List of countries and territories where French is an official language

Last updated

.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} Regions where French is a majority native language Regions where French is an official or administrative language but not a majority native language Regions where French is an unofficial secondary language Map-Francophone World.svg
  Regions where French is a majority native language
  Regions where French is an official or administrative language but not a majority native language
  Regions where French is an unofficial secondary language

French is an official language in 26 independent nations. It is the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken by total number of speakers, and one of the most geographically widespread languages worldwide, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. [1] In 2017 it was among the top five most studied languages worldwide with about 120 million learners. [2] The following is a list of sovereign states and territories where French is an official or de facto language.

Contents

Sole official language

Countries

List of countries where French is the only official language:

CountryContinent
Benin Africa
Democratic Republic of the Congo Africa
Republic of the Congo Africa
France and Overseas France Europe, Africa, Oceania
Gabon Africa
Ivory Coast Africa
Togo Africa
Guinea Africa
Monaco Europe
Senegal Africa

Non-sovereign entities

RegionCountry
Canton of Geneva Switzerland
Canton of Jura
Canton of Neuchâtel
Vaud
Quebec Canada

Co-official use

Countries in the world with French as an official language. Countries where French is an official language.svg
Countries in the world with French as an official language.

Sovereign states

In many countries, French is used as a co-official language alongside one or more other languages. List of countries where French is a co-official language:

CountryAlongside
Belgium Dutch, German
Burundi Kirundi, English, Swahili
Cameroon English
Canada English
Chad Arabic
Central African Republic Sango
Comoros Comorian, Arabic
Djibouti Arabic
Equatorial Guinea Spanish, Portuguese
Haiti Haitian Creole
Luxembourg Luxembourgish. German
Madagascar Malagasy
Rwanda Kinyarwanda, English, Swahili
Seychelles English, Seychellois Creole
Switzerland German, Italian, Romansh
Vanuatu Bislama, English

National subdivisions

RegionCountryAlongside
Aosta Valley, Aosta Italy Italian
Flanders BelgiumDutch
Wallonia French, German
Canton of Bern SwitzerlandGerman
Canton of Fribourg
Valais
New Brunswick CanadaEnglish
Yukon
Northwest Territories English and several indigenous languages
Nunavut Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English
Puducherry India Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, English
Sark United Kingdom English

Officially recognized status

Although a non-official minority language, French is granted certain rights in the following countries and territories:

Intergovernmental organizations

The Francophonie flag flying at the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa Francophonie flag Ottawa.jpg
The Francophonie flag flying at the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa

French is an official language, mostly in conjunction with English, of 36 international organizations. These include:

Countries

This table shows the total populations of the countries, not the number of French speakers – most of these countries have a majority that do not speak French.

No.CountryContinentPopulation [7]
1. Democratic Republic of Congo Africa115,403,027
2. France Europe68,374,591
3. Canada North America38,794,813
4 Cameroon Africa30,966,105
5. Côte d'Ivoire Africa29,981,758
6. Madagascar Africa29,452,714
7. Chad Africa19,093,595
8. Senegal Africa18,847,519
9. Benin Africa14,697,052
10. Guinea Africa13,986,179
11. Rwanda Africa13,623,302
12. Burundi Africa13,590,102
13. Belgium Europe11,977,634
14. Haiti Caribbean11,753,943
15. Togo Africa8,917,994
16. Switzerland Europe8,860,574
17. Congo Africa6,097,665
18. Central African Republic Africa5,650,957
19. Gabon Africa2,455,105
20. Equatorial Guinea Africa1,795,834
21. Djibouti Africa994,974
22. Comoros Africa900,141
23. Luxembourg Europe671,254
24. Vanuatu Oceania318,007
25. Seychelles Africa98,187
26. Monaco Europe31,813
TotalAll countriesWorldc.467,334,839

Dependent entities

Nr.EntityContinentPopulation [7] Status
1. New Caledonia Oceania304,167 Collectivity of France with special status
2. French Polynesia Oceania303,540 Overseas collectivity of France
3. Saint Martin North America32,996Overseas collectivity of France
4. Wallis and Futuna Oceania15,964
5. Saint Barthélemy North America7,0899
6. Saint Pierre and Miquelon North America5,132
7. French Southern and Antarctic Lands Africa, Antarctica100
8. Clipperton Island North America0

Note: Réunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Mayotte are classified as overseas departments and regions of France and are thus not a part of this list. While not de jure official, the U.S. states of Louisiana and Maine recognize the usage of French in law, governance, and commerce and allow state services and publicly funded education in the language, rendering it de facto official alongside English. [8] [5]

Non-official but significant language

While French is not an official language in these countries, it is widely used in administration and many professional sectors, as well as being highly influential as a cultural language in the local society and has certain privileges in the education system.

