This list of the most widely spoken languages sorts the languages of the world according to their total number of speakers ( native speakers and second or third speakers ) and the total number of pure native speakers. The number of languages is estimated at 7,079 worldwide. However, half of the world's population speaks one of the 23 most widely spoken languages, while a third of the world's languages are critically endangered and only have a few thousand speakers.
List of languages by total number of speakers
List of the 30 most widely spoken languages worldwide by total number of speakers. The number of first, second and total speakers as well as the language family to which the language belongs is given. All information is largely based on the database Ethnologue of the institute SIL International from the year 2019, which maintains the world's most extensive database on all languages in the world. All details are to be regarded as estimates.
Top 100 languages by native speakers as a percentage of the world population
List of languages by number of native speakers in 2007, as well as the language family to which the language belongs and the country with the highest number of speakers. The source is the Swedish encyclopedia Nationalencyclopedin .
