Francophonie: countries with the most French speakers apart from France
France is one of the top five most-spoken languages worldwide
An estimated 321 million people spoke French worldwide in 2022, and an estimated 144 million are currently learning French
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France held the 19th Summit of Francophonie last weekend, a celebration of the French language around the world.
The summit meets every two years and aims to celebrate, promote, and continue the influence of the French language.
It adopts resolutions that it considers to be necessary for the smooth running of ‘La Francophonie’ and its global objectives.
This year, the theme was ‘creating, innovating, and doing business in French’.
The 19th summit, organised by the Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie (CMF) and the Permanent Council of La Francophonie (CPF), was held on October 4 and 5, at Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne, Hauts-de-France) and Paris.
France a top-five language
French is still one of the top five languages spoken worldwide, with:
Similarly, in four years, 21 million more people will speak French, an increase of 7% on the 2022 figure.
The other top-five most-spoken languages worldwide are, in order: English, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, and Spanish.
Read also: Make sense of La Francophonie
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French speakers by country
In terms of the number of French speakers per country (apart from France), the Democratic Republic of the Congo has the highest, at 48.9 million francophones.
The next countries are all in Africa, with the top five completed by Canada (where the province of Québec has French as its official language).
Democratic Republic of the Congo: 48.9 million. French is the official language, followed by Kituba and Ligala.
Algeria: 14.9 million. Arabic and Berber are the official languages.
Morocco: 13.45 million. Arabic and Berber are the official languages.
Cameroon: 11.49 million. French and English are the official languages.
Canada: 11.06 million. French and English are the official languages.
Next on the list are Belgium (8.8 million), followed by Madagascar (7.72 million), Tunisia (6.32 million), and Switzerland (5.8 million).
Read also: 12 facts about the French language
