Languages · English
English Speaking Countries
English is an official language in 61 countries and widely spoken in many more. The list below includes every country where English is official or spoken by at least a fifth of the population — 99 in total, ranked by the share of people who speak it.
Most English speakers by country
- 90%+ speak English
- 70–89%
- 50–69%
- 30–49%
- Under 30% / no data
English-speaking countries, by share of speakers
| Rank | Country | Speak English | Status | English speakers | Continent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Bahamas |
100% | Official language | 403,033 | Americas |
| 1 |  Barbados |
100% | Official language | 282,623 | Americas |
| 1 |  Guyana |
100% | Official language | 835,986 | Americas |
| 1 |  Kiribati |
100% | Official language | 136,488 | Oceania |
| 1 |  Solomon Islands |
100% | Official language | 838,645 | Oceania |
| 6 |  Ireland |
98% | Official language | 5.4 million | Europe |
| 6 |  Jamaica |
98% | Official language | 2.8 million | Americas |
| 6 |  New Zealand |
98% | De facto official | 5.2 million | Oceania |
| 6 |  Saint Kitts and Nevis |
98% | Official language | 45,984 | Americas |
| 6 |  United Kingdom |
98% | Official language | 68.1 million | Europe |
| 11 |  Australia |
96% | De facto official | 26.5 million | Oceania |
| 11 |  Grenada |
96% | Official language | 112,611 | Americas |
| 11 |  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
96% | Official language | 95,927 | Americas |
| 11 |  United States |
96% | De facto official | 328.1 million | Americas |
| 15 |  Nauru |
95% | Official language | 11,424 | Oceania |
| 16 |  Dominica |
94% | Official language | 61,919 | Americas |
| 16 |  Fiji |
94% | Official language | 877,165 | Oceania |
| 18 |  Marshall Islands |
93% | Official language | 33,742 | Oceania |
| 19 |  Netherlands |
90% | Not official | 16.3 million | Europe |
| 19 |  Saint Lucia |
90% | Official language | 162,134 | Americas |
| 21 |  Malta |
88% | Official language | 510,140 | Europe |
| 21 |  Trinidad and Tobago |
88% | Official language | 1.2 million | Americas |
| 23 |  Canada |
87% | Official language | 36.2 million | Americas |
| 24 |  Antigua and Barbuda |
86% | Official language | 81,020 | Americas |
| 24 |  Denmark |
86% | Not official | 5.2 million | Europe |
| 24 |  Sweden |
86% | Not official | 9.1 million | Europe |
| 27 |  Israel |
85% | Not official | 8.6 million | Asia |
| 28 |  Liberia |
83% | Official language | 4.8 million | Africa |
| 28 |  Vanuatu |
83% | Official language | 278,190 | Oceania |
| 30 |  Botswana |
81% | Official language | 2.1 million | Africa |
| 31 |  Eswatini |
80% | Official language | 1.0 million | Africa |
| 31 |  Singapore |
80% | Official language | 4.9 million | Asia |
| 33 |  Belize |
77% | Official language | 325,651 | Americas |
| 34 |  Maldives |
75% | Not official | 397,257 | Asia |
| 35 |  Austria |
73% | Not official | 6.7 million | Europe |
| 35 |  Cyprus |
73% | Not official | 1.0 million | Europe |
| 37 |  Mauritius |
72% | Official language | 895,494 | Africa |
| 38 |  Finland |
70% | Not official | 4.0 million | Europe |
| 39 |  Tanzania |
69% | Official language | 48.7 million | Africa |
| 40 |  Germany |
64% | Not official | 53.4 million | Europe |
| 40 |  Philippines |
64% | Official language | 74.7 million | Asia |
| 42 |  Malawi |
63% | Official language | 14.0 million | Africa |
| 43 |  Sudan |
61% | Official language | 31.5 million | Africa |
| 44 |  Belgium |
59% | Not official | 7.0 million | Europe |
| 44 |  Eritrea |
59% | Official language | 2.1 million | Africa |
| 44 |  Slovenia |
59% | Not official | 1.3 million | Europe |
| 47 |  Micronesia |
57% | Official language | 64,799 | Oceania |
| 48 |  Luxembourg |
56% | Not official | 384,703 | Europe |
| 49 |  Nigeria |
53% | Official language | 125.9 million | Africa |
| 50 |  Greece |
51% | Not official | 5.3 million | Europe |
| 50 |  Hong Kong |
51% | Official language | 3.8 million | Asia |
| 52 |  Estonia |
50% | Not official | 683,238 | Europe |
| 52 |  Pakistan |
50% | Official language | 127.6 million | Asia |
| 52 |  Papua New Guinea |
50% | Official language | 5.4 million | Oceania |
