List of official languages by country and territory

This is a list of official languages by country and territory. It includes all languages that have official language status either statewide or in a part of the state, or that have status as a national language, regional language, or minority language.

Definitions

Official language

A language designated as having a unique legal status in the state: typically, the language used in a nation's legislative bodies, and often, official government business.

Regional language

A language designated as having official status limited to a specific area, administrative division, or territory of the state. (On this page a regional language has parentheses next to it that contain a region, province, etc. where the language has regional status.)

National language

A language that uniquely represents the national identity of a state, nation, and/or country and is so designated by a country's government; some are technically minority languages. (On this page a national language is followed by parentheses that identify it as a national language status.) Some countries have more than one language with this status.

List

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• Notes
• References

Country/Region	Number of official (including de facto)	Official language(s)	Regional language(s)	Minority language(s)	National language(s)	Widely spoken
Abkhazia [a]	2	Abkhaz Russian		Georgian	Abkhaz
Afghanistan [1] [2] [3]	2	Persian (Dari) Pashto	Uzbek [b] Turkmen [b] Pashayi [b] Nuristani [b] Balochi [b] Pamiri [b]		Persian (Dari) Pashto	Persian (Dari)
Albania [4]	1	Albanian		Greek Macedonian Aromanian		Italian
Algeria [5]	2	Arabic Berber			Arabic Berber	French
Andorra	1	Catalan [6]		Spanish French Portuguese
Angola [7]	1	Portuguese			Kimbundu Umbundu Kikongo Chokwe Kwanyama Ganguela [ citation needed ]	Angolan Portuguese
Antigua and Barbuda	1	None (English has de facto status)				Antiguan and Barbudan Creole
Argentina	1	None (Spanish has de facto status)	Spanish (in Corrientes and Chaco) [8] [9] Guaraní (in Corrientes) [8] Kom (in Chaco) [9] Moquoit (in Chaco) [9] Wichi (in Chaco) [9]			Argentine Spanish English Italian German French
Armenia	1	Armenian			Armenian (state language) [10]	Russian
Australia	1	None (English has de facto status)	English (on Norfolk Island) Norfuk (on Norfolk Island)
Austria [11] [12]	1	German	Burgenland Croatian (parts of Burgenland) Hungarian (parts of Burgenland) Slovene (parts of Carinthia)	Slovene Czech Hungarian Slovak Romani Serbian	German (state language)	English
Azerbaijan	1	Azerbaijani			Azerbaijani (state language) [13]	Russian
Bahamas	1	English
Bahrain	1	Arabic		English
Bangladesh	1	Bengali	Sylheti (parts of Sylhet Division) Chittagonian (parts of Chittagong Division) Rangpuri/Kamtapuri (parts of Rangpur Division)	Chakma Marma Rakhine Hajong Santali Tripuri Manipuri	Bengali
Barbados	1	English
Belarus	2	Belarusian Russian			Belarusian	Russian
Belgium	3	Dutch French German	Dutch (Flanders, Brussels) [14] French (Brussels, Wallonia) [14] German (German-speaking community) [14]			English
Belize	1	English		Garifuna		Kriol (lingua franca) Spanish (border with Mexico and Guatemala)
Benin	1	French
Bhutan	1	Dzongkha
Bolivia [15]	37	Castilian (Spanish) Aymara Araona Baure Bésiro (Chiquitano) Canichana Cavineña Cayubaba Chácobo Chimán Ese Ejja Guaraní Guarasu'we Guarayu Itonama Leco Machajuyai-Kallawaya Machineri Maropa Mojeño-Ignaciano Mojeño-Trinitario Moré Mosetén Movima Pacawara Puquina Quechua Sirionó Tacana Tapieté Toromona Uru-Chipaya Weenhayek Yaminawa Yuki Yuracaré Zamuco
Bosnia and Herzegovina	3	None (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian all have de facto status) [16]
