When you travel internationally, one of the first things you might check is what languages are spoken at your destination. More specifically, you may wonder how many people speak English well enough to give you directions or hold a conversation. The good news is that English is one of the largest global languages in the world, and you’ll probably find people who speak English in most major cities.
Breaking down the number of English speakers around the world is more complex than it first appears. So, we’ll give you all the numbers you need regarding total speakers, people who speak it as a native language vs. a second language, what countries dominate the English-speaking world, and more. If you know someone who wants to add themselves to those numbers, you can even use these statistics to get them started on learning how to speak English!
Table of Contents
How many people speak English in the world?
Worldwide, English has a total of roughly 1.53 billion speakers (Ethnologue, 2025), which includes over 390 million native speakers. Those numbers are spread across the entire world on every continent (excluding Antarctica, which does not have a permanent population), with particularly high concentrations in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Africa and Asia.
How many people speak English as a second language?
If you consider the number of native English speakers versus the total number (Ethnologue, 2025), about 1.14 billion people speak English as a second language worldwide. That means almost 75% of all English speakers learned it as a second language! Proficiency varies widely within that group, but it’s a strong indicator of how many people see a need to learn English.
Which countries speak English as an official language?
English is the most common official language in the world. There are 52 independent countries and 21 non-sovereign states or territories that have English as either a de jure (officially designated) or de facto (most commonly spoken but not officially designated) language. Among English-speaking countries, several include English as one of multiple official languages.
As a result, English is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Between Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish, the majority of the world’s population is able to receive official UN information in a language they speak.
List of countries with the most native English speakers
While countries like the United States and the United Kingdom are often among the first to spring to mind when thinking about native English speakers, they are far from the only ones with a sizable native English-speaking population. This list includes the top 10 countries by number of native English speakers, along with the percentage of the country’s population that speaks English.
| Country | Total Native English Speakers | Percentage of Population |
| United States | 279 million | 82.1% |
| Pakistan | 116 million | 46.0% |
| United Kingdom | 67 million | 97.3% |
| India | 46 million | 3.2% |
| Nigeria | 35 million | 15.0% |
| Canada | 24 million | 58.7% |
| Australia | 21 million | 76.8% |
| Ghana | 7.9 million | 23.0% |
| Uganda | 6.1 million | 12.3% |
| South Africa | 6.1 million | 9.6% |
*Worlddata.info, “Spread of the English Language”
A handful of other countries and territories have majority native English-speaking populations (at least two-thirds), but their total populations put them lower on the list of total speakers. These countries include:
| Country | Total Native English Speakers | Percentage of Population |
| Ireland | 5.3 million | 98.4% |
| New Zealand | 3.9 million | 72.6% |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 1.3 million | 93.5% |
| Jersey | 98,000 | 94.5% |
| Virgin Islands | 78,000 | 74.7% |
| Cayman Islands | 67,000 | 90.6% |
| Bermuda | 65,000 | 100.0% |
| Gibraltar | 35,000 | 88.9% |
| Falkland Islands | 3,000 | 89.0% |
| Norfolk Island | 1,000 | 67.6% |
*Worlddata.info, “Spread of the English Language”
Number of people who speak English by region
Each region of the world has English-speaking countries and territories that consider English an official language, although the exact number of speakers per region varies widely. The countries and territories in this list either list English as an official language, have an English-speaking population over a million, or have populations where at least a third of the population speaks English.
The exact totals for any given country’s population and number of English speakers are always changing and may deviate slightly from other sources (such as Worlddata.info) due to differing methods, but these estimates are roughly accurate as of 2025 by taking a country’s population (datacommons.org) and the percentage of the population that speaks English (Ethnologue, 2025) into account.
How many people speak English in North America?
Roughly 350-360 million people speak English in the countries that speak English across North America.
- Bermuda: 62,400
- Canada: 32,148,000
- Mexico: 7,328,000
- United States: 318,990,000
Continental North America is largely split into two English dialects: American English and Canadian English. They’re very similar, with some distinct pronunciation differences.
How many people speak English in Europe?
Roughly 275 million people speak English in Europe.
- Austria: 6,654,000
- Belgium: 4,513,000
- Bulgaria: 1,675,000
- Czechia: 2,938,000
- Croatia: 1,933,000
- Denmark: 5,050,000
- Finland: 3,946,000
- France: 26,927,000
- Germany: 46,766,000
- Greece: 5,506,000
- Hungary: 2,419,000
- Ireland: 5,272,000
- Italy: 20,232,000
- Netherlands: 16,194,000
- Norway: 4,792,000
- Poland: 12,063,000
- Portugal: 2,953,000
- Romania: 5,911,000
- Russia: 5,024,000
- Spain: 11,177,000
- Sweden: 8,846,000
- Switzerland: 5,059,000
- Ukraine: 3,180,000
- United Kingdom: 65,072,000
English is one of the 24 EU official languages (added in 1973). Although British English is the main variety of English found in Europe, even it has subvarieties in Irish English and Welsh English.
