English-speaking world

Countries where English is spoken natively by the majority of

Nations in which English is an ocial language (de facto or de the population.
jure). Anglosphere countries are a subset of those where English
is the main native language.
Anglosphere
Ocial as majority language
1 Majority English-speaking coun-
Ocial as minority language tries
Co-ocial as majority language
Co-ocial as minority language
Unocial Main articles: List of countries by English-speaking
Not ocial as majority language population and Anglosphere
Not ocial as minority language
There are six large countries with a majority of native En-
glish speakers that are sometimes grouped under the term
Anglosphere. They are, in descending order of English
speakers, the United States (at least 231 million),[4] the
United Kingdom (60 million),[5][6][7] Canada (at least 20
million),[8] Australia (at least 17 million),[9] Ireland (4.2
million), and New Zealand (3.7 million).[10]

Approximately 330 to 360 million people speak English

as their rst language.[1] More than half of these (231
million) live in the United States, followed by some 55
million in England, the rst place where Modern English
was spoken.
English is the third largest language by number of native
speakers, after Mandarin and Spanish.[2]
Estimates that include second language speakers vary
greatly, from 470 million to more than 1 billion. David
Crystal calculates that non-native speakers as of 2003
outnumbered native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1.[3] When
combining native and non-native speakers, English is the Pie chart showing the percentage of native English
second most widely spoken language worldwide. speakers living in inner circle English-speaking coun-
Besides the major varieties of English, such as American tries. Native speakers are now substantially outnumbered
English, British English, Indian English, Canadian En- worldwide by second-language
[11]
speakers of English (not
glish, Australian English, Irish English, New Zealand counted in this chart ).
English and their sub-varieties, countries such as South United States (64.3%)
Africa, the Philippines, Jamaica and Nigeria also have United Kingdom (16.7%)
millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging Canada (5.3%)
from English-based creole languages to Standard English. Australia (4.7%)

1
2 3 ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE

South Africa (1.3%) of Hong Kong. (See List of countries where English is an
Republic of Ireland (1.1%) ocial language for more details.)
New Zealand (1%) Although the United States federal government has no
Other (5.6%) ocial languages, English has been given ocial status
by 32 of the 50 US state governments.[15][16] Although
English is also the primary natively spoken language in falling short of ocial status, English is also an impor-
the countries and territories of Anguilla, Antigua and tant language in several former colonies and protectorates
Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the of the United Kingdom, such as Bahrain, Bangladesh,
British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Is- Brunei, Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates.
lands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, the Falkland Is-
lands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Guyana, the
Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jersey, Montserrat, Pitcairn Is- 3 English as a global language
lands, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha,
Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Trinidad See also: English in computing, International English,
and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. World Englishes, World language, and English as a sec-
ond or foreign language
Other substantial communities of native speakers are Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been
found in South Africa (4.8 million)[12] and Nigeria (4 mil-
lion, 5%).

2 Countries where English is an of-

cial language
Main article: List of territorial entities where English is
an ocial language
In some countries where English is not the most spoken
language, it is an ocial language; these countries in-
clude Botswana, Cameroon (co-ocial with French), the
Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Ghana, Hong Kong,
India, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malta, the
Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan,
Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Rwanda,
Saint Lucia, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore,
the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Africa,
South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and
Zimbabwe. There also are countries where in a part of
the territory English became a co-ocial language, e.g.
Colombias San Andrs y Providencia and Nicaraguas
Mosquito Coast. This was a result of the inuence of
British colonization in the area.
India has the largest number of second-language speak-
ers of English (see Indian English); Crystal (2004) claims
that, combining native and non-native speakers, India has
more people who speak or understand English than any
other country in the world.[13]
English is one of the eleven ocial languages that are
given equal status in South Africa (South African En-
glish). It is also the ocial language in current dependent
territories of Australia (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island
and Cocos Island) and of the United States (American
Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico
(in Puerto Rico, English is co-ocial with Spanish) and Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are
the US Virgin Islands),[14] and the former British colony available in many countries around the world, and English
Countries in which English is the rst language of the majority
of the population.
Countries with substantial numbers of English speakers, in most
cases dating back to the British Empire.[lower-alpha 1]
referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of
the modern era,[17] and while it is not an ocial lan-
guage in most countries, it is currently the language most
often taught as a foreign language.[18] It is, by interna-
tional treaty, the ocial language for aeronautical[19] and
maritime[20] communications. English is one of the of-
cial languages of the United Nations and many other
international organizations, including the International
Olympic Committee.
English is studied most often in the European Union,
and the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages
among Europeans is 67 percent in favour of English ahead
of 17 percent for German and 16 percent for French (as
of 2012). Among some of the non-English-speaking EU
countries, the following percentages of the adult popula-
tion claimed to be able to converse in English in 2012: 90
percent in the Netherlands, 89 percent in Malta, 86 per-
cent in Sweden and Denmark, 73 percent in Cyprus and
Austria, 70 percent in Finland, and over 50 percent in
Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Germany.
In 2012, excluding native speakers, 38 percent of Euro-
peans consider that they can speak English.[21]
 3