Botswana	1	English			Tswana	Other Bantu languages Several Khoisan languages
Brazil	1	Portuguese [17]	German (in Pomerode [18] ) East Pomeranian (in Pancas, [19] [20] Santa Maria de Jetibá, [21] [22] Domingos Martins, [23] Itarana, [24] [25] Laranja da Terra, [23] Vila Pavão [23] and Canguçu [23] ) Riograndenser Hunsrückisch (in Antônio Carlos, Santa Catarina, [26] and in Santa Maria do Herval, Rio Grande do Sul [27] [28] [29] [30] ) Talian (in Bento Gonçalves, [31] [32] [33] Caxias do Sul, [34] Flores da Cunha [35] [36] [37] Nova Roma do Sul [38] [39] and Serafina Corréa [40] ) Nheengatu, Baniwa, Tucano (in São Gabriel de Cachoeira, Amazonas) [41] [42] Guaraní (in Tacuru, Mato Grosso do Sul) [43]	Eighty Brazilian municipalities have co-official languages. [44] The list can be seen at Languages of Brazil.	Portuguese	Spanish English French
Brunei	1	Malay				English Chinese
Bulgaria	1	Bulgarian
Burkina Faso	4	Mooré Bissa Dyula Fula			Working languages: English French
Burundi [45] [46]	3	French Kirundi English			Kirundi	Swahili
Cambodia	1	Khmer				French English Chinese
Cameroon	2	English French
Canada	2	English (Federal) French (Federal)	Chipewyan (Northwest Territories) Cree (Northwest Territories) Gwich'in (Northwest Territories) Inuinnaqtun (Northwest Territories and Nunavut) Inuktitut (Northwest Territories and Nunavut) Inuvialuktun (Northwest Territories) Mi'kmaq (Nova Scotia) North Slavey (Northwest Territories) South Slavey (Northwest Territories) Tłı̨chǫ (Northwest Territories)	Chipewyan Cree Gwich'in Inuinnaqtun Inuktitut Inuvialuktun Mi'kmaq North Slavey South Slavey Tłı̨chǫ
Cape Verde	1	Portuguese			Cape Verdean Creole
Central African Republic	2	French Sango
Chad	2	Arabic French
Chile	1	Spanish	Languages of ethnic groups are official in their territories [47]
China	1	Standard Chinese	English (Hong Kong) Portuguese (Macau)	Mongolian Uyghur Tibetan Zhuang Kazakh Korean		Other Sinitic languages
Christmas Island	3	English Mandarin Chinese Malay
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	2	English Cocos Malay				Malay
Colombia	1	Spanish	Languages of ethnic groups are official in their territories [48]
Comoros	3	Arabic Comorian French
Democratic Republic of the Congo	1	French			Kituba Lingala Swahili Tshiluba
Republic of the Congo	1	French		Lingala Munukutuba
Cook Islands	2	English Cook Islands Māori
Costa Rica	1	Spanish		Indigenous languages [49] Limonese Creole [50]
Croatia	1	Croatian	Serbian Hungarian Czech Slovak Pannonian Rusyn		Italian (Istria County) Romani (non-territorial) Slovene (non-territorial)	English
Cuba	1	Spanish
Cyprus	2	Greek [51] Turkish [51]			Armenian [52] Cypriot Arabic [52]	English
Czech Republic	2	Czech [c]		Belarusian [d] Bulgarian [d] Croatian [d] German [d] Greek [d] Hungarian [d] Polish [d] Romani [d] Russian [d] Rusyn [d] Serbian [d] Ukrainian [d] Vietnamese [d]	Czech
Denmark	1	Danish	Faroese (in the Faroe Islands) Kalaallisut (in Greenland)	German (in Southern Jutland)		English
Djibouti	2	Arabic French
Dominica	1	English
Dominican Republic	1	Spanish
East Timor	2	Portuguese [53] Tetum [53]		Indonesian
Ecuador [54]	1	Spanish	Languages of ethnic groups are official in their territories	Spanish [e] Kichwa [e] Shuar [e]
Egypt	1	Arabic		Coptic	Egyptian Arabic	English
El Salvador	1	Spanish
Equatorial Guinea	3	French Portuguese Spanish
Eritrea	1	Tigrinya				Arabic Italian
Estonia	1	Estonian				English Russian
Eswatini	2	English Swazi
Ethiopia	5	Afar Amharic Oromo Somali Tigrinya			Afar Amharic Benshangul Gumuz Harari Kunama Oromo Sidamo Somali Tigrinya
Fiji	3	English Fijian Fiji Hindi
Finland	2	Finnish Swedish		Sami (in Enontekiö, Inari, Sodankylä, Utsjoki)	Finnish Swedish	English
