Languages · 234 countries

Languages by Country

Q: Which country has the most languages?

Papua New Guinea, with about 845 living languages, then Indonesia (691) and Nigeria (499).

Q: Which country has the most official languages?

Switzerland recognises 4 official languages at national level.

The official and most widely spoken language of every country, and how many languages are spoken there. The map shows linguistic diversity — from countries with a single language to Papua New Guinea with 845.

234

Countries and territories

Countries where English is official

845

Languages in Papua New Guinea

Official languages in Switzerland

Most languages spoken

845

691

499

409

290

276

263

201

191

172

200+ languages
50–199
20–49
10–19
4–9
1–3

Official and spoken languages of every country

Country	Official language(s)	Languages	Most spoken
Afghanistan	Persian, Pushto	35	Persian 50%
Albania	Albanian	4	Albanian 100%
Algeria	Arabic, French	16	Algerian Arabic 83%
American Samoa	Samoan, English	2	Samoan 99%
Andorra	Catalan	5	Catalan 51%
Angola	Portuguese	33	Portuguese 67%
Anguilla	English	1	English 95%
Antigua and Barbuda	English	3	Antigua and Barbuda Creole English 146%
Argentina	Spanish	15	Spanish 100%
Armenia	Armenian	4	Armenian 99%
Aruba	Dutch, Papiamento	4	Dutch 97%
Australia	English	191	English 96%
Austria	German	11	German 97%
Azerbaijan	Azerbaijani	13	North Azerbaijani 225%
Bahamas	English	2	English 100%
Bahrain	Arabic	2	Arabic 87%
Bangladesh	Bengali	28	Bengali 98%
Barbados	English	2	English 100%
Belarus	Belarusian, Russian	2	Russian 71%
Belgium	German, French, Dutch	7	English 59%
Belize	English	6	English 77%
Benin	French	45	French 34%
Bermuda	English	1	English 92%
Bhutan	Dzongkha	25	Dzongkha 47%
Bolivia	Aymara, Quechua, Spanish	40	Spanish 61%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian	5	Bosnian 99%
Botswana	English, Tswana	22	English 81%
Brazil	Portuguese	155	Portuguese 91%
British Indian Ocean Territory	English	1	English 100%
British Virgin Islands	English	2	Virgin Islands Creole English 190%
Brunei	Malay	6	Malay 93%
Bulgaria	Bulgarian	6	Bulgarian 100%
Burkina Faso	French	61	Mossi 40%
Burundi	English, French, Rundi	4	Rundi 63%
Cambodia	Khmer	19	Khmer 89%
Cameroon	English, French	263	French 68%
Canada	English, French	100	English 87%
Cape Verde	Portuguese	2	Kabuverdianu 91%
Cayman Islands	English	3	English 98%
Central African Republic	French, Sango	77	Riverain Sango 97%
Chad	Arabic, French	119	Bagirmi Fulfulde 126%
Chile	Spanish	6	Spanish 98%
China	Chinese	290	Chinese 90%
Christmas Island	English	2	English 83%
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	English	1	Malay 84%
Colombia	Spanish	70	Spanish 93%
Comoros	Arabic, French, Ndzwani Comorian, Ngazidja Comorian	5	Mwali Comorian 89%
Cook Islands	English	5	Rarotongan 180%
Costa Rica	Spanish	4	Spanish 95%
Côte d'Ivoire	French	83	French 34%
Croatia	Croatian	8	Croatian 99%
Cuba	Spanish	1	Spanish 100%
Curacao	Dutch, Papiamento	4	Papiamento 81%
Cyprus	Modern Greek (1453-), Turkish	6	Modern Greek (1453-) 95%
Czechia	Czech	7	Czech 98%
Denmark	Danish	7	Danish 93%
Djibouti	Arabic, French	3	French 50%
Dominica	English	1	English 94%
Dominican Republic	Spanish	2	Spanish 78%
DR Congo	French	201	French 51%
Ecuador	Quechua, Spanish	18	Spanish 96%
Egypt	Arabic	7	Arabic 94%
El Salvador	Spanish	4	Spanish 89%
Equatorial Guinea	French, Portuguese, Spanish	15	Spanish 87%
Eritrea	Arabic, English, Tigrinya	10	Tigrinya 60%
Estonia	Estonian	6	Standard Estonian 93%
Eswatini	English, Swati	4	English 80%
Ethiopia	Amharic	85	English 43%
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)	English	2	English 77%
Faroe Islands	Faroese	2	Faroese 95%
Fiji	English, Fijian, Fiji Hindi	10	English 94%
