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S a i ical S mma ie
Part I, Languages of the World, provides language-by-language information. This section steps back from the detail to offer a summary view of the world language situation. Specifically, it offers numerical tabulations of languages and number of speakers by world area, by language size, by language family, and by country.
World area Language si e Language fam il Countr

S mma

b lang age i e

A striking fact shown in table 1 is that there is a huge disparity between the mean size of languages and the median size. It turns out that 389 (or nearly 6%) of the worlds languages have at least one million speakers and account for 94% of the worlds population. By contrast, the remaining 94% of languages are spoken by only 6% the worlds people.

Table 2 summarizes the distribution of languages by size. The Count columns give the actual number of languages within the specified population range and the total number of first-language speakers of those languages. The Percent columns give the share of the count for that population range as a percentage of the tot number listed at the bottom of the Count column. Note that there are still a few hundred languages for which the Ethnologue does not have a population estimate; the calculation of percentages for speakers is therefore not ab to take those languages into account. The Cumulative columns give the cumulative sums of the percentages going from top to bottom in the column.

Table 3 lists the largest languages of the world in descending order of population of first-language speakers. The Primar Countr column names the country in which the primary entry for the language is given in Part 1 of the book. The Total Countries column gives the number of countries in which the language is listed either with a full entry or as an immigrant language in the country header. The Speakers column gives the number of firstlanguage speakers in millions. The table rows in italic type represent macrolanguages (see Introduction: Macrolanguages); in these cases the Total Countries and Speakers columns are totals for all the individual languages listed in the macrolanguage entry as members of the macrolanguage. Individual languages that are members of a macrolanguage are not counted in the ranking, but are listed as indented entries below the macrolanguage. Note that the indented listing of individual languages does not include all member languages; it includes only those over the threshold size given in the table caption. Table 2. Di ib ion of lang age b n mbe of fi
Li ing lang age Co n 100,000,000 to 999,999,999 10,000,000 to 99,999,999 1,000,000 to 9,999,999 100,000 to 999,999 8 77 304 895 Pe rce n 0.1 1.1 4.4 13.0 C m la i e 0.1% 1.2% 5.6% 18.6% Co n 2,308,548,848 2,346,900,757 951,916,458 283,116,716

-lang age peake

N m b e o f p e a ke Pe rce n 38.73721 39.38076 15.97306 4.75067 C m la i e 38.73721% 78.11797% 94.09103% 98.84170%

Po p l a i o n a n g e

10,000 to 99,999 1,000 to 9,999 100 to 999 10 to 99 1 to 9 Unknown Totals

1,824 2,014 1,038 339 133 277 6,909

26.4 29.2 15.0 4.9 1.9 4.0 100.0

45.0% 74.1% 89.2% 94.1% 96.0% 100.0%

60,780,797 7,773,810 461,250 12,560 521 5,959,511,717

1.01990 0.13044 0.00774 0.00021 0.00001 100.00000

99.86160% 99.99204% 99.99978% 99.99999% 100.00000%

Table 3. Lang age

Rank 1 Chinese [ ho]

i h a lea

3 million fi

-lang age peake

P im a Co n To a l Co n ie 31 1 17 1 1 20 2 7 10 1 2 2 20 44 112 57 6 10 10 2 3 5 10 7 16 4 1 1 9 6 8 5 20 10 37 33 25 43 5 8 182 181 178 144 122 90.3 84.6 78.3 Sp e a ke (m i l l i o n ) 1,213 20.6 30.0 4.6 45.0 845 10.3 9.1 47.3 3.1 77.2 36.0 55.5 329 328 221 22.4 54.0 3.6 6.0 4.3 15.1 21.0 10.0 14.4 6.3 19.0 7.6 6.2 16.8 7.1 9.4

Lang age China China China China China China China China China China China China China Spain

Chinese, Gan [gan] Chinese, Hakka [hak] Chinese, Huizhou [czh] Chinese, Jinyu [cjy] Chinese, Mandarin [cmn] Chinese, Min Bei [mnp] Chinese, Min Dong [cdo] Chinese, Min Nan [nan] Chinese, Min Zhong [czo] Chinese, Wu [wuu] Chinese, Xiang [hsn] Chinese, Yue [yue] 2 3 4 Spanish [spa] English [eng] Arabic [ara] Arabic, Algerian Spoken [arq] Arabic, Egyptian Spoken [arz] Arabic, Gulf Spoken [afb] Arabic, Hijazi Spoken [acw] Arabic, Libyan Spoken [ayl] Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken [acm] Arabic, Moroccan Spoken [ary] Arabic, Najdi Spoken [ars] Arabic, North Levantine Spoken [apc] Arabic, North Mesopotamian Spoken [ayp] Arabic, Sa'idi Spoken [aec] Arabic, Sanaani Spoken [ayn] Arabic, South Levantine Spoken [ajp] Arabic, Sudanese Spoken [apd] Arabic, Ta'izzi-Adeni Spoken [acq] Arabic, Tunisian Spoken [aeb] 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Hindi [hin] Bengali [ben] Portuguese [por] Russian [rus] Japanese [jpn] German, Standard [deu] Javanese [jav] Lahnda [lah]

