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French is an official language in 27 independent nations. The following is a list of sovereign states and territories where French is an official or de facto language.
List of countries where French is the only official language:
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:
Although a non-official minority language, French is granted certain rights in the following countries and territories:
French is an official language, mostly in conjunction with English, of 36 international organisations. These include:
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. | Country | Continent | Population [5] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Democratic Republic of Congo | Africa | 105,044,646 |
| 2. | France | Europe | 68,051,000 |
| 3. | Canada | North America | 38,653,740 |
| 4. | Madagascar | Africa | 24,235,400 |
| 5. | Cameroon | Africa | 23,345,200 |
| 6. | Côte d'Ivoire | Africa | 22,701,600 |
| 7. | Niger | Africa | 19,899,100 |
| 8. | Senegal | Africa | 15,129,300 |
| 9. | Chad | Africa | 14,037,500 |
| 10. | Guinea | Africa | 12,608,600 |
| 11. | Rwanda | Africa | 11,607,700 |
| 12. | Belgium | Europe | 11,358,357 |
| 13. | Burundi | Africa | 11,178,900 |
| 14. | Benin | Africa | 10,879,800 |
| 15. | Haiti | Caribbean | 10,711,100 |
| 16. | Switzerland | Europe | 8,510,000 |
| 17. | Togo | Africa | 7,304,600 |
| 18. | Central African Republic | Africa | 4,900,300 |
| 19. | Congo | Africa | 4,620,300 |
| 20. | Gabon | Africa | 1,725,300 |
| 21. | Equatorial Guinea | Africa | 1,221,490 |
| 22. | Djibouti | Africa | 887,861 |
| 23. | Comoros | Africa | 795,601 |
| 24. | Luxembourg | Europe | 602,900 |
| 25. | Vanuatu | Oceania | 264,652 |
| 26. | Seychelles | Africa | 92,900 |
| 27. | Monaco | Europe | 38,731 |
| Total | All countries | World | c.430,406,578 |
| Nr. | Entity | Continent | Population | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | French Polynesia | Oceania | 284,060 | Overseas collectivity of France |
| 2. | New Caledonia | Oceania | 267,000 | Collectivity of France with special status |
| 3. | Aosta Valley | Europe | 128,000 | Autonomous region of Italy |
| 4. | Saint Martin | North America | 37,264 | Overseas collectivity of France |
| 5. | Wallis and Futuna | Oceania | 15,289 | Overseas collectivity of France |
| 6. | Saint Barthélemy | North America | 9,131 | Overseas collectivity of France |
| 7. | Saint Pierre and Miquelon | North America | 5,888 | Overseas collectivity of France |
| 8. | French Southern and Antarctic Lands | Africa, Antarctica | 100 | Overseas collectivity of France |
| 9. | Clipperton Island | North America | 0 | Overseas collectivity of France |
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. [6] [4]
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.
| Country | Continent | Population (2023) [7] | Usage of French |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria | Africa | 44,758,398 | Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language [8] |
| Burkina Faso | Africa | 22,489,126 | Administrative, educational [9] [10] |
| Cambodia | Asia | 16,891,245 | Administrative (particularly judicial and diplomacy), cultural, some educational [11] [12] |
| Laos | Asia | 7,852,377 | Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational [13] [14] |
| Lebanon | Asia | 5,331,203 | De jure second language [1] |
| Mali | Africa | 21,359,722 | Administrative (de facto official), educational [15] [16] |
| Mauritania | Africa | 4,244,878 | De facto second official language, educational [17] |
| Mauritius | Africa | 1,309,448 | Administrative (de facto official), cultural, educational [2] |
| Morocco | Africa | 37,067,420 | Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language [18] [19] |
| Tunisia | Africa | 11,976,182 | Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language [20] |
| Vietnam | Asia | 99,460,000 | Administrative (diplomatic), cultural, some educational, working language in medicine, science, and law [21] [22] |
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
Quebec French, also known as Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language spoken in Canada. It is the dominant language of the province of Quebec, used in everyday communication, in education, the media, and government.
