Misc
Ranked: The 100 Most Spoken Languages Around the World
Ranked: The 100 Most Spoken Languages Worldwide
Even though you’re reading this article in English, there’s a good chance it might not be your mother tongue. Of the billion-strong English speakers in the world, only 33% consider it their native language.
The popularity of a language depends greatly on utility and geographic location. Additionally, how we measure the spread of world languages can vary greatly depending on whether you look at total speakers or native speakers.
Today’s detailed visualization from WordTips illustrates the 100 most spoken languages in the world, the number of native speakers for each language, and the origin tree that each language has branched out from.
How Do You Define A Language?
The data comes from the 22nd edition of Ethnologue, a database covering a majority of the world’s population, detailing approximately 7,111 living languages in existence today.
The definitions of languages are often dynamic, blurring the lines around a singular understanding of what makes a language:
- Linguistic: focused on lexical and grammatical differences, or on variations within speech communities
- Social: focused on cultural or political factors, as well as heritage and identity
For the purposes of measurement, the researchers use the ISO 693-3 set of criteria, which accounts for related varieties and dialects—ensuring that linguistics are not the only factor considered in this count of languages.
Here are the language origins of the 100 most spoken languages:
Indo-European languages have the widest spread worldwide. According to Ethnologue, the language family contains over 3 billion speakers in total. Interestingly, there are actually 1,526 Niger-Congo languages altogether, though only 12 are represented here.
Let’s now dive into the top 10 most spoken languages overall.
Which Languages Have the Most Speakers?
It comes as no surprise that English reigns supreme, with over 1.1 billion total speakers—or roughly 15% of the global population. Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and French round out the top five.
Rank | Language | Total Speakers | Language Origin |
---|---|---|---|
1 | English | 1,132 million | Indo-European |
2 | Mandarin Chinese | 1,117 million | Sino-Tibetan |
3 | Hindi | 615 million | Indo-European |
4 | Spanish | 534 million | Indo-European |
5 | French | 280 million | Indo-European |
6 | Standard Arabic | 274 million | Afro-Asiatic |
7 | Bengali | 265 million | Indo-European |
8 | Russian | 258 million | Indo-European |
9 | Portuguese | 234 million | Indo-European |
10 | Indonesian | 199 million | Austronesian |
However, this is only one piece in the full fabric of languages.
The metrics for native speakers tell a slightly different tale, as Mandarin Chinese shoots up to 918 million—almost 2.5x that of English native speakers.
Rank | Language | Native Speakers | Language Origin |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mandarin Chinese | 918 million | Sino-Tibetan |
2 | Spanish | 460 million | Indo-European |
3 | English | 379 million | Indo-European |
4 | Hindi | 341 million | Indo-European |
5 | Bengali | 228 million | Indo-European |
6 | Portuguese | 221 million | Indo-European |
7 | Russian | 154 million | Indo-European |
8 | Japanese | 128 million | Japanic |
9 | Western Punjabi | 93 million | Indo-European |
10 | Marathi | 83 million | Indo-European |
Note: No native speaker data was available for Filipino, Standard Arabic, Nigerian Pidgin, or Cameroonian Pidgin.
Here, Spanish comes in strong second for native speakers with 460 million, considering it’s well-used across Latin America. The Indian languages of Hindi and Bengali cap off the top five by native speakers as well.
These are the biggest languages people learn growing up, but what about the ones they pick up later in life?
What About Second (L2) Languages?
Nearly 43% of the world’s population is bilingual, with the ability to switch between two languages with ease.
From the data, second language (L2) speakers can be calculated by looking at the difference between native and total speakers, as a proportion of the total. For example, 66% of English speakers learned it as a second language.
Swahili surprisingly has the highest ratio of L2 speakers to total speakers—although it only has 16 million native speakers, this shoots up to 98 million total speakers. Overall, 82% of Swahili speakers know it as a second language.
Swahili is listed as a national or official language in several African countries: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s likely that the movement of people from rural areas into big cities in search of better economic opportunities, is what’s boosting the adoption of Swahili as a second language.
Indonesian is another similar example. With a 78% proportion of L2 speakers compared to total speakers, this variation on the Malay language has been used as the lingua franca across the islands for a long time. In contrast, only 17% of Mandarin speakers know it as a second language, perhaps because it is one of the most challenging languages to learn.
Keeping Language Traditions Alive
Languages are fluid, and constantly evolving—altogether, the 100 most spoken languages paint a unique picture across centuries of a changing world. Here’s the full list of these languages, by types of speakers and language origin.
