |
Sino-Tibetan |
Chinese Characters |
77 |
China |
| 19 |
Javanese |
Malayo-Polynesian |
Javanese |
76 |
Indonesia |
| 20 |
Turkish |
Altaic |
Latin |
75 |
Turkey, Central Asia |
| 21 |
Telugu |
Dravidian |
Telugu |
74 |
Southern India |
| 22 |
Korean |
Altaic |
Hangul |
72 |
Korean Peninsula |
| 23 |
Marathi |
Indo-European |
Devanagari |
71 |
Western India |
| 24 |
Italian |
Indo-European |
Latin |
61 |
Italy, Central Europe |
| 25 |
Thai |
Sino-Tibetan |
Thai |
60 |
Thailand, Laos |
| 26 |
Cantonese |
Sino-Tibetan |
Chinese Characters |
55 |
Southern China |
| 27 |
Gujarati |
Indo-European |
Gujarati |
47 |
Western India, Kenya |
| 28 |
Polish |
Indo-European |
Latin |
46 |
Poland, Central Europe |
| 29 |
Kannada |
Dravidian |
Kannada |
44 |
Southern India |
| 30 |
Burmese |
Sino-Tibetan |
Burmese |
42 |
Myanmar |
© 1997, 2006 KryssTal
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