The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a lingua franca or customary language, where a significant proportion of the population are francophones, or where there is a notable affiliation with French culture.
Franco-Provençal is a language within the Gallo-Romance family, originally spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland and northwestern Italy.
African French is the generic name of the varieties of the French language spoken by an estimated 167 million people in Africa in 2023 or 51% of the French-speaking population of the world spread across 34 countries and territories. This includes those who speak French as a first or second language in these 34 African countries and territories, but it does not include French speakers living in other African countries. Africa is thus the continent with the most French speakers in the world, and African French speakers now form a large and integral part of the Francophonie.
Francization or Francisation, also known as Frenchification, is the expansion of French language use—either through willful adoption or coercion—by more and more social groups who had not before used the language as a common means of expression in daily life. As a linguistic concept, known usually as gallicization, it is the practice of modifying foreign words, names, and phrases to make them easier to spell, pronounce, or understand in French.
Mali is a multilingual country of about 21.9 million people. The languages spoken there reflect ancient settlement patterns, migrations, and its long history. Ethnologue counts more than 80 languages. Of these, Bambara, Bobo, Bozo, Dogon, Fula, Hassaniya, Kassonke, Maninke, Minyanka, Senufo, Songhay languages, Soninke and Tamasheq are official languages. French is the working language.
Varieties of the French language are spoken in France and around the world. The Francophones of France generally use Metropolitan French although some also use regional dialects or varieties such as Meridional French. In Europe outside France there are Belgian French, Swiss French, and in Italy Aostan French. In Canada, French is an official language along with English; the two main dialects of French in Canada are Canadian French and Acadian French. Standard French is also commonly grouped as Canadian French. In Lebanon, French was an official language until 1941 and the main dialect spoken there is Lebanese French or Levantine French. Levantine French was also spoken by Sephardic Jews in Salonica, Istanbul and Smyrna, by Armenians and Greek bourgeois in the urban centres of Asia Minor, by Syrian Catholics and Melkites in Aleppo and Beirut.
Aostan French is the variety of French spoken in the Aosta Valley, Italy.
Canadian French is the French language as it is spoken in Canada. It includes multiple varieties, the most prominent of which is Québécois. Formerly Canadian French referred solely to Quebec French and the closely related varieties of Ontario (Franco-Ontarian) and Western Canada—in contrast with Acadian French, which is spoken by Acadians in New Brunswick and some areas of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland & Labrador.
Bernard Cerquiglini, is a French linguist.
Henri Wittmann is a Canadian linguist from Quebec. He is best known for his work on Quebec French.
European French is the variety of French spoken in Europe in French speaking countries or areas.
Valdôtain is a dialect of Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) spoken in the Aosta Valley in Italy, and the common language of the Aosta Valley. It is commonly known as patois or patoué. It is not an official language, the two regional official languages being French and Italian, though it is officially recognized.
The Malagasy language, of Austronesian origin, is generally spoken throughout the island. The official languages of Madagascar are Malagasy and French. Madagascar is a Francophone country, and in 2022, French is spoken by around a quarter of the population in Madagascar, i.e. 7.7 million people out of 29.1 million (26.5%).
The official language of the Republic of Congo is French. Other languages are mainly Bantu languages, and the two national languages in the country are Kituba and Lingala, followed by Kongo languages, Téké languages, and more than forty other languages, including languages spoken by Pygmies, which are not Bantu languages.
Kinyarwanda is the national language of Rwanda, and the first language of almost the entire population of the country. It is one of the country's official languages alongside French, English, and Swahili.
This is a list of the member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. These governments belong to an international organisation representing countries and regions where French is the first ("mother") or customary language, where a significant proportion of the population are francophones or where there is a notable affiliation with French culture.
The French language became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the language of European diplomacy and international relations.
The Francophonie or Francophone World is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important as part of the conceptual rethinking of cultures and geography in the late 20th century. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) is a body uniting countries where French is spoken.