Number of Countries With The Same Official Language
This is a ranking of languages by number of sovereign countries in which they are de jure or de facto official.
| Language | World | Africa | Americas | Asia | Europe | Oceania | Countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 59 | 24 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 12 | India, United States, Pakistan, United Kingdom. See the full list |
| French | 29 | 21 | 2 | - | 5 | 1 | France, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Canada, Madagascar. See the full list |
| Arabic | 26 | 14 | - | 12 | - | - | Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Morocco. See the full list |
| Spanish | 21 | 1 | 19 | - | 1 | - | Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina. See the full list |
| Portuguese | 11 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola. See full list |
| Russian | 8 | - | - | 3 | 5 | - | Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Abkhazia*, South Ossetia*, Transnistria*. See also the full list |
| German | 6 | - | - | - | 6 | - | Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg |
| Italian | 4 | - | - | - | 4 | - | Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City |
| Malay | - | - | 4 | - | - | Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei | |
| Chinese | 3 | - | - | 3 | - | - | China, Taiwan, Singapore |
| Dutch | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | Netherlands, Belgium, Surinam | |
| Persian | - | - | 3 | - | - | Iran, Afghanistan (known as Dari), Tajikistan (known as Tajik) | |
| Romanian | - | - | - | 3 | - | Romania, Moldova, Transnistria* (uses Cyrillic script there) | |
| Serbian | - | - | - | 3 | - | Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo* | |
| Swahili | 3 | - | - | - | - | Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda |
Several languages are officially used in two countries, these are:
- Albanian - Albania and Kosovo*
- Armenian - Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh*
- Aymara, Quechua - Bolivia and Peru
- Chewa - Malawi and Zambia
- Croatian - Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Greek - Greece and Cyprus
- Korean - North Korea and South Korea
- Slovak - Slovakia and Czech Republic
- Sotho - South Africa and Lesotho
- Swati - South Africa and Swaziland
- Swedish - Sweden and Finland
- Tswana - South Africa and Botswana
- Turkish - Turkey and Cyprus
- Ukrainian - Ukraine and Transnistria*
- Note
- Asterisk shows the countries which independence is disputed
Read more about this topic: List Of Official Languages
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