List of most spoken languages in the world 2021
List of most spoken languages in the world 2021: More than 7,000 languages are spoken worldwide and with each passing day, the world is learning about a new language. Of these, only 23 languages cover more than half of the world's population and around 40% of the languages are now endangered, having less than 1,000 speakers.
Below we have mentioned a list of the most spoken languages in the world by the number of total speakers.
List of most spoken languages in the world 2021
| Rank |
Language |
Total speakers |
| 1 |
English |
1.348 billion |
| 2 |
Mandarin Chinese |
1.120 billion |
| 3 |
Hindi |
600 million |
| 4 |
Spanish |
543 million |
| 5 |
Standard Arabic |
274 million |
| 6 |
Bengali |
268 million |
| 7 |
French |
267 million |
| 8 |
Russian |
258 million |
| 9 |
Portuguese |
258 million |
| 10 |
Urdu |
230 million |
| 11 |
Indonesian |
199 million |
| 12 |
Standard German |
135 million |
| 13 |
Japanese |
126 million |
| 14 |
Marathi |
99 million |
| 15 |
Telugu |
96 million |
| 16 |
Turkish |
88 million |
| 17 |
Tamil |
85.5 million |
| 18 |
Yue Chinese |
85 million |
| 19 |
Wu Chinese |
82 million |
| 20 |
Korean |
82 million |
| 21 |
Vietnamese |
77 million |
| 22 |
Hausa |
75 million |
| 23 |
Iranian Persian |
74 million |
| 24 |
Egyptian Spoken Arabic |
70 million |
| 25 |
Swahili |
69 million |
| 26 |
Javanese |
68 million |
| 27 |
Italian |
68 million |
| 28 |
Western Punjabi |
65 million |
| 29 |
Gujarati |
62 million |
| 30 |
Thai |
61 million |
| 31 |
Kannada |
59 million |
| 32 |
Amharic |
57 million |
| 33 |
Bhojpuri |
52.14 million |
| 34 |
Eastern Punjabi |
52 million |
| 35 |
Min Nan Chinese |
49 million |
| 36 |
Nigerian Pidgin |
48 million |
| 37 |
Jin Chinese |
47 million |
| 38 |
Filipino |
45 million |
| 39 |
Hakka Chinese |
44 million |
| 40 |
Yoruba |
43 million |
| 41 |
Burmese |
43 million |
| 42 |
Sudanese Spoken Arabic |
42 million |
| 43 |
Polish |
41 million |
| 44 |
Odia |
40 million |
It is to be noted that the above list is based on the total number of speakers and not on the total number of native speakers.
1- English
In today's era, English is by default used in international business, technology, tourism, etc. and therefore is the most spoken language in the world by the number of total speakers.
According to the data by the Internet World Stats 2019, a bilingual person (speaking both Spanish and English) can understand 1 out of 3 people who connect over the Internet. The individual can also access 60% of everything published on the web.
2- Mandarin
Mandarin is the second most spoken language in the world after English. If only native speakers are taken into account, then Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world.
You might be surprised to know that Mandarin is a set of dialects of the Chinese language and their speakers can understand each other very well.
3- Hindi
Hindi is the third most spoken language in the world. It is also among the 22 official languages of India. According to the 2011 Census of India, it is spoken by 528,347,193 people in India.
4- Spanish
In terms of the number of native speakers, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world. It is also the third most used language on the Internet.
5- Arabic
Arabic is the liturgical language of Islam and is the official language of 26 countries in the world. It is the only language that not only treasures the cultural legacy of the Arab world but is also a necessary tool for business in this part of the world.
The popularity of a language depends on its utility, geographical location and whether you look at the number of total speakers or native speakers. Even though you are reading this article in English, there is a good chance that the most spoken language in the world is not your mother tongue.
Also Read | What is the National Language of India?
List of Official Languages of the Indian States and Union Territories