France	1	French [55]		Corsican language Basque language Breton language		Occitan language
Gabon	1	French
The Gambia	1	English				Wolof Mandinka Pulaar Soninke Jola Serer Mandjak Bainuk Kiriol
Georgia	1	Georgian				Russian
Germany	1	German [56]	Danish (in Schleswig-Holstein) Lower Sorbian (in Brandenburg) North Frisian (in Schleswig-Holstein) Saterland Frisian (in Lower Saxony) Upper Sorbian (in Saxony) German Sign Language Low German	Danish Lower Sorbian North Frisian Romani [57] Upper Sorbian		English
Ghana	1	English	Fante Asante Twi Akuapem Twi Adangme (in Greater Accra) Dagaare (in the Upper West Region) Dagbani (in the Northern Region) Ewe (in the Volta Region) Ga (in Greater Accra) Gonja (in the Northern Region) Kasem (in the Upper East Region) Nzema (in the Western Region)
Greece	1	Greek
Grenada	1	English
Guatemala	1	Spanish			Garifuna Maya Xinca
Guinea	1	French				Fula Maninka Susu
Guinea-Bissau	1	Portuguese
Guyana	1	English				Guyanese Creole
Haiti	2	French Haitian Creole
Honduras	1	Spanish
Hong Kong	3	Cantonese English Mandarin
Hungary	1	Hungarian [58]		Croatian [59] German [59] Romanian [59] Serbian [59] Slovak [59] Slovene [59]
Iceland	2	Icelandic Icelandic Sign Language [60]
India	2	Hindi English	22 official languages: [61] Assamese Bengali Bodo Dogri Gujarati Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Konkani Maithili Malayalam Meitei (Manipuri) Marathi Nepali Odia (Oriya), Punjabi Sanskrit Santali Sindhi Tamil Telugu Urdu		see Languages of India
Indonesia	1	Indonesian	Javanese (in Yogyakarta)		Indonesian	Indonesian Malay Javanese Sundanese Batak Minangkabau 700 more languages in Indonesia
Iran	1	Persian		Azerbaijani Kurdish Luri Gilaki Mazanderani Balochi Arabic Qashqai Tati Turkmeni	Persian
Iraq	2	Arabic Kurdish [62]	Armenian recognized Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (in Assyrian areas) Iraqi Turkmen (in Turkmen areas)
Ireland [63]	2	Irish English			Irish
Israel	1	Hebrew	Arabic	English		Russian English
Italy	1	Italian	French (in Aosta Valley) Franco-Provençal (in Aosta Valley) German (in South Tyrol) Ladin (in South Tyrol) Friulian (in Friuli-Venezia Giulia) Sardinian (in Sardinia) Corsican (in northern Sardinia)	Catalan (in Sardinia) Slovene (in Friuli-Venezia Giulia) Occitan (in Piedmont's Occitan valleys) Albanian (in Sicily and Calabria) Greek (in Calabria and Puglia)		Other Italo-Dalmatian languages
Ivory Coast	1	French
Jamaica	1	English	Jamaican Patois		Jamaican Patois	Jamaican Patois
Japan	1	None (Japanese has de facto status)			Japanese
Jordan	1	Arabic		Circassian Chechen Armenian
Kazakhstan	2	Kazakh Russian			Kazakh
Kenya	2	English Swahili			Swahili
Kiribati	2	English Gilbertese
North Korea	1	Korean
South Korea	2	Korean Korean Sign Language
Kosovo [a]	2	Albanian Serbian	Turkish		Albanian (nationwide) Serbian (Northern Kosovo)
Kuwait	1	Arabic			Kuwaiti Sign Language Kuwaiti Arabic Kuwaiti Persian
Kyrgyzstan	2	Kyrgyz Russian			Kyrgyz
Laos	1	Lao
Latvia	1	Latvian [64] [65]				Russian
Lebanon	1	Arabic	Arabic	Armenian	Arabic English French	Arabic English French
Lesotho	2	Sesotho English			Sotho
Liberia	1	English
Libya	1	Arabic
Liechtenstein	1	German
Lithuania	1	Lithuanian				Polish Russian
Luxembourg	3	French German Luxembourgish			Luxembourgish	English Portuguese
Macau	2	Cantonese Portuguese
Madagascar	2	French Malagasy			Malagasy
Malawi	2	English			Chichewa
Malaysia	1	Malay [f]	Regional/State dialects		Malay	Malay Mandarin Chinese Cantonese Tamil English
Maldives	1	Dhivehi			Dhivehi	English
Mali	13	Bambara Bobo Bozo Dogon Fula Hassaniya Kassonke Maninke Minyanka Senufo Songhay languages Soninke Tamasheq		French
Malta	2	Maltese English			Maltese
Sovereign Military Order of Malta [a]	1	Italian