United Kingdom Saudi Arabia Algeria Egypt Iraq Saudi Arabia Libya Iraq Morocco Saudi Arabia Syria Iraq Egypt Yemen Jordan Sudan Yemen Tunisia India Bangladesh Portugal Russian Federation Japan Germany Indonesia Pakistan

Panjabi, Western [pnb] Seraiki [skr] 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Telugu [tel] Vietnamese [vie] Marathi [mar] French [fra] Korean [kor] Tamil [tam] Italian [ita] Urdu [urd] Turkish [tur] Gujarati [guj] Polish [pol] Mala [msa] Malay [zlm] Bhojpuri [bho] Awadhi [awa] Ukrainian [ukr] Malayalam [mal] Kannada [kan] Maithili [mai] Sunda [sun] Burmese [mya] Oriya [ori] Persian [fas] Farsi, Eastern [prs] Farsi, Western [pes] 35 Marwari [mwr] Dhundari [dhd] Marwari [rwr] Merwari [wry] Shekhawati [swv] 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 Panjabi, Eastern [pan] Filipino [fil] Hausa [hau] Tagalog [tgl] Romanian [ron] Indonesian [ind] Dutch [nld] Sindhi [snd] Thai [tha] Pushto [pus] Pashto, Central [pst] Pashto, Northern [pbu] 46 47 U bek [u b] Uzbek, Northern [uzn] Rajasthani [raj] Hadothi [hoj] Malvi [mup] 48 49 Yoruba [yor] A erbaijani [a e]

Pakistan Pakistan India Viet Nam India France Korea, South India Italy Pakistan Turkey India Poland Mala sia Malaysia India India Ukraine India India India Indonesia Myanmar India Iran Afghanistan Iran India India India India India India Philippines Nigeria Philippines Romania Indonesia Netherlands Pakistan Thailand Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan U bekistan Uzbekistan India India India Nigeria Iran 6 17 3 14 12 1 13 8 20 6 12 8 5 9 3 3 2 27 11 3 2 1 5 2 29 10 23 5 60 33 17 34 23 36 20 23 14

7 3

62.6 13.8 69.8 68.6 68.1 67.8 66.3 65.7 61.7 60.6 50.8 46.5 40.0 39.1

10.3 38.5 38.3 37.0 35.9 35.3 34.7 34.0 32.3 31.7 31.4

3 27 1 3 1 1 28.2 25.0 25.0 23.9 23.4 23.2 21.7 21.4 20.4 20.3 1 7 20.3 12 1 1 19.4 19.1 31.1

7.6 23.9 9.0 5.6 3.9 3.0

7.9 9.7 18.8 20.0 4.7 10.4

Azerbaijani, North [azj] Azerbaijani, South [azb] 50 51 52 53 Igbo [ibo] Amharic [amh] Chhattisgarhi [hne] Oromo [orm] Oromo, Borana-Arsi-Guji [gax] Oromo, Eastern [hae] Oromo, West Central [gaz] 54 55 Assamese [asm] Serbo-Croatian [hbs] Croatian [hrv] Serbian [srp] 56 Kurdish [kur] Kurdish, Central [ckb] Kurdish, Northern [kmr] Kurdish, Southern [sdh] 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 Cebuano [ceb] Sinhala [sin] Rangpuri [rkt] Thai, Northeastern [tts] Zhuang [ ha] Malagas [mlg] Malagasy, Plateau [plt] Nepali [nep] Somali [som] Khmer, Central [khm] Madura [mad] Bavarian [bar] Greek [ell] Chittagonian [ctg] Haryanvi [bgc] Magahi [mag] Deccan [dcc] Hungarian [hun] Fulah [ful] Pulaar [fuc] Catalan-Valencian-Balear [cat] Shona [sna] Zulu [zul] Sylheti [syl] Quechua [que] Quechua, South Bolivian [quh] Kanauji [bjj] Czech [ces] Lombard [lmo] Bulgarian [bul] Uyghur [uig] Nyanja [nya] Belarusan [bel]

Azerbaijan Iran Nigeria Ethiopia India Ethiopia Ethiopia Ethiopia Ethiopia India Serbia Croatia Serbia Iraq Iraq Turkey Iran Philippines Sri Lanka Bangladesh Thailand China Madagascar Madagascar Nepal Somalia Cambodia Indonesia Austria Greece Bangladesh India India India Hungary Senegal Senegal Spain Zimbabwe South Africa Bangladesh Peru Bolivia India Czech Republic Italy Bulgaria China Malawi Belarus 1 12 3 16 15 6 16 18 5 6 10 6 5 13 7 2 4 38 1 1 1 1 14 19 2 8 2 1 2 4 32 4 28 1 6 1 4

