There are more than 7,000 languages spoken around the world today. That astounding number demonstrates just how many different languages are spoken within a single country or geographic region.
Travelers trying to decide which languages are most valuable for travel should consider which ones are most widely spoken around the world and in the countries on their bucket lists. According to data published by the Statista Research Department on June 16, 2023, these are the 10 most spoken languages in the world.
10 Urdu
Karakoram highway, Pakistan
Urdu is one of the world’s most spoken languages, yet it’s only an official language in two countries. Both in South Asia, Pakistan and India are home to most of the world’s Urdu-speaking population.
Most of the Indian population who speak Urdu reside in one of these six states: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, or Jharkhand.
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Number of Speakers:
231.7 million -
Countries Where It’s An Official Language:
Pakistan and India
9 Russian
Russian is also one of the most popular languages in the world; it’s a widely spoken language because of the large number of people concentrated in the countries where it’s designated as an official language.
Although Russian is commonly spoken in many nations that were former Soviet states (Estonia and Georgia, for example), It’s only an official language in four countries.
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Number of Speakers:
255 million -
Countries Where It’s An Official Language:
Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan
8 Portuguese
A panoramic view of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, featuring the cityscape and Sugarloaf Mountain, one of the most stunning natural wonders of Brazil
It might surprise travelers to see Portuguese in the top 10 most spoken languages in the world, but this romance language extends far beyond Portugal.
As an official language in Brazil and several countries in Africa, travelers can benefit from learning some simple phrases in beautiful Portuguese.
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Number of Speakers:
263.6 million -
Countries Where It’s An Official Language:
Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste
7 Bengali
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
Bengali is only the official language in two countries in the world, yet it’s spoken by over 250 million people. The large population of Bangladesh and India have ranked Bengali in the top 10 most spoken languages in the world.
Travelers who want to get off the beaten path to explore Bangladesh (which is safe to visit) should invest some time and effort in learning a few phrases in Bengali.
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Number of Speakers:
272.8 million -
Countries Where It’s An Official Language:
Bangladesh and India (states of West Bengal and Tripura)
6 Arabic
Ancient ruins in Petra, Jordan
Arabic is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world; it’s widely spoken in many popular travel destinations, including Jordan, Egypt, Tanzania, and Morocco.
For avid travelers, it’s worth learning some basic Standard Arabic to communicate with locals when visiting some of the countries where this beautiful tongue is the official language. Though learning to read or write Arabic presents a unique challenge, learning to speak it is a realistic goal for the average traveler.
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Number of Speakers:
274 million -
Countries Where It’s An Official Language:
Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen
5 French
Boats on the River Seine in Paris with the Eiffel tower in the background
French is also one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. From North America to Europe to Africa, its speakers are spread out across vast continents.
French is the official language in the Canadian province of Quebec. As of 2021, 7.8 million Canadians cited French as their first language. French is useful for backpacking in Western Europe on a budget and traveling across many parts of Africa.
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Number of Speakers:
309.8 million -
Countries Where It’s An Official Language:
France, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu
4 Spanish
Colorful buildings in Caminito, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Spanish is one of the most useful languages in the world for travelers to learn because it is the primary communication method in so many countries around the globe.
Whether globetrotters find themselves backpacking in Central American countries, working abroad in South America’s best digital nomad cities, or vacationing in Spain, it’s a valuable language to have basic knowledge of.
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Number of Speakers:
559.1 million -
Countries Where it’s An Official Language:
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico
3 Hindi
The Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India
Hindi is widely spoken in India, with roughly half of the country’s vast population citing this as their core language.
Fijian Hindi is also widely spoken in the South Pacific nation of Fiji. In India, other languages commonly spoken besides Hindi include Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, and Tamil (among others).
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Number of Speakers:
609.5 million -
Countries Where It’s An Official Language:
India and Fiji
There are 22 official languages in the 8th Schedule of India’s Constitution.
2 Mandarin (Chinese)
Beijing after Dark
There are seven to ten different types of Chinese languages in use in the world, but Mandarin is the most widely spoken. In fact, 70% of the population of China speaks Mandarin.
Other common Chinese dialects include Yue (Cantonese), Xiang (Hunanese), Min dialect, Gan dialect, Wu dialect, and Hakka dialect.
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Number of Speakers:
1.138 billion -
Countries Where It’s An Official Language:
Mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore
1 English
Phone screen with English learning and a person taking notes
Unsurprisingly, English tops the list with well over a billion speakers worldwide. The fact that English is an official language in so many countries across the globe is why it’s more commonly spoken than Mandarin Chinese.
Although there are many countries where English is spoken as the official first lingo, the language is also taught as a second language in a vast number of nations and is very useful for travel and business.
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