Finland	Finnish, Swedish	9	Finnish 94%
France	French	22	French 97%
French Polynesia	French, Tahitian	8	French 98%
Gabon	French	40	French 63%
Gambia	English	4	English 40%
Georgia	Georgian	16	Georgian 86%
Germany	German	28	German 91%
Ghana	English	68	Akan 39%
Gibraltar	English	2	English 80%
Greece	Modern Greek (1453-)	15	Modern Greek (1453-) 99%
Greenland	Kalaallisut	2	Kalaallisut 84%
Grenada	English	2	English 96%
Guam	Chamorro, English	4	English 91%
Guatemala	Spanish	27	Spanish 88%
Guernsey	English	3	English 100%
Guinea	French	27	French 27%
Guinea-Bissau	Portuguese	20	Portuguese 100%
Guyana	English	10	English 100%
Haiti	French, Haitian	2	Haitian 81%
Honduras	Spanish	6	Spanish 91%
Hong Kong	English, Chinese	3	Chinese 95%
Hungary	Hungarian	9	Hungarian 100%
Iceland	Icelandic	2	Icelandic 100%
India	English, Hindi	409	Hindi 41%
Indonesia	Indonesian	691	Loun 92%
Iran	Persian	63	Persian 75%
Iraq	Arabic	12	Arabic 68%
Ireland	English, Irish	4	English 98%
Isle of Man	English, Manx	1	English 100%
Israel	Arabic, Hebrew	22	Hebrew 100%
Italy	Italian	30	Italian 95%
Jamaica	English	2	English 98%
Japan	Japanese	14	Japanese 95%
Jersey	English	4	English 95%
Jordan	Arabic	3	Arabic 100%
Kazakhstan	Kazakh, Russian	8	Russian 72%
Kenya	English, Swahili	65	Swahili 66%
Kiribati	English, Gilbertese	2	English 100%
Kuwait	Arabic	—	Arabic 100%
Kyrgyzstan	Kirghiz, Russian	4	Kirghiz 48%
Laos	Lao	71	Lao 69%
Latvia	Latvian	6	Latvian 61%
Lebanon	Arabic	4	Levantine Arabic 100%
Lesotho	English, Southern Sotho	5	Southern Sotho 98%
Liberia	English	32	English 83%
Libya	Arabic	6	Libyan Arabic 76%
Liechtenstein	German, Swiss German	3	German 100%
Lithuania	Lithuanian	6	Lithuanian 86%
Luxembourg	German, French, Luxembourgish	6	French 92%
Macau	Portuguese, Chinese, Yue Chinese	5	Chinese 98%
Madagascar	English, French, Malagasy	14	Malagasy 90%
Malawi	English, Chichewa	14	English 63%
Malaysia	Malay	115	Malay 75%
Maldives	Dhivehi	2	Dhivehi 98%
Mali	French	74	Bambara 46%
Malta	English, Maltese	4	Maltese 100%
Marshall Islands	English, Marshallese	2	English 93%
Mauritania	Arabic	4	Hassaniyya 87%
Mauritius	English, French	6	Morisyen 90%
Mexico	Spanish	276	Spanish 83%
Micronesia	English	18	English 57%
Moldova	Romanian	5	Romanian 63%
Monaco	French	1	French 97%
Mongolia	Mongolian	8	Halh Mongolian 158%
Montenegro	Serbian	3	Serbian 100%
Montserrat	English	1	English 64%
Morocco	Arabic, Central Atlas Tamazight, French	12	Moroccan Arabic 87%
Mozambique	Portuguese	35	Portuguese 27%
Myanmar	Burmese	105	Burmese 64%
Namibia	English	25	Afrikaans 75%
Nauru	English, Nauru	2	English 95%
Nepal	Nepali	114	Nepali 51%
Netherlands	Dutch	20	Dutch 100%
New Caledonia	French	34	French 99%
New Zealand	Maori, English	6	English 98%
Nicaragua	Spanish	7	Spanish 78%
Niger	French	15	Hausa 41%
Nigeria	English, Yoruba	499	English 53%
Niue	English, Niuean	2	English 56%
Norfolk Island	English	3	English 96%
North Korea	Korean	1	Korean 88%
North Macedonia	Macedonian	4	Macedonian 67%
Northern Mariana Islands	English	4	English 97%
Norway	Norwegian Nynorsk, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian	9	Norwegian Bokmål 100%
Oman	Arabic	9	Omani Arabic 82%
Pakistan	English, Urdu	71	Urdu 95%
Palau	English, Palauan	5	Palauan 74%
Palestine	Arabic	1	Arabic 100%
Panama	Spanish	9	Spanish 69%
Papua New Guinea	English, Hiri Motu, Tok Pisin	845	Tok Pisin 71%
Paraguay	Guarani, Spanish	18	Guarani 69%
Peru	Quechua, Spanish	81	Spanish 73%
Philippines	English, Filipino	172	Tagalog 74%
Pitcairn Islands	English	1	English 92%
Poland	Polish	14	Polish 96%
Portugal	Portuguese	7	Portuguese 96%
Puerto Rico	Spanish, English	2	Spanish 87%
Qatar	Arabic	1	Arabic 89%
Republic of the Congo	French	52	French 61%
Romania	Romanian	12	Romanian 90%
Russia	Russian	109	Russian 99%