Rank | Language | Total Speakers | Native Speakers | Origin |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | English | 1,132M | 379M | Indo-European |
2 | Mandarin Chinese | 1,117M | 918M | Sino-Tibetan |
3 | Hindi | 615M | 341M | Indo-European |
4 | Spanish | 534M | 460M | Indo-European |
5 | French | 280M | 77M | Indo-European |
6 | Standard Arabic | 274M | NA | Afro-Asiatic |
7 | Bengali | 265M | 228M | Indo-European |
8 | Russian | 258M | 154M | Indo-European |
9 | Portuguese | 234M | 221M | Indo-European |
10 | Indonesian | 199M | 43M | Austronesian |
11 | Urdu | 170M | 69M | Indo-European |
12 | Standard German | 132M | 76M | Indo-European |
13 | Japanese | 128M | 128M | Japanic |
14 | Swahili | 98M | 16M | Niger-Congo |
15 | Marathi | 95M | 83M | Indo-European |
16 | Telugu | 93M | 82M | Dravidian |
17 | Western Punjabi | 93M | 93M | Indo-European |
18 | Wu Chinese | 82M | 81M | Sino-Tibetan |
19 | Tamil | 81M | 75M | Dravidian |
20 | Turkish | 80M | 69M | Turkic |
21 | Korean | 77M | 77M | Koreanic |
22 | Vietnamese | 77M | 76M | Austronesian |
23 | Yue Chinese | 74M | 73M | Sino-Tibetan |
24 | Javanese | 68M | 68M | Austronesian |
25 | Italian | 68M | 65M | Indo-European |
26 | Egyptian Spoken Arabic | 65M | 65M | Afro-Asiatic |
27 | Hausa | 63M | 44M | Afro-Asiatic |
28 | Thai | 61M | 21M | Kra-Dai |
29 | Gujarati | 61M | 56M | Indo-European |
30 | Kannada | 56M | 44M | Dravidian |
31 | Iranian Persian | 53M | 53M | Indo-European |
32 | Bhojpuri | 52M | 52M | Indo-European |
33 | Southern Min Chinese | 50M | 50M | Sino-Tibetan |
34 | Hakka Chinese | 48M | 48M | Sino-Tibetan |
35 | Jinyu Chinese | 47M | 47M | Sino-Tibetan |
36 | Filipino | 45M | NA | Austronesian |
37 | Burmese | 43M | 33M | Sino-Tibetan |
38 | Polish | 40M | 40M | Indo-European |
39 | Yoruba | 40M | 38M | Niger-Congo |
40 | Odia | 38M | 34M | Indo-European |
41 | Malayalam | 38M | 37M | Dravidian |
42 | Xiang Chinese | 37M | 37M | Sino-Tibetan |
43 | Maithili | 34M | 34M | Indo-European |
44 | Ukrainian | 33M | 27M | Indo-European |
45 | Moroccan Spoken Arabic | 33M | 27M | Afro-Asiatic |
46 | Eastern Punjabi | 33M | 33M | Indo-European |
47 | Sunda | 32M | 32M | Austronesian |
48 | Algerian Spoken Arabic | 32M | 29M | Afro-Asiatic |
49 | Sudanese Spoken Arabic | 32M | 32M | Afro-Asiatic |
50 | Nigerian Pidgin | 30M | NA | Indo-European |
51 | Zulu | 28M | 12M | Niger-Congo |
52 | Igbo | 27M | 27M | Niger-Congo |
53 | Amharic | 26M | 22M | Afro-Asiatic |
54 | Northern Uzbek | 25M | 25M | Turkic |
55 | Sindhi | 25M | 25M | Indo-European |
56 | North Levantine Spoken Arabic | 25M | 25M | Afro-Asiatic |
57 | Nepali | 25M | 16M | Indo-European |
58 | Romanian | 24M | 24M | Indo-European |
59 | Tagalog | 24M | 24M | Austronesian |
60 | Dutch | 23M | 23M | Indo-European |
61 | Sa'idi Spoken Arabic | 22M | 22M | Afro-Asiatic |
62 | Gan Chinese | 22M | 22M | Sino-Tibetan |
63 | Northern Pashto | 21M | 21M | Indo-European |
64 | Magahi | 21M | 21M | Indo-European |
65 | Saraiki | 20M | 20M | Indo-European |
66 | Xhosa | 19M | 8M | Niger-Congo |
67 | Malay | 19M | 16M | Austronesian |
68 | Khmer | 18M | 17M | Austronesian |
69 | Afrikaans | 18M | 7M | Indo-European |
70 | Sinhala | 17M | 15M | Indo-European |
71 | Somali | 16M | 16M | Afro-Asiatic |
72 | Chhattisgarhi | 16M | 16M | Indo-European |
73 | Cebuano | 16M | 16M | Austronesian |
74 | Mesopotamian Spoken Arabic | 16M | 16M | Afro-Asiatic |
75 | Assamese | 15M | 15M | Indo-European |
76 | Northeastern Thai | 15M | 15M | Kra-Dai |
77 | Northern Kurdish | 15M | 15M | Indo-European |
78 | Hijazi Spoken Arabic | 15M | 15M | Afro-Asiatic |
79 | Nigerian Fulfulde | 14M | 14M | Niger-Congo |
80 | Bavarian | 14M | 14M | Indo-European |
81 | Bamanankan | 14M | 4M | Niger-Congo |
82 | South Azerbaijani | 14M | 14M | Turkic |
83 | Northern Sotho | 14M | 5M | Niger-Congo |
84 | Setswana | 14M | 6M | Niger-Congo |
85 | Souther Sotho | 14M | 6M | Niger-Congo |
86 | Czech | 13M | 11M | Indo-European |
87 | Greek | 13M | 13M | Indo-European |
88 | Chittagonian | 13M | 13M | Indo-European |
89 | Kazakh | 13M | 13M | Turkic |
90 | Swedish | 13M | 10M | Indo-European |
91 | Deccan | 13M | 13M | Indo-European |
92 | Hungarian | 13M | 13M | Uralic |
93 | Jula | 12M | 2M | Niger-Congo |
94 | Sadri | 12M | 5M | Indo-European |
95 | Kinyarwanda | 12M | 12M | Niger-Congo |
96 | Cameroonian Pidgin | 12M | NA | Indo-European |
