Top 10 Most Spoken Languages in the World 2023-24

Language is a primary parameter of human existence as it helps in effective communication between human beings. The world has more than 6800 languages spoken throughout it, some of which are spoken by a large proportion of world population, while others are spoken by only a minority.

Here is a list of top 10 most spoken languages around the world:

10. Urdu

Featuring next on the list of top 10 most spoken languages in the world is Urdu, with 160 million speakers This is attributed to the fact that Indonesia comes on number 9 in terms of population around the world.

9. French

One of the most commonly spoken languages in the world is French, which has an estimated 160 million speakers. Besides being the official language of France, it is commonly spoken in many other countries around the globe, such as Canada, Belgium, Cameroon, Haiti and Rwanda.

8. Russian

The next language to make it on the list of most spoken languages in the world is Russia, which is spoken not only in the country of its origin, but also a number of other such as Kazakhstan, Belarus and the US. It is also one of the six official languages of the UN and has more than 170 million speakers at present.

7. Portuguese

With an estimated number of 200 million speakers around the globe, Portuguese becomes the eighth most spoken language in the world. The reason behind this is that the Portuguese were born explorers, who spread their roots in all parts of the world, establishing their colonies in a number of countries like Brazil, Mozambique, Macau, Angola and Venezuela, where this language continues to be popular till date.

6. Bengali

Bengali is another widely spoken language, which is spoken by over 210 million people around the world. Besides being the principal language of Bangladesh, which has a population of 120 million Bengali speaking people, the language is equally popular in the Indian states surrounding the country.

5. Hindi

Since India is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, its language Hindi becomes the third most spoken language around the globe, with as many as 380 million speakers. Despite English becoming a popular language in the country, the prominence of its official language is still unsurpassed. The success of the Hindi film industry on a global level is another reason of popularity of this language.

4. Spanish

With nearly 420 million speakers around the world, Spanish becomes the fourth most spoken language in the world. Besides being the language of Spain, it is spoken in nearly all Central American and South American countries. This language also furnished many words to the English language.

3. Arabic

Arabic is another widely spoken language, which has an estimated 560 million speakers around the globe. It is one of the oldest languages in the world and is spoken widely in countries of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan and Syria. It was also declared as the sixth official UN language in 1974.

2. English

Next among the most spoken languages in the world is English, which is spoken in almost every country around the world and has nearly 890 million speakers. USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada and South Africa are some of the countries where this language is immensely popular.

1. Mandarin

Mandarin, the language of the most populated country of the world, China is the most spoken language, with more than 1030 million speakers. This language is tough to learn as it constitutes of complex tones, which bear a close resemblance to each other and sometimes, it is hard to distinguish one tone from the other.

This list is widely influenced by the populations of the countries of origin of the languages. For instance, India and China are highly populated countries, which is perhaps the reason f a large number of speakers of Hindi and Mandarin.