| 52 |  United Arab Emirates |
50% | Not official | 5.8 million | Asia |
| 56 |  Croatia |
49% | Not official | 1.9 million | Europe |
| 57 |  Latvia |
46% | Not official | 849,981 | Europe |
| 58 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina |
45% | Not official | 1.4 million | Europe |
| 58 |  Jordan |
45% | Not official | 5.2 million | Asia |
| 58 |  Switzerland |
45% | Not official | 4.1 million | Europe |
| 61 |  Ethiopia |
43% | Not official | 58.3 million | Africa |
| 62 |  Zimbabwe |
42% | Official language | 7.1 million | Africa |
| 63 |  Gambia |
40% | Official language | 1.1 million | Africa |
| 63 |  Lebanon |
40% | Not official | 2.3 million | Asia |
| 65 |  France |
39% | Not official | 26.8 million | Europe |
| 66 |  Cameroon |
38% | Official language | 11.4 million | Africa |
| 66 |  Lithuania |
38% | Not official | 1.1 million | Europe |
| 66 |  Seychelles |
38% | Official language | 46,637 | Africa |
| 69 |  Egypt |
35% | Not official | 41.4 million | Africa |
| 69 |  Iraq |
35% | Not official | 16.5 million | Asia |
| 69 |  Sierra Leone |
35% | Official language | 3.1 million | Africa |
| 72 |  Italy |
34% | Not official | 20.0 million | Europe |
| 73 |  Poland |
33% | Not official | 12.0 million | Europe |
| 74 |  Romania |
31% | Not official | 5.9 million | Europe |
| 74 |  South Africa |
31% | Official language | 20.1 million | Africa |
| 76 |  Tonga |
28% | Official language | 29,048 | Oceania |
| 77 |  Czechia |
27% | Not official | 2.9 million | Europe |
| 77 |  Lesotho |
27% | Official language | 638,098 | Africa |
| 77 |  Portugal |
27% | Not official | 2.9 million | Europe |
| 77 |  South Sudan |
27% | Official language | 3.3 million | Africa |
| 77 |  Thailand |
27% | Not official | 19.3 million | Asia |
| 82 |  Slovakia |
26% | Not official | 1.4 million | Europe |
| 83 |  Bulgaria |
25% | Not official | 1.6 million | Europe |
| 84 |  Spain |
24% | Not official | 11.8 million | Europe |
| 85 |  Macau |
23% | Not official | 157,757 | Asia |
| 86 |  Ghana |
21% | Official language | 7.4 million | Africa |
| 86 |  Malaysia |
21% | Not official | 7.6 million | Asia |
| 88 |  Hungary |
20% | Not official | 1.9 million | Europe |
| 89 |  India |
19% | Official language | 278.1 million | Asia |
| 89 |  Kenya |
19% | Official language | 10.9 million | Africa |
| 91 |  Madagascar |
18% | Official language | 5.9 million | Africa |
| 92 |  Zambia |
16% | Official language | 3.5 million | Africa |
| 93 |  Rwanda |
15% | Official language | 2.2 million | Africa |
| 94 |  Tuvalu |
9% | Official language | 864 | Oceania |
| 95 |  Palau |
9% | Official language | 1,519 | Oceania |
| 96 |  Namibia |
7% | Official language | 216,497 | Africa |
| 97 |  Uganda |
4% | Official language | 2.0 million | Africa |
| 98 |  Samoa |
2% | Official language | 4,605 | Oceania |
| 99 |  Burundi |
0% | Official language | 6,619 | Africa |
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Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT); population: World Bank Open Data (CC BY 4.0). Speaker shares include second-language speakers.
Where English is the main language
English is the first language of most people in Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Australia, United States and Canada, and in many Caribbean and Pacific islands such as Jamaica, the Bahamas and Barbados.
Countries where English is an official language
61 countries give English official status — mostly former British colonies: Africa (25), Americas (14), Oceania (14), Asia (5) and Europe (3). Examples include Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Nauru, Dominica and Fiji.
English widely spoken, but not official
In Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Israel, Maldives, Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia and Luxembourg most people speak English as a second language even though it has no official status — the Netherlands and the Nordic countries lead in English proficiency.
English-speaking countries in Europe
English is official in the Ireland, United Kingdom and Malta. Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Germany and Belgium are where you will get by most easily in English elsewhere in Europe.