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Q: What are the most spoken languages around the world?
A: Although the exact number of speakers changes constantly and is hard to determine, the latest statistics indicate that the 20 most spoken languages are:
| Language | Speakers (Millions) |
Where Spoken |
| Chinese | 1,120 | China, Malaysia, Taiwan |
| English | 510 | USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand |
| Hindi | 490 | North and Central India |
| Spanish | 425 | Mexico, Central and South America, Spain |
| Arabic | 255 | Middle East, Arabia, North Africa |
| Russian | 254 | Russia, Central Asia |
| Portuguese | 218 | Brazil, Portugal, Southern Africa |
| Bengali | 215 | Bangladesh, Eastern India |
| Malay (Indonesian) | 175 | Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore |
| French | 130 | France, Canada, West Africa, Central Africa |
| Japanese | 127 | Japan |
| German | 123 | Germany, Austria, Central Europe |
| Farsi (Persian) | 110 | Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia |
| Urdu | 104 | Pakistan, India |
| Punjabi | 103 | Pakistan, India |
| Vietnamese | 86 | Vietnam, China |
| Tamil | 78 | Southern India, Sri Lanka, Malyasia |
| Wu | 77 | China |
| Javanese | 76 | Indonesia |
| Turkish | 75 | Turkey, Central Asia |
For many corporations, the actual number of speakers of a language is not as important as the number of speakers multiplied by the GDP per capita of the target population (which determines purchasing power). Once these two pieces of information are combined, the list changes somewhat:
| Language | Speakers x PC-GDP (Billions) |
| English | 9,970 |
| Japanese | 4,889 |
| Chinese | 2,979 |
| Russian | 2,978 |
| Spanish | 2,843 |
| French | 2,748 |
| Italian | 2,269 |
| Arabic | 1,163 |
| Malay | 1,021 |
| Hindi | 862 |
| Turkish | 487 |
| Norwegian | 435 |
| German | 385 |
| Swedish | 373 |
| Polish | 298 |
| Danish | 258 |
| Greek | 254 |
| Dutch | 241 |
| Persian | 220 |
| Thai | 193 |
| Finnish | 161 |
Disclaimer: Translation-Service.com can't guarantee the accuracy of the information above.
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