List of official languages

See also: List of languages by the number of countries in which they are recognized as an official language

This is a list of official, or otherwise administratively-recognized, languages of sovereign countries, regions, and supra-national institutions. The article also lists lots of languages which have no administrative mandate as an official language, generally describing these as de facto official languages.

Official languages of sovereign countries, wholly or partly

A

Abkhaz:

  • Abkhazia (with Russian; independence is disputed)

Afar:

Afrikaans:

Aja-Gbe:

Akan (Akuapem Twi, Asante Twi, Fante):

Albanian:

Amharic:

Anii:

Arabic (see also List of countries where Arabic is an official language):

Armenian:

Assamese:

  • India (with 21 other regional languages, and with English as a link language)

Aymara:

Azerbaijani:

B

Balanta:

Bambara:

Bariba:

Basque:

Bassari:

Bedik:

Belarusian:

Bengali:

Berber:

Biali:

Bislama:

Boko:

Bomu:

Bosnian:

Bozo:

Buduma:

Bulgarian:

Burmese:

C

Cantonese:

Catalan:

Chinese, Mandarin:

Chichewa:

Chirbawe (Sena):

Comorian

Corsican :

Croatian:

Czech:

  • Czech Republic
  • Slovakia (legislation states that a person using Czech language at a Slovak institution must be treated as if using Slovak language)

D

Dagaare:

Dagbani:

Dangme

Danish:

Dari:

  • Afghanistan (a local variant of Persian, but defined as "Dari" in the Afghan constitution; together with Pashto)

Dendi:

Dhivehi:

Dioula:

Dogon:

Dutch:

sole official language in:
co-official language in:

Dzongkha:

E

English (see also List of countries where English is an official language):

Estonian:

Ewe-Gbe:

F

Faroese:

Fijian:

Filipino:

Finnish:

Fon-Gbe:

Foodo:

Formosan:

French (see also List of countries where French is an official language):

sole official language in:
co-official language in:
Official language in:

Fula:

G

Ga:

Gàidhlig:

Gbe:

Gen-Gbe:

Georgian:

German:

sole official language in:
Official language in 21 cantons:

Gonja:

Gourmanché

Greek:

Guaraní:

Gujarati:

  • India

H

Haitian Creole:

Hakka:

Hassaniya:

Hausa:

Hebrew:

Hindi:

Hiri Motu:

Hungarian:

I

Igbo:

Icelandic:

Indonesian:

  • Indonesia (a standardized dialect of Malay)

Irish:

Italian:

Official language in:

J

Japanese:

  • Japan (de facto)
  • Palau (Angaur)

Javanese:

  • native to Java; Indonesia

Jola:

K

Kabye:

Kalanga:

Kannada:

  • India (with 21 other regional Languages, and with English as a link language)

Kanuri:

Kasem:

Kazakh:

Khmer:

Kinyarwanda:

Kirundi:

Kissi

"Koisan" (Tshuwau):

Korean:

Korean Sign Language:

Kpelle:

Kurdish:

Kyrgyz:

L

Lao:

Latin:

Latvian:

Lithuanian:

Lukpa:

Luxembourgish:

M

Macedonian:

Malagasy:

Malay:

Malinke:

Maltese:

Mamara:

Manding (Mandinka, Malinke):

Mandinka:

Mandjak:

Mankanya:

Manx Gaelic:

Māori:

  • New Zealand (with English and New Zealand Sign Language)

Marshallese:

Mauritian Creole

Mbelime:

Meitei (officially known as Manipuri)

  • India (along with 21 other scheduled languages recognised by the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution)

Mongolian:

Montenegrin:

Mossi:

N

Nambya:

Nateni:

Nauruan

Ndau:

Ndebele (Northern):

Ndebele (Southern):

Nepali:

New Zealand Sign Language:

  • New Zealand (with English and Māori)

Noon:

Northern Sotho:

Norwegian:

  • Norway (two official written forms – Bokmål and Nynorsk)

Nzema:

O

Oniyan:

Oriya

Oromo:

Ossetian:

  • South Ossetia (with Russian and Georgian; independence is disputed)

P

Palauan:

Papiamento:

Pashto:

Persian:

Polish:

Portuguese:

Punjabi:

Q

Quechua:

R

Romanian:

Romansh:

Russian:

  • Russia (in some regions together with regional languages)
  • Abkhazia (with Abkhaz according to the Abkhazian constitution; independence is disputed)
  • Belarus (with Belarusian)
  • Kazakhstan (with Kazakh)
  • Kyrgyzstan (with Kyrgyz)
  • South Ossetia (with Ossetian and Georgian; independence is disputed)
  • Tajikistan ("inter-ethnic communication"; with Tajik)
  • Transnistria (with Moldovan and Ukrainian; independence is disputed)