Marshall Islands	2	English Marshallese
Mauritania	1	Arabic			Arabic Fula Soninke Wolof	French
Mauritius	2	None (English has de jure status and French has de facto status)		English
Mexico	1	None (Spanish has de facto status)			68 National languages
Federated States of Micronesia	1	English	Chuukese (in Chuuk State) Kosraean (in Kosrae State) Pohnpeian (in Pohnpei State) Yapese (in Yap State)
Moldova	1	Romanian	Gagauz Russian Ukrainian
Monaco [67]	1	French				Monégasque
Mongolia	1	Mongolian
Montenegro	1	Montenegrin
Morocco	2	Arabic Berber			Arabic Berber	French
Mozambique	1	Portuguese
Myanmar (Burma)	1	Burmese	Chin Kachin Karen Karenni Mon Rakhine Shan			English
Namibia [68]	1	English	German Oshiwambo		Afrikaans
Nauru	2	English Nauruan
Nepal	1	Nepali [69]			All languages spoken as the mother tongue in Nepal [70]
Netherlands	1	Dutch	Frisian (in the province of Friesland) English (in Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, Saba) Papiamento (in Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire)	Dutch Low Saxon Dutch Sign Language Limburgish Sinte Romani Yiddish		English
New Zealand	3	Māori language New Zealand Sign Language (English has de facto status)
Nicaragua	1	Spanish	In Autonomous Regions: Creole Garifuna Mayangna Miskito Rama Sumo
Niger	1	Hausa			Arabic French Fulfulde Gulmancema Kanuri Zarma Tamazight
Nigeria	1	English			Hausa Yoruba Igbo	English Hausa
Niue	2	English Niuean
Norfolk Island	2	English Norfuk [71]
North Macedonia	2	Macedonian Albanian [72]
Northern Cyprus [a]	1	Turkish
Norway	2	Norwegian Sami languages [73]	Northern Sami Lule Sami Southern Sámi Kven	Kven Scandoromani	Bokmål (written) Nynorsk (written)	English
Oman	1	Arabic		Shehri
Pakistan	2	Urdu English	Sindhi		Urdu	Punjabi Balochi Sindhi Pashto Saraiki
Palau	2	English Palauan	Sonsorolese (in Sonsorol) Tobian (in Hatohobei) Japanese (in Angaur)
Palestine	1	Arabic				English Hebrew
Panama	1	Spanish
Papua New Guinea	4	English Hiri Motu PNG Sign Language Tok Pisin
Paraguay	2	Spanish Guaraní
Peru	1	Spanish	Quechua, Aymara and another native languages are official wherever they predominate.
Philippines	2	Filipino English	Aklanon (in the Visayas) Bikol (in Luzon) Cebuano (in the Visayas and Mindanao) Chavacano (in Mindanao) Hiligaynon (in the Visayas) Ibanag (in Luzon) Ilocano (in Luzon, official in La Union [74] ) Ivatan (in Luzon) Kapampangan (in Luzon) Kinaray-a (in the Visayas) Maguindanao (in Mindanao) Maranao (in Mindanao) Pangasinan (in Luzon) Sambal (in Luzon) Tagalog (in Luzon) Tausug (in Mindanao) Waray (in the Visayas) Yakan (in Mindanao)	Arabic [g] (optional language) Spanish [g] (optional language) (+ over 100 more minority languages)	Filipino Filipino Sign Language (national sign language)
Poland	1	Polish	Kashubian (Pomeranian Voivodeship) German (Opole Voivodeship) Lithuanian (Puńsk commune) Belarusian (Podlaskie Voivodseship)	Lemko Karaim Tatar Ukrainian		English
Portugal	1	Portuguese	Mirandese (Terra de Miranda)			English
Qatar	1	Arabic
Romania	1	Romanian		Armenian German Hungarian Romani Russian Serbian Slovak Tatar Turkish Ukrainian
Russia	1	Russian	(33 languages)
Rwanda	4	English French Kinyarwanda Swahili
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic [a]	2	Arabic Spanish			Arabic
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	English
Saint Lucia	1	English
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1	English
Samoa	2	English Samoan
San Marino	1	Italian
São Tomé and Príncipe	1	Portuguese
Saudi Arabia	1	Arabic		Faifi Razihi Mehri		Indian Languages Filipino Bengali
Senegal	1	French			Jola-Fogny Mandinka Pulaar Serer Soninke Wolof
Serbia	1	Serbian		(15 languages)
Seychelles	3	English French Seychellois Creole
Sierra Leone	1	English			Krio
