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Mapped: The Most Popular Languages to Learn by Country

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See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Map showing the most popular languages people want to learn by country in 2024.

Mapped: The Most Popular Languages to Learn by Country

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Across the 7,000 languages spoken worldwide, just five languages command roughly half of the global population.

With 1.5 billion speakers, English is spoken more than any other language, followed by Mandarin (1.2 billion), and Hindi (610 million). Given its prevalence in business and political spheres, it continues to be the most sought-after language to learn today even as proficiency in China, Japan, and South Korea has declined in recent years.

This graphic from NeoMam Studios shows the most popular languages to learn in 2024, based on data from Word.Tips.

Global Language Learning Trends

For the rankings, monthly Google search volumes were analyzed across countries based on “Study X language” or “Learn X language”. These phrases were translated across 119 of the most-spoken languages globally.

Each language was ranked according to their search volume as of May 2024, shown in the table below:

CountryMost Popular LanguageSecond Most Popular Language
🇩🇿 AlgeriaArabicFrench
🇧🇭 BahrainArabicGerman
🇪🇬 EgyptArabicEnglish
🇮🇶 IraqArabicEnglish
🇯🇴 JordanArabicGerman
🇰🇼 KuwaitArabicGerman
🇱🇧 LebanonArabicEnglish
🇱🇾 LibyaArabicEnglish
🇲🇦 MoroccoArabicEnglish
🇴🇲 OmanArabicEnglish
🇵🇸 PalestineArabicEnglish
🇶🇦 QatarArabicEnglish
🇸🇦 Saudi ArabiaArabicChinese
🇺🇬 UgandaArabicBengali
🇦🇪 United Arab EmiratesArabicGerman
🇬🇾 GuyanaChineseSpanish
🇭🇰 Hong KongChineseSpanish
🇱🇦 LaosChineseEnglish
🇹🇼 TaiwanChineseMinnan
🇻🇪 VenezuelaChineseRussian
🇦🇫 AfghanistanEnglishFarsi
🇦🇴 AngolaEnglishFrench
🇦🇲 ArmeniaEnglishGerman
🇦🇹 AustriaEnglishItalian
🇦🇿 AzerbaijanEnglishRussian
🇧🇾 BelarusEnglishRussian
🇧🇯 BeninEnglishGerman
🇧🇴 BoliviaEnglishJapanese
🇧🇷 BrazilEnglishSpanish
🇧🇬 BulgariaEnglishGerman
🇰🇭 CambodiaEnglishChinese
🇨🇲 CameroonEnglishGerman
🇨🇴 ColombiaEnglishItalian
🇨🇷 Costa RicaEnglishSpanish
🇨🇮 Cote D'IvoireEnglishArabic
🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the CongoEnglishSwahili
🇪🇨 EcuadorEnglishItalian
🇸🇻 El SalvadorEnglishItalian
🇪🇪 EstoniaEnglishGerman
🇪🇹 EthiopiaEnglishArabic
🇫🇮 FinlandEnglishUkrainian
🇫🇷 FranceEnglishSpanish
🇬🇪 GeorgiaEnglishGerman
🇩🇪 GermanyEnglishSpanish
🇬🇹 GuatemalaEnglishSpanish
🇭🇳 HondurasEnglishRussian
🇭🇺 HungaryEnglishGerman
🇮🇩 IndonesiaEnglishArabic
🇮🇱 IsraelEnglishArabic
🇮🇹 ItalyEnglishItalian
🇯🇲 JamaicaEnglishChinese