CountryContinentPopulation (2023) [9] Usage of French
Algeria Africa44,758,398Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language [10]
Burkina Faso Africa22,489,126Administrative (de facto official), educational [11] [12]
Cambodia Asia16,891,245Administrative (particularly judicial and diplomacy), cultural, some educational [13] [14]
Laos Asia7,852,377Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational [15] [14]
Lebanon Asia5,331,203De jure second language [3]
Mali Africa21,359,722Administrative (de facto official), educational [16] [17]
Mauritania Africa4,244,878De facto second official language, educational [18]
Mauritius Africa1,309,448Administrative (de facto official), cultural, educational [6]
Morocco Africa37,067,420Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language [19] [20]
Niger Africa26,342,784Administrative [21]
Tunisia Africa11,976,182Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language [22]
Vietnam Asia99,460,000Administrative (diplomatic), cultural, some educational, working language in medicine, science, and law [23] [24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The world's languages, in 7 maps and charts". The Washington Post . 18 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. ↑ "How many people speak French and where is French spoken". Archived from the original on 21 November 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 Axel Tschentscher, LL.M. "Article 11 of the Lebanese Constitution". Servat.unibe.ch. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  4. ↑ French's Legal Status In Louisiana, Conseil pour le développement du Français en Louisiane (CODOFIL)
  5. 1 2 "Ici on parle français", Report of the Commission to Study the Development of Maine's Franco-American Resources, Maine State Legislature Law and Legislative Reference Library, December 1997
  6. 1 2 Article 49 in the Constitution of Mauritius. ilo.org
  7. 1 2 "Field Listing - Population". CIA World Factbook. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  8. ↑ Ward, Roger K. The French Language in Louisiana Law and Legal Education: A Requiem, Louisiana Law Review, 1997
  9. ↑ World Population 2023, The World Factbook , Central Intelligence Agency
  10. ↑ "Le dénombrement des francophones" (PDF). Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2013. () p. 9 "Nous y agrégeons néanmoins quelques données disponibles pour des pays n'appartenant pas à l'OIF mais dont nous savons, comme pour l'Algérie (11,2 millions en 20081
  11. ↑ "Burkina Faso - Ibrahim Traoré promulgue la loi révisant la Constitution". LibreExpress. 27 January 2024.
  12. ↑ "DÉCRET N° 2024-0040/PRES-TRANS promulguant la loi constitutionnelle n° 045-2023/ALT du 30 décembre 2023 portant révision de la Constitution" (PDF). minute.bf. 22 January 2024. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  13. ↑ Aménagement linguistique dans le monde - Cambodge, Université Laval (in French)
  14. 1 2 Richardson, Michael (16 October 1993). "French Declines in Indochina, as English Booms". International Herald Tribune . Retrieved 2018-11-18.
  15. ↑ Aménagement linguistique dans le monde - Laos, Université Laval (in French)
  16. ↑ Mali's new constitution adopted after court validation, Radio France Internationale, 22 July 2023.
  17. ↑ "Journal Officiel de la République du Mali Secretariat du Général du Governement - Decret DECRET N°2023-0401/PT-RM du 22 Juillet 2023 pourtant promulgation de la Constitution" (PDF). sgg-mali.ml. 22 July 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  18. ↑ "Mauritania". Ethnologue.
  19. ↑ "Morocco". World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 14 July 2023.
  20. ↑ "Présentation du Maroc". Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères (in French).
  21. ↑ Okafor, Chinedu (8 April 2025). "Niger downgrades French as it distances from its colonial past with a new official language". Business Insider. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  22. ↑ Samy Ghorbal, «Le français a-t-il encore un avenir ?  », Jeune Afrique , 27 April 2008, pp. 77-78
  23. ↑ Duc Tri-Quê Anh. Promouvoir l’enseignement du français au Vietnam, Le Courrier du Vietnam, 7 March 2022. (in French)
  24. ↑ Kirkpatrick, Andy and Anthony J. Liddicoat, The Routledge International Handbook of Language Education Policy in Asia., Routledge, 2019, p. 192
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.