Singapore	4	English Malay Mandarin Chinese Tamil			Malay
Slovakia	1	Slovak		Bulgarian Czech German Hungarian Polish Romani Rusyn Serbian Ukrainian
Slovenia	1	Slovene		Hungarian (Dobrovnik, Hodoš, Lendava) Italian (Izola, Koper, Piran) Croatian (Metlika, Brežice)
Solomon Islands	1	English
Somalia	2	Somali, Arabic
Somaliland [a]	3	Arabic English Somali
South Africa	12	Afrikaans English Southern Ndebele Sotho Northern Sotho Swazi Tsonga Tswana Venda Xhosa Zulu SA Sign Language [76]
South Ossetia [a]	2	Ossetian Russian	Georgian	Georgian
South Sudan	1	English			Bari Dinka Luo Murle Nuer Zande (60 other languages)
Spain	1	Spanish	Catalan (Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Valencian Community) Galician (Galicia) Occitan (Catalonia) Basque (Basque Country, Navarra)	Astur-Leonese (Asturias, León, Zamora, Salamanca, Cáceres) Aragonese (Aragon) Fala (Province of Cáceres) Portuguese Galician (Asturias, León, Zamora) Catalan (Aragon, Carche (Murcia))
Sri Lanka	2	Sinhala Tamil				English
Sudan	2	Arabic English
Suriname	1	Dutch			Sranan Tongo
Sweden	1	Swedish		Finnish (Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala, Övertorneå) Meänkieli (Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala, Övertorneå) Sami (Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk, Kiruna) Yiddish Romani		English
Switzerland	4	French (Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel, Valais, Vaud) German (Aargau, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Fribourg, Glarus, Graubünden, Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Saint Gallen, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, Thurgau, Uri, Valais, Zug, Zürich) Italian (Ticino, Graubünden) Romansh (Graubünden)
Syria	1	Arabic	Kurdish	Assyrian Western Neo-Aramaic Armenian
Taiwan	1	None (Mandarin Chinese has de facto status)			Taiwanese Mandarin [h] Taiwanese Hokkien [h] Taiwanese Hakka [77] Formosan languages [78] Taiwan Sign Language Matsu dialect Wuqiu dialect
Tajikistan	1	Tajik			Tajik	Russian
Tanzania	2	Swahili English			Swahili
Thailand	1	Thai	Central Thai Isan Northern Thai Southern Thai	Sixty-two 'domestic' languages are officially recognized		Burmese
Togo	1	French
Tokelau	2	English Tokelauan
Tonga	2	English Tongan
Transnistria [a]	3	Moldovan Russian Ukrainian
Trinidad and Tobago	1	English				Trinidadian Creole
Tunisia	1	Arabic			Arabic
Turkey	1	Turkish		Kurdish	Turkish
Turkmenistan	1	Turkmen			Turkmen	Russian
Tuvalu	2	Tuvaluan English			Tuvaluan English
Uganda	2	English Swahili [79]
Ukraine	1	Ukrainian	Russian (Autonomous Republic of Crimea) Crimean Tatar (Autonomous Republic of Crimea)
United Arab Emirates	1	Arabic				English
United Kingdom and Crown dependencies etc.	1	None (English has de facto status)	Irish and Ulster-Scots (in Northern Ireland) Scots and Scottish Gaelic (in Scotland) Welsh (in Wales) Pitcairnese (in Pitcairn Islands) Guernésiais and French (in Guernsey) Jèrriais and French (in Jersey) Manx (in Isle of Man)
United States	1	None (English has de facto status) [i]	(28 languages)	indigenous languages of recognized federal tribes	English
Uruguay	2	Uruguayan Sign Language (Spanish has de facto status)
Uzbekistan	1	Uzbek		Uzbek Karakalpak and Uzbek in Karakalpakstan		Russian
Vanuatu	3	English French Bislama
Vatican City	2	Italian Latin				Swiss German
Venezuela	2	Spanish		Native languages are official for indigenous peoples
Vietnam	1	Vietnamese		Cantonese Cham Hmong Khmer Lao Muong Rade Tay Thai Vietnamese sign languages	Vietnamese
Yemen	1	Arabic		Mehri Soqotri
Zambia	1	English
Zimbabwe	16	Chewa Chibarwe English Kalanga Khoisan [j] [81] Nambya Ndau Ndebele Shangani Shona Sign language [k] Sotho Tonga Tswana Venda Xhosa

