The Indo-European Romance language family includes French. French is spoken by around 76 million native French speakers and 274 million proficient French speakers in the United States, Canada, and France.
Besides being a member of the UN’s six official languages, it is also the second most commonly spoken language in the EU.
France is spoken in which countries? A total of 29 nations use French as their language of instruction. Thirteen of these nations have designated French as their only or co-official language, while sixteen of those countries have made it their second official language.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa has the largest French-speaking population, followed by France and Canada. Together with German and Dutch, French is one of the three official languages of Belgium.
French is the dominant language of some subordinate organizations. Among these entities, the most populated is French Polynesia, which has a population of 267,000. In alphabetical order, these are the countries where French is the official language:
- Aosta Valley
- French Guiana, French Polynesia
- Guadeloupe
- Jersey
- Martinique
- New Caledonia
- Saint-Barthelemy, Saint-Martin, Saint-Pierre, and Miquelon
- Wallis and Futuna
The states of Maine and Louisiana have declared French to be a “cultural language” in the United States. Education, trade, and government utilize it as a de facto official language.
Country | 2022 Population |
---|---|
Monaco | 39.7830 |
Dominica | 72.3440 |
Seychelles | 99.4260 |
Saint Lucia | 185.1130 |
Vanuatu | 321.8320 |
Luxembourg | 642.3710 |
Comoros | 907.4190 |
Djibouti | 1016.0970 |
Equatorial Guinea | 1496.6620 |
Gabon | 2331.5330 |
Central African Republic | 5016.6780 |
Republic of the Congo | 5797.8050 |
Togo | 8680.8370 |
Switzerland | 8773.6370 |
Belgium | 11668.2780 |
Haiti | 11680.2830 |
Burundi | 12624.8400 |
Benin | 12784.7260 |
Rwanda | 13600.4640 |
Guinea | 13865.6910 |
Chad | 17413.5800 |
Senegal | 17653.6710 |
Mali | 21473.7640 |
Burkina Faso | 22102.8380 |
Niger | 26083.6600 |
Ivory Coast | 27742.2980 |
Cameroon | 27911.5480 |
Madagascar | 29178.0770 |
Canada | 38388.4190 |
France | 65584.5180 |
DR Congo | 95240.7920 |
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