List of official languages of international organizations


This is a list of official languages of international organizations. Different organizations sometimes refer to their principal languages of administration and communication as "working languages", while others refer to these as being "official". No distinction is made here, except where an organization itself, distinguishes between its official and working languages.
English and French are often regarded as the symbolic official languages, although the former has gained prominence in recent years.

International

According to a recent study of multilingualism in 13 major international organizations, English is an official language in almost all. This is followed by French ; Spanish ; and Arabic, Chinese, and Russian. Interpretation is offered in Japanese and German as well for 2 organizations.
The six official languages of the United Nations reflects the languages of the permanent members of the Security Council, in addition to Arabic and Spanish. Another study found that the percentage of each language used at each United Nations meeting in 2010 was distributed as follows: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese.
The following is a list of major international and inter-governmental organizations.
InstitutionsLanguages
Amnesty InternationalPortuguese, Arabic, English, French and Spanish
Antarctic Treaty Secretariat English, French, Spanish and Russian
Bank for International Settlements English, French, German and Spanish
Commonwealth of NationsEnglish
Portuguese Language Countries Portuguese
FIFAArabic, English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish
Holy SeeLatin, Italian and French
International Civil Aviation Organization Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish
International Criminal Court Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish
International Criminal Police Organization Arabic, English, French and Spanish
International Energy Agency English
International Federation of Journalists English, French and Spanish
International Labour Organization English, French and Spanish
International Monetary Fund English
International Olympic Committee French and English
International Organization for Standardization English, French and Russian
International Telecommunication Union English, French and Spanish
International Union for Conservation of Nature English, French and Spanish
Inter-Parliamentary Union French and English
Latin Union Catalan, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian
Médecins Sans FrontièresArabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development English and French
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie French
Organization of Ibero-American States Spanish and Portuguese
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Arabic, English and French
Red CrossArabic, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese and German
Rotary InternationalEnglish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish
Trans-Pacific Partnership English, French, and Spanish
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish
United Nations Under the Charter, the official languages are Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish as well as Arabic which was added in 1973. See also: Official languages of the United Nations.
Universal Postal Union French and English. Other languages translated: Arabic, Chinese, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish
World Bank English
World Customs OrganizationEnglish, French, and Spanish
World Health Organization Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
World Intellectual Property Organization Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Korean
World Trade Organization English, French and Spanish
African Development BankEnglish, French
African Union Arabic, French, English, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili
Greater Arab Free Trade Area Arabic
Arab LeagueArabic
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation English
Asian Development Bank English
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank English
Association of Southeast Asian Nations English, Burmese, Filipino, Indonesian, Khmer, Lao, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, Thai and Vietnamese
BeneluxDutch and French
Caribbean Community English, French, Dutch and Spanish
Caribbean Development Bank English
Central American Common Market Spanish
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa English, French and Portuguese
Commonwealth of Independent States Russian
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Arabic
Council of EuropeEnglish and French
East African Community English, French and Swahili
Economic Community of West African States English, French and Portuguese
Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa French, Portuguese and Spanish
Eurasian Development Bank Russian
Eurasian Economic Union Russian
European Space Agency English, French and German
European Union 24 official languages with three of these — English, French and German — being working languages of some internal EU bodies such as the European Commission
Group of Seven, formerly the Group of Eight English, French, German, Italian and Japanese
Gulf Cooperation Council Arabic
Indian Ocean Rim Association English
Islamic Development Bank Arabic, with French and English as working languages
Mercosur/MercosulGuarani, Portuguese and Spanish.
New Development Bank English
Nordic Investment Bank English
Nordic Council Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish
North Atlantic Treaty Organization English and French.
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries English
Organization of American States Spanish, English, Portuguese and French. See also: Official languages of the Organization of American States
Pacific Islands ForumEnglish
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Chinese and Russian.
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation English
South Pacific Commission English and French
Southern African Development Community English, French and Portuguese
Union of South American Nations Dutch, English, Portuguese and Spanish
United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement English, Spanish and French.