List of languages by number of countries in which they are the official language

This is a ranking of languages by number of sovereign countries in which they are de jure or de facto official, although there are no precise inclusion criteria or definition of a language. An '*' (asterisk) indicates a country whose independence is disputed.

Partially recognized or de facto independent countries are denoted by an asterisk (*)

Language	World	Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Countries
English	57	22	14	4	3	14	United States, [l] United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, India, Nigeria (See the full list) [82]
French	30	22	2	–	5	1	France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Madagascar, Monaco, Haiti, Vanuatu (See the full list) [83]
Arabic	24–26*	12–14*	–	12	–	–	Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Palestine (See the full list)
Spanish	20	1	18	–	1		Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico (See the full list) [84]
Portuguese	9	6	1	1	1	–	Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, East Timor (See the full list)
German	6	–	–	–	6	–	Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein (See the full list)
Russian	4–7*	–	–	2	2–5*	–	Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Abkhazia*, South Ossetia*, Transnistria*. (See the full list)
Swahili	4	4	–	–	–	–	Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
Serbo-Croatian	4–5*	–	–	–	4–5*	–	Serbia (known as Serbian), Croatia (known as Croatian), Montenegro (known as Montenegrin), Bosnia and Herzegovina (known as Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian), Kosovo* (known as Serbian)
Italian	4	–	–	–	4	–	Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City
Malay	4	–	–	4	–	–	Malaysia, Indonesia (known as Indonesian), Singapore, Brunei
Berber	3	3	–	–	–	–	Algeria, Morocco, Mali
Dutch	3	–	1	–	2	–	Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname
Persian	3	–	–	3	–	–	Iran, Afghanistan (known as Dari), Tajikistan (known as Tajik)
Sotho	3	3	–	–	–	–	South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe
Tamil	2	–	–	2	–	–	Sri Lanka, Singapore
Tswana	3	3	–	–	–	–	Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Albanian	2–3*	–	–	–	2–3*	–	Albania, Kosovo*, North Macedonia
Standard Chinese	2–3*	–	–	2–3*	–	–	China, Singapore, Taiwan*
Romanian	2–3*	–	–	–	2-3*	–	Romania, Moldova, Transnistria*
Somali	2–3*	2–3*	–	–	–	–	Somalia, Ethiopia, and Somaliland*
Turkish	2–3*	–	–	–	2–3*	–	Turkey, Northern Cyprus* and Cyprus
Aymara	2	–	2	–	–	–	Bolivia and Peru
Chichewa	2	2	–	–	–	–	Malawi and Zimbabwe
Greek	2	–	–	–	2	–	Greece and Cyprus
Guarani	2	–	2	–	–	–	Paraguay and Bolivia
Hindi	2	–	–	2	–	–	(Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh) India, Fiji
Quechua	2	–	2	–	–	–	Bolivia and Peru
Korean	2	–	–	2	–	–	North Korea and South Korea
Rwanda-Rundi	2	2	–	–	–	–	Burundi (known as Kirundi) & Rwanda (known as Kinyarwanda)
Swati	2	2	–	–	–	–	Eswatini (Swaziland) and South Africa
Swedish	2	–	–	–	2	–	Sweden and Finland
Tigrinya	2	2	–	–	–	–	Eritrea and Ethiopia
Venda	2	2	–	–	–	–	South Africa and Zimbabwe

