What are the most spoken languages in the world?

• Standard

In the estimations of speakers per language a great difference exists if we compare the speakers by native language or the speakers as a second language.

The 10 most spoken languages as a native language:

1. Chinese: Spoken by more that 900 million people as a native language, it is the most spoken language in the world.
2. Spanish: Around 450 million people in the world speak in Spanish as their native language.
3. English: Around 380 million people in the world speak English as their native language.
4. Hindi: Spoken by more than 300 million people as a native language.
5. English: Around 280 million people in the world speak English as their native language.
6. Portuguese: With more than 200 million people that speak it as a native language, the contribution from Brazil, Mozambique and Angola make Portuguese the sixth most spoken native language.
7. Bengali: Around 200 million people in the world speak it as their native language.
8. Russian: Around 170 million people in the world speak Russian as their native language.
9. Japanese: Around 130 million people.
10. Punjabi: Around 100 million people, around India and Pakistan, speak Punjabi as their native language.

The 5 most spoken languages as a native language and as a second language:

1. English: Around 1,120 million people in the world speak English as their first or second language. More than 60% of the people that speak English, speak it as a second language.
2. Chinese: Around 1,100 million people.
3. Hindi: Around 534 million people, almost double than those that speak Hindi as a native language.
4. Spanish: It is calculated that more that 500 million people speak Spanish as a first or second language, it is calculated that only 13% of these speak it as a second language.
5. Arabic: More than 400 million people.

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