Rwanda	English, French, Kinyarwanda	4	Kinyarwanda 77%
Saint Barthelemy	French	1	French 85%
Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha	English	1	English 68%
Saint Kitts and Nevis	English	1	English 98%
Saint Lucia	English	2	Saint Lucian Creole French 417%
Saint Martin	French	1	French 84%
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	French	2	French 100%
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	English	2	Vincentian Creole English 109%
Samoa	English, Samoan	2	Samoan 100%
San Marino	Italian	2	Italian 89%
Sao Tome and Principe	Portuguese	6	Portuguese 85%
Saudi Arabia	Arabic	3	Arabic 100%
Senegal	French, Wolof	33	Wolof 70%
Serbia	Serbian	11	Serbo-Croatian 286%
Seychelles	English, French	3	Seselwa Creole French 98%
Sierra Leone	English	13	Krio 95%
Singapore	English, Malay, Tamil, Chinese	20	English 80%
Sint Maarten	English, Dutch	5	English 68%
Slovakia	Slovak	7	Slovak 90%
Slovenia	Slovenian	8	Slovenian 87%
Solomon Islands	English	70	English 100%
Somalia	Arabic, Somali	10	Somali 78%
South Africa	English	20	English 31%
South Korea	Korean	2	Korean 100%
South Sudan	English	23	Arabic 27%
Spain	Spanish	11	Spanish 99%
Sri Lanka	Sinhala, Tamil	4	Sinhala 68%
Sudan	Arabic, English	110	Sudanese Arabic 61%
Suriname	Dutch	12	Caribbean Javanese 12679%
Sweden	Swedish	12	Swedish 95%
Switzerland	German, French, Italian, Swiss German	11	German 76%
Syria	Arabic	6	Levantine Arabic 85%
Tajikistan	Tajik	8	Tajik 100%
Tanzania	English, Swahili	112	Swahili 90%
Thailand	Thai	46	Thai 80%
Timor-Leste	Portuguese, Tetum	22	Portuguese 59%
Togo	French	29	French 41%
Tokelau	English, Tokelau	3	Tokelau 69%
Tonga	English, Tonga (Tonga Islands)	3	Tonga (Tonga Islands) 95%
Trinidad and Tobago	English	4	English 88%
Tunisia	Arabic, French	3	Tunisian Arabic 90%
Türkiye	Turkish	24	Turkish 93%
Turkmenistan	Turkmen	5	Turkmen 70%
Turks and Caicos Islands	English	2	English 98%
Tuvalu	English, Tuvalu	2	Tuvalu 85%
Uganda	English, Swahili	41	Swahili 75%
Ukraine	Ukrainian, Russian	12	Ukrainian 65%
United Arab Emirates	Arabic	4	Arabic 78%
United Kingdom	English	24	English 98%
United States	English	128	English 96%
Uruguay	Spanish	1	Spanish 88%
Uzbekistan	Uzbek	8	Uzbek 85%
Vanuatu	Bislama, English, French	109	Bislama 90%
Vatican City	Italian	1	Italian 82%
Venezuela	Spanish	29	Spanish 82%
Vietnam	Vietnamese	91	Vietnamese 86%
Virgin Islands	English	1	English 75%
Wallis and Futuna	French	3	French 83%
Western Sahara	Arabic	1	Arabic 100%
Yemen	Arabic	11	Arabic 74%
Zambia	English	33	Bemba (Zambia) 34%
Zimbabwe	English, North Ndebele, Shona	24	Shona 81%

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).

The most multilingual countries

Papua New Guinea (845), Indonesia (691), Nigeria (499), India (409), China (290), Mexico (276), Cameroon (263) and DR Congo (201) have the most living languages. Papua New Guinea alone is home to about a tenth of all the world's languages.

Countries with several official languages

Switzerland (4), Comoros (4), Singapore (4), Bosnia and Herzegovina (3), Belgium (3) and Burundi (3) recognise the most national official languages; many more give languages official status in individual regions.

Where English is official

English is an official language in 87 countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, American Samoa, Barbados, Burundi, Bermuda, Bahamas, Botswana, Belize, Canada, Cook Islands and Cameroon.

Related rankings

Frequently asked questions

Which country has the most languages?

Papua New Guinea, with about 845 living languages, then Indonesia (691) and Nigeria (499).

Which country has the most official languages?

Switzerland recognises 4 official languages at national level.

In how many countries is English an official language?

87 countries and territories.