S

Safen:

Samoa

Sango

Sena:

Scots

Serbian:

Serer:

Seychellois Creole

Shona:

Sinhala:

Slovak:

Slovene:

Somali:

Songhay-Zarma:

Soninke:

Sotho:

Spanish:

Susu:

Swahili:

  • Kenya (with English)
  • Rwanda (with English, French and Kinyarwanda)
  • Tanzania (de facto; with English)
  • Uganda (since 2005; with English)

Swati:

Swedish:

Syenara:

T

Taiwan Sign Language:

Taiwanese Hokkien:

Tajik:

  • Tajikistan (a variant of Persian written in Cyrillic)

Tagalog:

Tamasheq:

Tamil:

Tammari:

Tasawaq:

Tebu:

Telugu:

  • India (with 21 other regional Languages, and with English as a link language)

Tetum:

Thai:

Tigrinya:

Tok Pisin:

Toma:

Tonga:

Tongan

Tsonga:

Tswana:

Turkish:

Turkmen:

Tuvaluan

U

Ukrainian:

Urdu:

  • Pakistan (with English)
  • India (Urdu dialect and in script it is Sanscrit with 21 other regional languages, and with English as a link language)

Uzbek:

V

Venda:

Vietnamese:

W

Waama:

Waci-Gbe:

Wamey:

Welsh:

Wolof:

X

Xhosa:

Xwela-Gbe:

Y

Yobe:

Yom:

Yoruba:

Z

Zimbabwean sign language:

Zulu:

Number of countries with the same official language

See also: List of languages by the number of countries in which they are recognized as an official language

This is a ranking of languages by number of sovereign countries in which they are de jure or de facto official (or with a national language status). An '*' (asterisk) indicates a country whose independence is disputed.

Language World Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Countries
English 59 23 14 5 3 14 United Kingdom, United States, Nigeria, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, India, South Africa (See the full list)
French 27 19 2 - 5 1 France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Madagascar, Monaco, Haiti, Vanuatu (See the full list)
Arabic 22-25* 11-13* - 11-12* - - Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Palestine* (See the full list)
Spanish 20 1 18 - 1 - Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Equatorial Guinea (See the full list)
Portuguese 9 6 1 1 1 - Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, East Timor, Macau* (See the full list)
German 6 - - - 6 - Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein
Russian 5-8* - - 3 2-5* - Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Abkhazia*, South Ossetia*, Transnistria*. See also the full list
Swahili 5 5 - - - - Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
Serbo-Croatian 4-5* - - - 4-5* - Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo*
Italian 4 - - - 4 - Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City
Malay 4 - - 4 - - Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei
Dutch 3 - 1 - 2 - Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname
Persian 3 - - 3 - - Iran, Afghanistan (known as Dari), Tajikistan (known as Tajik)
Sotho 3 3 - - - - South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe
Tswana 3 3 - - - - Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Albanian 2-3* - - - 2-3* - Albania, Kosovo*, North Macedonia
Mandarin Chinese 2-3* - - 2-3* - - China, Singapore, Taiwan*
Romanian 2-3* - - - 3 - Romania, Moldova, Transnistria*
Turkish 2-3* - - - 2-3* - Turkey, Northern Cyprus* and Cyprus
Aymara 2 - 2 - - - Bolivia and Peru
Berber 2 2 - - - - Algeria and Morocco
Chichewa 2 2 - - - - Malawi and Zimbabwe
Greek 2 - - - 2 - Greece and Cyprus
Guarani 2 - 2 - - - Paraguay and Bolivia
Hindi 2 - - 1 - 1 India and Fiji
Korean 2 - - 2 - - North Korea and South Korea
Quechua 2 - 2 - - - Bolivia and Peru
Rwanda-Rundi 2 2 - - - - Burundi (known as Kirundi) & Rwanda (known as Kinyarwanda)
Swati 2 2 - - - - Eswatini (Swaziland) and South Africa
Swedish 2 - - - 2 - Sweden and Finland
Tamil 2 - - 2 - - Sri Lanka, Singapore
Tigrinya 2 2 - - - - Eritrea and Ethiopia
Venda 2 2 - - - - South Africa and Zimbabwe
Xhosa 2 2 - - - - South Africa and Zimbabwe
Armenian 1-2* - - - 1-2* - Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh*
Somali 1-2* 1-2* - - - - Somalia, Somaliland*

Partially recognised or de facto independent countries are denoted by an asterisk (*)

List of languages by the number of countries in which they are the most widely used

This is a ranking of languages by number of sovereign countries in which they are de jure or de facto official, co-official, an administrative or working language.

