Geographical distribution of English speakers

The article provides details and data regarding the geographical distribution of all English speakers, regardless of the legislative status of the countries where it's spoken. The English language is one of the most widely spoken languages of the world, and it's widely used in the international communication as lingua franca. Many international organizations use English as their official language.

Statistics

Native speakers

This table depicts the native speakers of the language, which means that the table includes people who have been exposed to the English language from birth and, thus, excludes people who use the language as an L2.

Country	Absolute	%	Year	Reference
Australia	18,194,263	77.7%	2016	[1][note 1]
Austria	58,582	0.7%	2001	[2]
Belgium	49,753	0.4%	2012	[3][note 2]
Canada	19,460,850	56.0%	2016	[4]
Finland	20,713	0.4%	2018	[5]
France	281,330	0.4%	2007	[6][note 2]
Germany	551,276	0.7%	2010	[7][note 2]
Hong Kong	303,309	4.3%	2016	[8][note 1]
India	259,678	0.02%	2011	[9]
Ireland	4,149,847	87.1%	2016	[10]
Israel	154,920	2%	2011	[11][12][note 1]
Italy	750,158	1.3%	2012	[3][note 2]
Liechtenstein	139	0.4%	2015	[13]
Luxembourg	10,018	2.1%	2011	[14]
Macau	18,140	2.8%	2016	[15][note 1]
Malta	15,413	3.7%	2012	[3][note 2]
Namibia	50,225	2.4%	2011	[16]
Netherlands	195,296	1.2%	2012	[3][note 2]
New Zealand	3,819,972	90.1%	2013	[17]
Singapore	1,440,364	36.9%	2015	[18][note 1]
South Africa	4,537,884	8.3%	2016	[19]
Suriname	10,502	2.2%	2004	[20]
Spain	1,021,682	2.2%	2016	[21][note 2][note 1]
Switzerland	432,886	5.1%	2016	[22][note 1]
Thailand	323,779	0.5%	2010	[23]
United Kingdom	58,249,154	92.2%	2011	[24]
United States	251,184,316	78.9%	2016	[25][26][note 1]
Total	365,274,926	-

References

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9. Statement 1 : Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011
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1. The reported population size was obtained by projecting the respondent percentage to the total population, since the source either included the part of the population who didn't answer or didn't take into account some parts of the population, for example children.
2. Population data by Eurostat, using the source year. "The number of persons having their usual residence in a country on 1 January of the respective year". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2018-11-08.