Notes

1. Independence disputed.
2. The third official language – in addition to Pashto and Dari – in areas where the majority speaks them
3. Slovak language is defined as official language together with Czech language by several laws – e.g. law 500/2004, 337/1992. Source: http://portal.gov.cz. Cited: "Například Správní řád (zákon č. 500/2004 Sb.) stanovuje: "V řízení se jedná a písemnosti se vyhotovují v českém jazyce. Účastníci řízení mohou jednat a písemnosti mohou být předkládány i v jazyce slovenském..." (§16, odstavec 1). Zákon o správě daní a poplatků (337/1992 Sb.) "Úřední jazyk: Před správcem daně se jedná v jazyce českém nebo slovenském. Veškerá písemná podání se předkládají v češtině nebo slovenštině..." (§ 3, odstavec 1). http://portal.gov.cz
4. Citizens belonging to minorities, which traditionally and on long-term basis live within the territory of the Czech Republic, enjoy the right to use their language in communication with authorities and in front of the courts of law (for the list of recognized minorities see National Minorities Policy of the Government of the Czech Republic). The article 25 of the Czech Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms ensures right of the national and ethnic minorities for education and communication with authorities in their own language. Act No. 500/2004 Coll. (The Administrative Rule) in its paragraph 16 (4) (Procedural Language) ensures, that a citizen of the Czech Republic, who belongs to a national or an ethnic minority, which traditionally and on long-term basis lives within the territory of the Czech Republic, have right to address an administrative agency and proceed before it in the language of the minority. In case that the administrative agency doesn't have an employee with knowledge of the language, the agency is bound to obtain a translator at the agency's own expense. According to Act No. 273/2001 (About The Rights of Members of Minorities) paragraph 9 (The right to use language of a national minority in dealing with authorities and in front of the courts of law) the same applies for the members of national minorities also in front of the courts of law.
5. Official language for intercultural relations
6. Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia designated Malay as the national language. Section 2 of that article allowed English to be used officially until otherwise provided by Parliament. In 1967, the Parliament of Malaysia passed the National Language Act, making Malay the official language of Malaysia. The act does, however, allow the use of English for some official purposes. On 11 July 1990, following the amendment of the National Language Act 1963/67 (Act 32) (Revised in 1971), Malay replaced English as the official language of the courts in West Malaysia. The amending Act provided English to be used in the Courts in West Malaysia where it deems necessary in the interest of Justice. East Malaysia continued using English as the official language in their courts. ^[66] Since 2007, the official policy is to refer to the national language as the Malaysian language (Bahasa Malaysia), although legislation still refers to the Malay language (Bahasa Melayu).
7. As per the 1987 Constitution which states "Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis". ^[75]
8. Not designated but meets legal definition
9. In the United States of America, English is the language of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States and is the working language of the federal government. It was first declared the official language by Executive Order 14224 in 2025. ^[80] Some states - such as Arizona, California, Florida, New Mexico, and Texas - provide official documents in both Spanish and English. Attempts to designate English as the official language of the federal government of the United States by act of Congress have not succeeded. See also Languages of the United States.
10. Refers to the Tjwao dialect
11. See Zimbabwean sign languages
12. In the United States of America, English is the language of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States and is the working language of the federal government. It was first declared the official language by Executive Order 14224 in 2025. ^[80] Some states - such as Arizona, California, Florida, New Mexico, and Texas - provide official documents in both Spanish and English. Attempts to designate English as the official language of the federal government of the United States by act of Congress have not succeeded. See also Languages of the United States.

See also

• List of official languages
• Linguistic demography
• Lists of countries and territories by official language
• Lists of endangered languages
• Lists of languages
• List of languages by number of native speakers
• List of languages by total number of speakers
• World language
• Languages used on the Internet

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External links

• Languages - CIA listing of languages spoken in each country