97 | Sylheti | 12M | 10M | Indo-European |
98 | South Levantine Spoken Arabic | 12M | 12M | Afro-Asiatic |
99 | Tunisian Spoken Arabic | 12M | 12M | Afro-Asiatic |
100 | Sanaani Spoken Arabic | 11M | 11M | Afro-Asiatic |
One reason these languages are popular is that they are actively and consistently used. Unfortunately, nearly 3,000 (about 40%) of all languages are at risk of being lost, or are already in the process of dying out today.
Languages play a crucial role in our daily lives. … [Their] losses have huge negative impacts indigenous peoples’ most basic human rights.
—UN, IYoIL statement
As a result, the United Nations declared 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages (IYoIL), with a resolution to continue fostering these languages and pass on their knowledge for future generations.
Misc
Visualizing the Odds of Dying from Various Accidents
This infographic shows you the odds of dying from a variety of accidents, including car crashes, bee stings, and more.

Infographic: The Odds of Dying from Various Accidents
Fatal accidents account for a significant number of deaths in the U.S. every year. For example, nearly 43,000 Americans died in traffic accidents in 2021.
Without the right context, however, it can be difficult to properly interpret these figures.
To help you understand your chances, we’ve compiled data from the National Safety Council, and visualized the lifetime odds of dying from various accidents.
Data and Methodology
The lifetime odds presented in this graphic were estimated by dividing the one-year odds of dying by the life expectancy of a person born in 2020 (77 years).
Additionally, these numbers are based on data from the U.S., and likely differ in other countries.
Type of Accident | Lifetime odds of dying (1 in #) |
---|---|
Motor vehicle accident | 101 |
Complications of medical and surgical care | 798 |
Alcohol poisoning | 1,606 |
Accidental building fire | 1,825 |
Choking on food | 2,745 |
Drowning in swimming pool | 5,782 |
Sunstroke | 6,368 |
Accidental firearm discharge | 7,998 |
Drowning | 10,386 |
Airplane accident | 11,756 |
Bee or wasp sting | 57,825 |
Dog attack | 69,016 |
Lightning strike | 138,849 |
For comparison’s sake, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292,000,000. In other words, you are 4000x more likely to die by a lightning strike over your lifetime than to win the Powerball lottery.
Continue reading below for further context on some of these accidents.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of accidental deaths in the U.S., with a 1 in 101 chance of dying. This is quite a common way of dying, especially when compared to something like bee stings (1 in 57,825).
Unfortunately, a major cause of vehicle deaths is impaired driving. The CDC reports that 32 Americans are killed every day in crashes involving alcohol, which equates to one death every 45 minutes.
For further context, consider this: 30% of all traffic-related deaths in 2020 involved alcohol-impaired drivers.
Drowning
The odds of drowning in a swimming pool (1 in 5,782) are significantly higher than those of drowning in general (1 in 10,386). According to the CDC, there are 4,000 fatal drownings every year, which works out to 11 deaths per day.
Drowning also happens to be a leading cause of death for children. It is the leading cause for kids aged 1-4, and second highest cause for kids aged 5-14.
A rather surprising fact about drowning is that 80% of fatalities are male. This has been attributed to higher rates of alcohol use and risk-taking behaviors.
Accidental Firearm Discharge
Lastly, let’s look at accidental firearm deaths, which have lifetime odds of 1 in 7,998. That’s higher than the odds of drowning (general), as well as dying in an airplane accident.
This shouldn’t come as a major surprise, since the U.S. has the highest rates of gun ownership in the world. More importantly, these odds highlight the importance of properly securing one’s firearms, as well as learning safe handling practices.
As a percentage of total gun-related deaths (45,222 in 2020), accidental shootings represent a tiny 1%. The two leading causes are suicide (54%) and homicide (43%).
Interested in learning more about death? Revisit one of our most popular posts of all time: Visualizing the History of Pandemics.
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