is the most commonly used language in the sciences[17] [16] U.S. English Chairman Applauds West Virginia Bill to
with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 Declare English the States Ocial Language. U.S. En-
that 95% of its articles were written in English, even glish. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
though only half of them came from authors in English- [17] David Graddol (1997). The Future of English?" (PDF).
speaking countries. The British Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on
In publishing, English literature predominates consider- 19 February 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2007.
ably with 28 percent of all books published in the world [18] Crystal, David (2003a). English as a Global Language
[leclerc 2011] and 30 percent of web content in 2011 (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 69. ISBN
(from 50 percent in 2000).[22] 978-0-521-53032-3. Retrieved 4 February 2015. Lay
This increasing use of the English language globally has summary (PDF) Library of Congress (sample) (4 Febru-
had a large impact on many other languages, leading to ary 2015). Northrup, David (20 March 2013). How En-
glish Became the Global Language. Palgrave Macmillan.
language shift and even language death,[23] and to claims
ISBN 978-1-137-30306-6. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
of linguistic imperialism. English itself has become more Lay summary (25 March 2015).
open to language shift as multiple regional varieties feed
back into the language as a whole.[24] [19] ICAO Promotes Aviation Safety by Endorsing English
Language Testing. International Civil Aviation Organi-
zation. 13 October 2011.
4 Notes [20] IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases. Inter-
national Maritime Organization. Archived from the orig-
[1] Liberia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, and the inal on 27 December 2003.
Philippines were never colonies of the British Empire, but
[21] European Commission (June 2012). Special Eurobarom-
of the United States.
eter 386: Europeans and Their Languages (PDF) (Re-
port). Eurobarometer Special Surveys. Retrieved 12
February 2015. Lay summary (PDF) (27 March 2015).
5 References
[22] Northrup 2013.
[1] Crystal 2006, pp. 424426. [23] David Crystal (2000) Language Death, Preface; viii,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
[2] Summary by language size. Ethnologue: Languages of
the World. Retrieved 10 February 2015. [24] Jambor, Paul Z. (April 2007). English Language Impe-
rialism: Points of View. Journal of English as an Inter-
[3] Crystal, David (2003). English as a Global Language (2nd
national Language. 2: 103123.
ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-
521-53032-3.

[4] Ryan 2013, Table 1. 6 Bibliography

[5] Oce for National Statistics 2013, Key Points.
[6] National Records of Scotland 2013.
[7] Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency 2012,
Table KS207NI: Main Language.
[8] Statistics Canada 2014.
[9] Australian Bureau of Statistics 2013.
[10] Statistics New Zealand 2014.
[11] Data are from national censuses conducted in 2010 or
2011 in the reported countries.
[12] Statistics South Africa 2012, Table 2.5 Population by rst
language spoken and province (number).
[13] Crystal 2004b.
[14] Nancy Morris (1995). Puerto Rico: Culture, Politics, and
Identity. Praeger/Greenwood. p. 62. ISBN 0-275-95228-
2.
[15] U.S. English, Inc. U.S. English. Retrieved 21 April
2010.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 March
2013). 2011 Census QuickStats: Australia.
Retrieved 25 March 2015.
Bao, Z. (2006). Variation in Nonnative Va-
rieties of English. In Brown, Keith. En-
cyclopedia of language & linguistics. Else-
vier. pp. 377380. ISBN 978-0-08-044299-0.
doi:10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/04257-7. Re-
trieved 6 February 2015. Lay summary (6
February 2015). via ScienceDirect (Sub-
scription may be required or content may be
available in libraries.)
Crystal, David (19 November 2004b).
Subcontinent Raises Its Voice. The
Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
National Records of Scotland (26 September
2013). Census 2011: Release 2A. Scotlands
Census 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research
Agency (11 December 2012). Census 2011:
4 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Key Statistics for Northern Ireland Decem-

ber 2012 (PDF). Statistics Bulletin. Table
KS207NI: Main Language. Retrieved 16
December 2014.
Oce for National Statistics (4 March 2013).
Language in England and Wales, 2011. 2011
Census Analysis. Retrieved 16 December
2014.
Ryan, Camille (August 2013). Language Use
in the United States: 2011 (PDF). American
Community Survey Reports. p. 1. Retrieved 16
December 2014.
Statistics Canada (22 August 2014).
Population by mother tongue and age
groups (total), 2011 counts, for Canada,
provinces and territories. Retrieved 25
March 2015.
Statistics New Zealand (April 2014). 2013
QuickStats About Culture and Identity (PDF).
p. 23. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
Statistics South Africa (2012). Census 2011:
Census in Brief (PDF). Report No. 03-01-
41. Table 2.5 Population by rst language spo-
ken and province (number). ISBN 978-0-621-
41388-5. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
 5

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