September 6: Native Speakers of the World

The numbers of native speakers for the languages of the world

Source: Lex Fridman
Date: April 2022

Native Speakers of the World

There are over 7,000 living languages in the world. When a language has many dialects, for example as Chinese does they were grouped together for this analysis. 

Language: Chinese (includes 10+ dialects, with Mandarin being the most popular)
Number of Native Speakers (millions of people): 1,197
Percentage of world population: 16

Language: Spanish
Number of Native Speakers (millions of people): 399
Percentage of world population: 5

Language: English
Number of Native Speakers (millions of people): 335
Percentage of world population: 5

Language: Hindi
Number of Native Speakers (millions of people): 260
Percentage of world population: 4

Language: Arabic (includes 25+ dialects)
Number of Native Speakers (millions of people): 242
Percentage of world population: 4

Language: Portuguese
Number of Native Speakers (millions of people): 203
Percentage of world population: 3

Language: Bengali
Number of Native Speakers (millions of people): 189
Percentage of world population: 3

Language: Russian
Number of Native Speakers (millions of people): 166
Percentage of world population: 2

Language: Japanese
Number of Native Speakers (millions of people): 128
Percentage of world population: 2

Language: Other
Number of Native Speakers (millions of people): 863
Percentage of world population: 5

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