🇯🇵 JapanEnglishKorean
🇰🇿 KazakhstanEnglishRussian
🇰🇬 KyrgyzstanEnglishGerman
🇱🇻 LatviaEnglishGerman
🇲🇺 MauritiusEnglishGerman
🇲🇽 MexicoEnglishSpanish
🇲🇩 MoldovaEnglishItalian
🇲🇪 MontenegroEnglishGerman
🇲🇿 MozambiqueEnglishFrench
🇳🇮 NicaraguaEnglishRussian
🇳🇬 NigeriaEnglishHausa
🇵🇰 PakistanEnglishKorean
🇵🇾 ParaguayEnglishPortuguese
🇵🇪 PeruEnglishItalian
🇵🇱 PolandEnglishPolish
🇵🇹 PortugalEnglishPortuguese
🇨🇬 Republic of the CongoEnglishChinese
🇷🇴 RomaniaEnglishGerman
🇷🇼 RwandaEnglishGerman
🇸🇳 SenegalEnglishArabic
🇸🇴 SomaliaEnglishArabic
🇸🇪 SwedenEnglishThai
🇹🇿 TanzaniaEnglishSwahili
🇹🇭 ThailandEnglishChinese
🇹🇳 TunisiaEnglishArabic
🇹🇷 TurkeyEnglishPolish
🇹🇲 TurkmenistanEnglishRussian
🇺🇦 UkraineEnglishUkrainian
🇬🇧 United KingdomEnglishSpanish
🇺🇿 UzbekistanEnglishRussian
🇻🇳 VietnamEnglishChinese
🇿🇲 ZambiaEnglishGerman
🇵🇭 PhilippinesFilipinoKorean
🇧🇸 BahamasFrenchSpanish
🇧🇼 BotswanaFrenchGerman
🇨🇦 CanadaFrenchJapanese
🇳🇱 NetherlandsFrenchEnglish
🇦🇱 AlbaniaGermanEnglish
🇧🇦 Bosnia and HerzegovinaGermanEnglish
🇭🇷 CroatiaGermanArabic
🇨🇾 CyprusGermanEnglish
🇩🇰 DenmarkGermanSpanish
🇬🇭 GhanaGermanEnglish
🇬🇷 GreeceGermanEnglish
🇰🇪 KenyaGermanFrench
🇱🇺 LuxembourgGermanFrench
🇲🇹 MaltaGermanEnglish
🇳🇦 NamibiaGermanPortuguese
🇲🇰 North MacedoniaGermanEnglish
🇷🇸 SerbiaGermanFrench
🇸🇰 SlovakiaGermanEnglish
🇸🇮 SloveniaGermanJapanese
🇿🇼 ZimbabweGermanEnglish
🇫🇯 FijiHindiChinese
🇦🇷 ArgentinaItalianEnglish
🇨🇱 ChileItalianKorean
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandItalianEnglish
🇺🇾 UruguayItalianSpanish
🇦🇺 AustraliaJapaneseSpanish
🇰🇷 South KoreaJapaneseEnglish
🇧🇩 BangladeshKoreanBengali
🇧🇹 BhutanKoreanChinese
🇧🇳 BruneiKoreanMalayalam
🇮🇳 IndiaKoreanEnglish
🇲🇳 MongoliaKoreanGerman
🇲🇲 MyanmarKoreanJapanese
🇳🇵 NepalKoreanJapanese
🇸🇬 SingaporeKoreanChinese
🇱🇰 Sri LankaKoreanEnglish
🇲🇾 MalaysiaMalayalamEnglish
🇱🇹 LithuaniaRussianEnglish
🇷🇺 RussiaRussianEnglish
🇧🇪 BelgiumSpanishArabic
🇨🇿 Czech RepublicSpanishPolish
🇩🇴 Dominican RepublicSpanishEnglish
🇮🇸 IcelandSpanishGerman
🇮🇪 IrelandSpanishFrench
🇳🇿 New ZealandSpanishFilipino
🇳🇴 NorwaySpanishUrdu
🇵🇦 PanamaSpanishEnglish
🇵🇷 Puerto RicoSpanishArabic
🇪🇸 SpainSpanishEnglish
🇹🇹 Trinidad and TobagoSpanishArabic
🇺🇸 United StatesSpanishJapanese
🇿🇦 South AfricaZuluSwahili

Overall, English is the most desired language to learn in 63 countries, dropping substantially from 98 countries in 2021.

Due to shifting geopolitical dynamics, English proficiency is falling across East Asia. For instance, China ranked 91st out of 116 countries on English proficiency compared to ranking 38th four years earlier. Despite this, English is the most popular language people want to learn across virtually every global region.