10 8

7.5 12.6 18.0 17.5 17.5 17.3

3 1 2 16.8 16.4 14 22 16.0 2 32 2 15.8 15.6 15.0 15.0 14.9 14.7 4 13.9 13.9 13.6 13.6 13.3 13.1 13.0 13.0 13.0 12.8 12.5 12.3 6 11.5 10.8 10.3 10.3 10.1 2 9.5 9.5 9.1 9.1 8.8 8.7 8.6

3.8 4.5 8.9

5.5 7.0 3.7 9.3 3.0

7.5

3.7

3.6

87 88 89 90 91 92 93

Kazakh [kaz] Swedish [swe] Akan [aka] Xhosa [xho] Bagheli [bfy] Haitian [hat] Konkani [kok] Konkani [knn] Konkani, Goan [gom]

Kazakhstan Sweden Ghana South Africa India Haiti India India India Rwanda Kenya Italy Pakistan Pakistan Philippines India Turkmenistan Russian Federation Switzerland China Armenia Democratic Republic of the Congo Italy India Belgium Lesotho Thailand India Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo Albania Serbia Albania Ethiopia Philippines Mongolia China India Denmark Indonesia Tanzania Israel Burkina Faso Slovakia Finland India South Africa Paragua Paraguay Germany Burundi

14 8 1 3 2 10 4 2 3 4 1 1 8 4 2 1 14 19 5 10 30 1 4 4 5 4 2 1 3 3 18 9 10 6 2 6 2 4 8 1 1 8 7 12 7 1 12 5 2 1 4

8.3 8.3 8.3 7.8 7.8 7.7 7.6 4.0 3.6 7.5 7.2 7.0 7.0 3.4 7.0 7.0 6.6 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.4 6.3 6.2 6.2 6.1 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 5.8 4.2 3.0 5.8 5.8 5.7 3.4 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.4 5.3 5.1 5.0 5.0 5.0 4.9 4.9 4.8 4.9 4.9

94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113

Rwanda [kin] Gikuyu [kik] Napoletano-Calabrese [nap] Baluchi [bal] Balochi, Southern [bcc] Ilocano [ilo] Varhadi-Nagpuri [vah] Turkmen [tuk] Tatar [tat] German, Swiss [gsw] Hmong [hmn] Armenian [hye] Luba-Kasai [lua] Venetian [vec] Santali [sat] Vlaams [vls] Sotho, Southern [sot] Thai, Northern [nod] Lambadi [lmn] Kongo [kon] Koongo [kng] Albanian [sqi] Albanian, Gheg [aln] Albanian, Tosk [als]

114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129

Tigrigna [tir] Hiligaynon [hil] Mongolian [mon] Mongolian, Peripheral [mvf] Kashmiri [kas] Danish [dan] Minangkabau [min] Sukuma [suk] Hebrew [heb] Mor [mos] Slovak [slk] Finnish [fin] Mewati [wtm] Afrikaans [afr] Guarani [grn] Guaran, Paraguayan [gug] Mainfrnkisch [vmf] Rundi [run]

130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172

Bikol [bik] Sicilian [scn] Norwegian [nor] Mandingo [man] Tswana [tsn] Thai, Southern [sou] Tajiki [tgk] Dholuo [luo] Georgian [kat] Kituba [ktu] Ganda [lug] Sotho, Northern [nso] Umbundu [umb] Wolof [wol] Kamba [kam] Kanuri [kau] Kanuri, Central [knc] Domari [rmt] Musi [mui] Dogri [doi] Mina [myi] Tsonga [tso] Bemba [bem] Banjar [bjn] Aceh [ace] Bugis [bug] Bali [ban] Shan [shn] Gilaki [glk] Mazanderani [mzn] Jamaican Creole English [jam] Galician [glg] Lao [lao] Lithuanian [lit] Tamazight, Central Atlas [tzm] Kabyle [kab] Hassaniyya [mey] w [ewe] Piemontese [pms] Makhuwa [vmw] Godwari [gdx] Hunsrik [hrx] Kimbundu [kmb] Tachelhit [shi]

Philippines Italy Norway Guinea Botswana Thailand Tajikistan Kenya Georgia Democratic Republic of the Congo Uganda South Africa Angola Senegal Kenya Nigeria Nigeria Iran Indonesia India India South Africa Zambia Indonesia Indonesia Indonesia Indonesia Myanmar Iran Iran Jamaica Spain Laos Lithuania Morocco Algeria Mauritania Ghana Italy Mozambique India Brazil Angola Morocco

1 1 1 8 4 1 8 2 13 1 1 2 2 6 1 6 6 14 1 1 1 4 4 2 1 2 1 3 1 1 7 2 7 19 3 3 8 2 3 1 1 5 1 3

4.8 4.8 4.6 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.2 4.1 4.1 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.2 4.0 3.9 3.8 3.8 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0

Part of the Ethnologue, 16th Edition, M. Paul Lewis, Editor. Copyright 2009, SIL International. All rights reserved. Copies of the Ethnologue may be obtained from the online Publications Catalog or

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