List of official languages


This is a list of official, or otherwise administratively-recognized, languages of sovereign countries, regions, and supra-national institutions.

Official languages of sovereign countries, wholly or partly

A

Afar:
Afrikaans:
Aja-Gbe:
Akan :
Albanian:
Amharic:
Anii:
Arabic :
Armenian:
Assamese:
Aymara:
Azerbaijani:
Balanta:
Bambara:
Bariba:
Basque:
Bassari:
Bedik:
Belarusian:
Bengali:
Berber:
Biali:
Bislama:
Boko:
Bomu:
Bosnian:
Bozo:
Buduma:
Bulgarian:
Burmese:
Cantonese:
Catalan:
Chinese, Mandarin:
Chichewa:
Chirbawe :
Comorian
Croatian:
Czech:
Dagaare:
Dagbani:
Dangme
Danish:
Dari:
Dendi:
Dhivehi:
Dioula:
Dogon:
Dutch:
Dzongkha:
English :
Estonian:
Ewe-Gbe''':
Fijian:
Filipino:
Finnish:
Fon-Gbe:
Foodo:
Formosan:
French :
Fula''':
Ga:
Gàidhlig:
Gbe:
Gen-Gbe:
Georgian:
German:
Gonja:
Gourmanché
Greek:
Guaraní:
Gujarati:
Haitian Creole:
Hakka:
Hassaniya:
Hausa:
Hebrew:
Hindi:
Hiri Motu:
Hungarian:
Igbo:
Icelandic:
Indonesian:
Irish:
Italian:
Japanese:
Javanese:
Jola:
Kabye:
Kalanga:
Kannada:
Kanuri:
Kasem:
Kazakh:
Khmer:
Kinyarwanda:
Kirundi:
Kissi
Khoisan:
Korean:
Korean Sign Language:
Kpelle:
Kurdish:
Kyrgyz:
Lao:
Latvian:
Lithuanian:
Lukpa:
Luxembourgish:
Macedonian:
Malagasy:
Malay:
Malinke:
Maltese:
Mamara:
Manding :
Mandinka:
Mandjak:
Mankanya:
Manx Gaelic:
Māori:
Marshallese:
Mauritian Creole
Mbelime:
Moldovan
Mongolian:
Montenegrin:
Mossi:
Nambya:
Nateni:
Nauruan
Ndau:
Ndebele :
Ndebele :
Nepali:
New Zealand Sign Language:
Noon:
Northern Sotho:
Norwegian:
Nzema:
Oniyan:
Ossetian:
Palauan:
Papiamento:
Pashto:
Persian:
Polish:
Portuguese:
Punjabi:
Quechua:
Romanian:
Romansh:
Russian:
Safen:
Samoa
Sango
Sena:
Serbian:
Serer:
Seychellois Creole
Shona:
Sinhala:
Slovak:
Slovene:
Somali:
Songhay-Zarma:
Soninke:
Sotho:
Spanish:
Susu:
Swahili:
Swati:
Swedish:
Syenara:
Taiwan Sign Language:
Taiwanese Hokkien:
Tajik:
Tagalog:
Tamasheq:
Tamil:
Tammari:
Tasawaq:
Tebu:
Telugu:
Tetum:
Thai:
Tigrinya:
Tok Pisin:
Toma:
Tonga:
Tongan
Tsonga:
Tswana:
Turkish:
Turkmen:
Tuvaluan
Ukrainian:
Urdu:
Uzbek:
Venda:
Vietnamese:
Waama:
Waci-Gbe:
Wamey:
Welsh:
Wolof:
Xhosa:
Xwela-Gbe:
Yobe:
Yom:
Yoruba:
Zimbabwean sign language:
Zulu:
This is a ranking of languages by number of sovereign countries in which they are de jure or de facto official. An '*' indicates a country whose independence is disputed.
LanguageWorldAfricaAmericasAsiaEuropeOceaniaCountries
English5924164312India, United States, Pakistan, United Kingdom. See the full list
French29212-51France, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Canada, Madagascar. See the full list
Arabic2714-13--Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Morocco. See the full list
Spanish20118-1-Spain, Mexico, Equatorial Guinea, Easter Island in. See the full list
Portuguese1061211Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola. See full list
Russian8--35-Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Abkhazia*, South Ossetia*, Transnistria*. See also the full list
German71--6-Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Namibia
Fula77----Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal
Italian4---4-Italy, San Marino, Switzerland, Vatican City
Malay4--4--Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei
Manding44----Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Senegal
Northern Sami4---4-Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia
Swahili44----Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
Danish3-1-2-Denmark, Faroe Island*, Greenland*
Dutch3-1-2-Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname
Gbe33----Benin, Ghana, Togo
Mandarin Chinese3--3--China, Singapore, Taiwan
Tamil3--3--India, Singapore, Sri Lanka
Persian3--3--Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan
Romanian3---3-Romania, Moldova, Transnistria*
Serbian3---3-Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*
Somali33----Djibouti, Somalia, Somaliland*
Soninke33----Mali, Mauritania, Senegal
Tswana33----Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Turkish3---3-Turkey, Northern Cyprus* and Cyprus
Bengali2-2--Bangladesh and India
Armenian2---2-Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh*
Aymara & Quechua2-2---Bolivia and Peru
Berber22----Algeria and Morocco
Catalan2---2-Andorra and Spain
Chichewa22----Malawi and Zimbabwe
Croatian2---2-Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Greek2---2-Greece and Cyprus
Hausa22----Niger and Nigeria
Hindi2--1-1India and Fiji
Korean2--2--North Korea and South Korea
Lingala22----Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of the Congo
Nepali2--2--India and Nepal
Samoan2----2American Samoa and Samoa
Slovak2---2-Slovakia and Czech Republic
Songhay-Zarma22----Mali, Niger
Sotho22----Lesotho and South Africa
Swati22----Eswatini and South Africa
Swedish2---2-Sweden and Finland
Tamasheq22----Mali and Niger
Tigrinya22----Eritrea and Ethiopia
Ukrainian2---2-Ukraine and Transnistria*
Venda22----South Africa and Zimbabwe
Wolof22----Mauritania and Senegal
Xhosa22----South Africa and Zimbabwe
Guarani2-2---Paraguay and Bolivia
Bulgarian1---1-Bulgaria
Finnish1---1-Finland
Norwegian1---1-Norway
Icelandic1---1-Iceland

Official regional and minority languages

Abaza:
Adyghe:
Aghul:
Aklanon:
Albanian:
Altay:
Arabic:
Aranese see Occitan
Armenian:
Assamese:
Avar:
Azeri:
Balkar:
Bashkir:
Basque:
Bengali:
Different organisations sometimes refer to their principal languages of administration and communication as "working languages", whilst others refer to these as being "official".