How many people speak English in Central and South America?
Compared to North America, the English-speaking population of Central and South America is small: Only about 23-24 million people speak English.
- Argentina: 6,854,000
- Belize: 238,000
- Brazil: 10,636,000
- Cayman Islands: 63,000
- Chile: 1,957,000
- Colombia: 2,062,000
- Dominica: 62,000
- Guyana: 108,000
- Trinidad and Tobago: 1,259,000
Most countries in Central and South America (Latin America) predominantly speak Spanish or Portuguese, but Guyana is an interesting exception. Guyana is the only country in South America to have English as its only official language, and it has its own Guyanese English dialect as well. Caribbean English is also a dialect spoken as an official language in 19 Caribbean territories.
How many people speak English in Africa?
About 245-250 million people speak English in Africa.
- Algeria: 2,621,000
- Botswana: 958,000
- Cameroon: 9,900,000
- Egypt: 37,292,000
- Ghana: 14,115,000
- Kenya: 45,145,000
- Morocco: 4,950,000
- Nigeria: 62,358,000
- Rwanda: 1,953,000
- South Africa: 20,930,000
- Tanzania: 6,650,000
- Tunisia: 1,166,000
- Uganda: 29,009,000
- Zambia: 3,623,000
- Zimbabwe: 4,990,000
What stands out about English in Africa is that, while it’s an official language in 23 African countries, English is not the most common language in the majority of those countries. One of the most prominent dialects of English found in Africa is the South African English (SAE) dialect (spoken in South Africa), and there are roughly 3 million first-language SAE speakers.
How many people speak English in Asia?
In total, Asia has upwards of 595 million English speakers.
- Afghanistan: 2,431,000
- Bangladesh: 29,505,000
- Cambodia: 4,498,000
- China: 15,640,000
- India: 275,678,000
- Iraq: 14,275,000
- Israel: 6,752,000
- Japan: 11,158,000
- Jordan: 4,713,000
- Kazakhstan: 1,956,000
- Lebanon: 2,322,000
- Malaysia: 10,881,000
- Pakistan: 112,317,000
- Philippines: 52,824,000
- Singapore: 3,079,000
- South Korea: 11,540,000
- Sri Lanka: 5,260,000
- Thailand: 18,920,000
- United Arab Emirates: 8,049,000
- Yemen: 3,125,000
Countries in South Asia have a particularly unique dialect of English known as South Asian English (alternatively Indian English). It primarily includes the English spoken in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and the Maldives.
How many people speak English in Oceania?
The population size of countries and territories in Oceania ranges from the large (Australia at over 27 million) to the small (multiple with less than 50,000), but the total number of English speakers is around 38-40 million.
- Australia: 24,750,000
- New Zealand: 4,750,000
- Papua New Guinea: 8,460,000
Two of the most distinct English dialects can also be found in this region: Australian English and New Zealand English.
List of countries with the highest English proficiency
The Education First English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) is an annual report of the English proficiency of countries around the world where English is not the native language. This means countries like the United States and Australia are excluded from the report. This data provided by the EF shows where English usage and education are strongest while also demonstrating its role as one of the world’s lingua francas (a common language spoken among people who speak other languages).
The top 10 countries in the 2025 EF EPI that have the most proficient speakers of English as a second language are all located in Europe. These countries have “very high proficiency” according to the EF EPI, meaning most speakers can wield English in both social and business situations with relative ease.
- Netherlands
- Croatia
- Austria
- Germany
- Norway
- Portugal
- Denmark
- Sweden
- Belgium
- Slovakia
Frequently asked questions about how many people speak English
English’s impact on the world’s linguistic landscape results in innumerable ways to break down the question of how many people speak English worldwide. If you’re still curious about how English measures up among the world’s languages, check out these frequently asked questions from other people with the same curiosity.
1. What is the #1 used language in the world?
English is the most spoken language in the world. Roughly 1.53 billion people worldwide speak English (Ethnologue, 2025) either as a native or second language. The second-most used language in the world is Mandarin Chinese, with roughly 1.18 billion (Ethnologue, 2025), which also has the most native speakers (roughly 990 million speakers). English is also the most common language on the internet, with 49.2% of websites using English. Spanish is a distant second at 6%, swiftly followed by German at 5.9%.
2. What is the #1 most used language family?
Out of the 143 language families worldwide, the most used and largest family is Indo-European. Roughly 3.39 billion people speak a language from the Indo-European language family as of 2025, which includes widely spoken languages like English, Spanish, and Hindi. The Sino-Tibetan language family comes in second with roughly 1.47 billion speakers between languages such as Chinese, Burmese, and Tibetan.
3. What percentage of the world is English-speaking?
Just over 18.5% of the world speaks English (1.53 billion speakers out of the global 8.23 billion population). This is spread across every continent (except Antarctica) and includes countries where English is the official language, as well as countries that have other official languages.
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