Ranking in second is German, driven by its popularity in European nations including Greece, Denmark, and Croatia. While it falls behind English by a wide margin, it stands as the most sought-after language to learn in 16 countries likely due to Germany being the world’s third-largest economy.

Arabic follows next in line, being the top language in 15 countries mostly found in the Middle East. Since 2021, this number has grown by more than double as countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt witnessed strong search volumes. Globally, Arabic is the sixth-most common language, with 274 million speakers around the world.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic from a global perspective, check out this graphic on the 12 most spoken languages globally.

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This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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Demographics

Which Countries Have the Most Spanish Speakers?

Mexico is the undisputed leader in Spanish speakers with 132.4 million speakers, more than double the next closest country

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Ranked: Countries by Number of Spanish Speakers

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

From bustling Madrid to the streets of Mexico City, Spanish echoes across continents as the world’s fourth-most spoken language, as of 2023.

Among United Nations member states and dependencies, Spanish also ranks as one of the most common official languages, surpassed only by English, French, and Arabic

This graphic visualizes the number and share of Spanish speakers in the top 20 countries with the most Spanish speakers, with native speakers and limited proficiency speakers included.

Figures for the number of Spanish speaker and population of Spanish-speaking countries comes from Instituto Cervantes for 2024, and population data used to calculate the share of Spanish speakers for the U.S, EU-27, and the UK come from the U.S. Census Bureau, Eurostat, and UK Office for National Statistics respectively.

Mexico Has Most Spanish Speakers

In the table below, we show the data for the number of Spanish speakers, the 2024 population, and the share of Spanish speakers in 20 countries.

Country/RegionTotal Spanish SpeakersPopulation (2024)Share of Spanish Speakers
🇲🇽 Mexico132,410,920132,490,415100%
🇺🇸 United States57,253,801341,004,89617%
🇨🇴 Colombia52,695,95252,695,952100%
🇪🇸 Spain48,107,46848,446,59499%
🇦🇷 Argentina46,846,84546,846,845100%
🇵🇪 Peru31,432,45535,371,49689%
🇻🇪 Venezuela29,395,33429,395,334100%
🇪🇺 European Union (EU-27)29,314,000449,200,0007%
🇨🇱 Chile20,086,37720,086,377100%
🇬🇹 Guatemala16,783,08117,843,13294%
🇪🇨 Ecuador16,599,84417,142,25497%
🇧🇴 Bolivia12,171,85612,332,25299%
🇨🇺 Cuba11,080,75611,174,58799%
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic10,792,33210,792,332100%
🇭🇳 Honduras9,892,6329,892,632100%
🇵🇾 Paraguay7,609,4467,656,21599%
🇳🇮 Nicaragua7,143,8477,143,847100%
🇸🇻 El Salvador6,399,4716,399,471100%
🇨🇷 Costa Rica5,309,6275,309,627100%
🇬🇧 United Kingdom5,099,25968,300,0007%

Mexico is the undisputed leader in Spanish speakers with 132.4 million speakers, more than double the next closest country (U.S. with 57.3 million). While Mexico is home to the most native Spanish speakers, about 6.1% of its population in 2020 cited speaking an Indigenous language.

The U.S. and the UK are home to a significant number of Spanish speakers, reflecting decades of Latin American immigration patterns.

In fact, the U.S. is home to more Spanish speakers than Spain itself, which isn’t much of a surprise given the countries’ population difference.

Despite having a population nearly seven times larger (341 million vs. 48 million), the U.S. only marginally surpasses Spain in total Spanish speakers (57.3 million vs. 48.1 million).

Spanish evolved from Vulgar Latin spoken in the Iberian Peninsula, incorporating influences from Visigothic, Arabic, and local indigenous languages during centuries of migration and conquest.

The language spread to the Americas through Spanish colonization beginning in the late 15th century, when conquistadors and missionaries imposed Spanish as the dominant language.

However, its dominance evolved over time through complex interactions that included both the suppression and absorption of indigenous languages like Nahuatl and Quechua, as well as strategic alliances that helped some languages thrive.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Interested in more linguistic data visualizations? Check out this graphic that visualizes the current global landscape of languages that could become extinct, created by Stephen Jones from Visual Capitalist’s Creator Program.

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