List of official languages


This is a list of official, or otherwise administratively-recognized, languages of sovereign countries, regions, and supra-national institutions. The article also lists lots of languages which have no administrative mandate as an official language, generally describing these as de facto official languages.

Official languages of sovereign countries, wholly or partly

A

Abkhaz:
Afar:
Afrikaans:
Aja-Gbe:
Albanian:
Akuapem Twi:
Amharic:
Anii:
Arabic :
Araona:
Armenian:
Asante Twi:
Assamese:
Aymara:
Ayoreo :
Azerbaijani:

B

Balanta:
Bambara:
Bariba:
Basque:
Bassari:
Baure:
Bedik:
Belarusian:
Bengali:
Berber:
Biali:
Bislama:
Boko:
Bomu:
Bosnian:
Bozo:
Buduma:
Bulgarian:
Burmese:

C

Canichana:
Cantonese:
Carolinian:
Catalan:
Cavineña:
Cayubaba:
Chácobo:
Chamorro:
Chichewa:
Chimané:
Chinese, Mandarin:
Chipewyan:
Chirbawe :
  • see Sena
Comorian:
Corsican:
Cook Islands Māori:
Cree:
Croatian:
Czech:

D

Dagaare:
Dagbani:
Dangme:
Danish:
Dari:
Dendi:
Dhivehi:
Dioula:
Dogon:
Dutch:
Dzongkha:

E

English :
Ese Ejja:
Estonian:
Ewe-Gbe''':

F

Fante:
Faroese:
Fijian:
Filipino:
Finnish:
Fon-Gbe:
Foodo:
Formosan:
French :
Fula''':

G

Ga:
Gàidhlig:
Gbe:
  • see Aja-Gbe, Ewe-Gbe, Fon-Gbe, Gen-Gbe, Waci-Gbe, Xwela-Gbe
Gen-Gbe:
Georgian:
German:
Gonja:
Gourmanché:
Greek:
Guaraní:
Guarayu:
Gujarati:
  • India
Gwichʼin:

H

Haitian Creole:
Hakka:
Hassaniya:
Hausa:
Hebrew:
  • Israel
Hindi:
Hiri Motu:
Hungarian:

I

Igbo:
Ignaciano Moxos:
Icelandic:
Indonesian:
Inuinnaqtun:
Inuit:
Inuktitut:
Inuvialuktun:
Irish:
Italian:
Itene:
Itonama:

J

Japanese:
Javanese:
Jèrriais:
Jola:

K

Kabye:
Kalaallisut:
Kalanga:
Kallawaya:
Kannada:
Kanuri:
Kasem:
Kazakh:
Khmer:
Kinyarwanda:
Kirundi:
Kissi:
Koisan :
Korean:
Korean Sign Language:
Kpelle:
Kurdish:
Kyrgyz:

L

Lao:
Latin:
Latvian:
Leco:
Lithuanian:
Lukpa:
Luxembourgish:

M

Macedonian:
Malagasy:
Malay:
Malinke:
Maltese:
Mamara:
Manding :
  • see Bambara, Dioula, Malinke, Mandinka
Mandinka:
Mandjak:
Mankanya:
Manx Gaelic:
Māori:
Marshallese:
Mauritian Creole:
Mbelime:
Meitei :
Mongolian:
Montenegrin:
Mosetén:
Mossi:
Movima:

N

Nambya:
Nateni:
Nauruan:
Navajo:
Ndau:
Ndebele :
Ndebele :
Nepali:
New Zealand Sign Language:
  • New Zealand
Niuean:
Noon:
North Slavey:
Northern Sotho:
Norwegian:
  • Norway
Nzema:

O

Odia:
Oniyan:
Oromo:
Ossetian:

P

Pakawara:
Palauan:
Papiamento:
Pashto:
Persian:
Polish:
Portuguese:
Punjabi:
Puquina:

Q

Quechua:

R

Romanian:
Romansh:National language in Switzerland
Russian:

S

Safen:
Samoan:
Sango:
Scots:
Sena:
Serbian:
Serer:
Seychellois Creole:
Shona:
Sinhala:
Sirionó:
Slovak:
Slovene:
Somali:
Songhay-Zarma:
Soninke:
Sonsorolese:
Sotho:
South African Sign Language:
South Slavey:
Spanish:
Susu:
Swahili:
Swati:
Swedish:
Syenara:

T

Tacana:
Tahitian:
Taiwan Sign Language:
Taiwanese Hokkien:
Tajik:
Tagalog:see Filipino
Tapieté:
Tamasheq:
Tamil:
Tammari:
Tasawaq:
Tebu:
Telugu:
  • India
Tetum:
Thai:
Tigrinya:
Tłı̨chǫ:
Tobian:
Tok Pisin:
Tokelauan:
Toma:
Tonga:
Tongan:
Toromono:
Trinitario Moxos:
Tsonga:
Tswana:
Turkish:
Turkmen:
Tuvaluan:

U

Ukrainian:
Urdu:
Uru-Chipaya:
Uzbek:

V

Venda:
Vietnamese:

W

Waama:
Waci-Gbe:
Wamey:
Weenhayek:
Welsh:
Wolof:

X

Xhosa:
Xwela-Gbe:

Y

Yaminawa:
Yobe:
Yom:
Yoruba:
Yuki:
Yuracaré:

Z

Zimbabwean sign language:
Zulu:

List of languages by the number of countries in which they are the most widely used

This is a ranking of languages by number of sovereign countries in which they are de jure or de facto official, co-official, an administrative or working language.
LanguageNumber of countries language spoken
English101
Arabic60
French51
Standard Chinese33
Spanish31
Persian29
German18
Russian16
Malay13
Portuguese12

List of languages by number of countries in which they are the official language

This is a ranking of languages by number of sovereign countries in which they are de jure or de facto official, although there are no precise inclusion criteria or definition of a language. An '*' indicates a country whose independence is disputed.
Partially recognized or de facto independent countries are denoted by an asterisk
LanguageWorldAfricaAmericasAsiaEuropeOceaniaCountries
English5823144314United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, India, Nigeria '
French26182–51France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Madagascar, Monaco, Haiti, Vanuatu '
Arabic23–26*12–14*–11–12*––Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Palestine* '
Spanish20118–1–Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico '
Portuguese96111–Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, East Timor '
German6–––6–Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein '
Russian5–8*––32–5*–Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Abkhazia*, South Ossetia*, Transnistria*.
Swahili55––––Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
Serbo-Croatian4–5*–––4–5*–Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*
Italian4–––4–Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City
Malay4––4––Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei
Dutch3–1–2–Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname
Persian3––3––Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan
Sotho33––––South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe
Tswana33––––Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Albanian2–3*–––2–3*–Albania, Kosovo*, North Macedonia
Standard Chinese2–3*––2–3*––China, Singapore, Taiwan*
Romanian2–3*–––2-3*–Romania, Moldova, Transnistria*
Somali2–3*2–3*––––Somalia, Ethiopia, and Somaliland*
Turkish2–3*–––2–3*–Turkey, Northern Cyprus* and Cyprus
Aymara2–2–––Bolivia and Peru
Berber22––––Algeria and Morocco
Chichewa22––––Malawi and Zimbabwe
Fula22––-–Burkina Faso and Mali
Greek2–––2–Greece and Cyprus
Guarani2–2–––Paraguay and Bolivia
Hindi2––2––India, Fiji
Quechua2–2–––Bolivia and Peru
Korean2––2––North Korea and South Korea
Kurdish2––2––Iraq and Armenia
Rwanda-Rundi22––––Burundi & Rwanda
Swati22––––Eswatini (Swaziland) and South Africa
Swedish2–––2–Sweden and Finland
Tamil2––2––Sri Lanka and Singapore
Tigrinya22––––Eritrea and Ethiopia
Venda22––––South Africa and Zimbabwe

Official regional and minority languages

Abaza:
Adyghe:
Aghul:
Ahtna
Aklanon:
Albanian:
Altay:
Alutiiq:
Arabic:
Aranese see Occitan
Armenian:
Aromanian:
Assamese:
Avar:
Azeri:
Balkar:
Bashkir:
Basque:
Bengali:
  • India (as a "subsidiary official language"