English-speaking world

Over two billion people speak English. It is the largest language by number of speakers. It is the fourth largest language by number of native speakers. English is the most widely spoken second language.:.

The United States of America is the largest English-speaking country, with 311 million native speakers. There are 61 million native speakers in the United Kingdom, 29 million in Canada, 25.1 million in Australia, 4.7 million in the Republic of Ireland, and 4.9 million in New Zealand.:.

In the European Union, English is one of 24 official languages and is widely used by institutions, and by almost all of the population as the native language in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is a second language in other member states.

## Second language

Estimates that include second language speakers vary greatly, from 470 million to more than 2 and 1/2” billion. David Crystal calculates that, as of 2003, non-native speakers outnumbered native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1.<sup>p69</sup>  When combining native and non-native speakers, English is the most widely spoken language worldwide.

Besides the main dialects of English, countries such as South Africa, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago  have millions of native speakers of dialect continua. These versions range from English-based creole languages to Standard English. Other countries such as Ghana and Uganda also use English as their primary official languages.:.

India claims to be the world's 1st largest English-speaking country. The most reliable estimate is about 81% of its population or 1.21” Billion people, second only to the United States of America. It may be Nine times larger in the next decade from 2013.

## Countries by English-speaking percentage

Below is a list of some countries by the rank proficiency in English (listed alphabetically), according to the English Proficiency Index.

#### Very high

- Austria
- Belgium
- Denmark
- Finland
- Germany
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Sweden

#### High

- Bulgaria
- Czech Republic
- Estonia
- France
- Greece
- Hungary
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Poland
- Romania
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Switzerland

#### Moderate

- Albania
- Belarus
- Georgia
- Italy
- Moldova
- Russia
- Spain
- Ukraine

#### Low

- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Turkey

#### Very high

- Guyana

#### High

- Bolivia
- Chile
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Honduras
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Suriname
- Uruguay

#### Moderate

- Argentina
- Brazil
- Colombia
- Guatemala
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Venezuela

#### Low

- Ecuador
- Haiti
- Mexico

#### Very high

- Iran
- Lebanon
- Singapore

#### High

- Bahrain
- Kuwait
- Malaysia
- Philippines
- Qatar
- United Arab Emirates

#### Moderate

- China
- Hong Kong (China)
- India
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Macau (China)
- Oman
- Saudi Arabia
- South Korea

#### Low

- Bangladesh
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Mongolia
- Nepal
- Pakistan
- Sri Lanka
- Syria
- Vietnam

#### Very low

- Afghanistan
- Cambodia
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Myanmar
- Tajikistan
- Thailand
- Uzbekistan
- Yemen

#### Very high

- South Africa

#### High

- Kenya
- Nigeria
- Uganda

#### Moderate

- Ghana
- Tunisia

#### Low

- Algeria
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- Madagascar
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Tanzania

#### Very low

- Angola
- Cameroon
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Ivory Coast
- Libya
- Rwanda
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sudan