Language Number of countries language spoken
English 101
French 60
Arabic 51
Standard Chinese 33
Spanish 31
Persian 29
German 18
Russian 16
Malay 13
Portuguese 12

Official regional and minority languages

Abaza:

Adyghe:

  • Adygea (state language; with Russian)

Aghul:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Aklanon:

  • Visayas (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Kinaray-a, Surigaonon, Tagalog, and Waray)

Albanian:

Altay:

Arabic:

Aranese see Occitan

Armenian:

Assamese:

Avar:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Azeri:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Balkar:

Bashkir:

Basque:

Bengali:

Bikol:

  • Luzon and Visayas (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Aklanon, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ibanag, Ilocano, Ivatan, Kapampangan, Kinaray-a, Pangasinan, Sambal, Surigaonon, Tagalog, and Waray)

Bosnian:

Buryat:

Cantonese Chinese:

  • China:
    • Some provinces Canton Province (with Mandarin)
    • Hong Kong (for Chinese language, Cantonese is spoken de facto; co-official with English)
    • Macau (for Chinese language, Cantonese is spoken de facto; co-official with Portuguese)

Catalan:

Cebuano:

  • Visayas and Mindanao (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Aklanon, Bikol, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Kinaray-a, Maguindanao, Maranao, Surigaonon, Tagalog, Tausug, Waray, and Yakan)

Chavacano:

  • Mindanao (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Maguindanao, Maranao, Surigaonon, Tagalog, Tausug, and Yakan)

Chechen:

  • Chechnya (state language; with Russian)
  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Cherkess:

Cherokee:

Chipewyan:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Chukchi:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Chukchi population)

Chuvash:

Cree:

  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Crimean Tatar

  • Crimea (with Russian and Ukrainian)

Croatian:

Dargwa:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Dolgan:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Dolgan population)

Dutch:

English:

  • parts of Canada:
See also: Official language by province and [[:l1=Official language by province]]
  • The United Kingdom:

Erzya:

  • Mordovia (state language; with Moksha and Russian)

Even:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Even population)

Evenki:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Evenki population)

Faroese:

Finnish:

  • Karelia (authorized language; with Karelian and Veps)

French:

  • parts of Canada

Frisian (West):

Friulian:

  • The Friuli region of northeastern Italy

Gagauz:

Galician:

  • part of Spain

German:

Greek:

Guaraní:

Gujarati:

Gwich'in:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Hawaiian:

Hiligaynon:

  • Visayas and Mindanao (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Aklanon, Bikol, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Kinaray-a, Maguindanao, Maranao, Surigaonon, Tagalog, Tausug, Waray, and Yakan)

Hindi:

Hungarian:

Ibanag:

  • Luzon (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Bikol, Ilocano, Ivatan, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Sambal, and Tagalog)

Ilocano:

  • Luzon and Mindanao (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Bikol, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ibanag, Ilocano, Ivatan, Kapampangan, Maguindanao, Maranao, Pangasinan, Sambal, Surigaonon, Tagalog, Tausug, and Yakan.)

Ingush:

Inuinnaqtun:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))
  • Nunavut (with English, French, and Inuktitut)

Inuktitut:

  • Nunavut (with English, French, and Inuinnaqtun)
  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Inuvialuktun:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Irish:

Italian:

Ivatan:

  • Luzon (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Bikol, Ibanag, Ilocano, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Sambal, and Tagalog)

Japanese:

Kabardian:

Kalaallisut:

Kalmyk:

  • Kalmykia (state language; with Russian)

Kannada:

  • India (with 21 other regional languages)

Kapampangan:

  • Luzon (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Bikol, Ilocano, Ibanag, Ivatan, Pangasinan, Sambal, and Tagalog)

Karachay:

Karelian:

  • Karelia (authorized language; with Finnish and Veps)

Kashmiri:

Kazakh:

Khakas:

Khanty:

Kinaray-a:

  • Visayas (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Aklanon, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Surigaonon, Tagalog, and Waray)

Komi:

  • Komi (state language; with Russian)

Komi-Permyak:

Korean:

Kumyk:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Kyrgyz:

Lak:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Lezgian:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Macedonian

Maguindanao:

  • Mindanao (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Maranao, Surigaonon, Tagalog, Tausug, and Yakan)

Malayalam:

Mansi:

Maranao:

  • Mindanao (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Maguindanao, Surigaonon, Tagalog, Tausug, and Yakan)

Marathi:

Mari (Hill and Meadow):

  • Mari El (state language; with Russian)

Mayan:

Meitei (officially known as Manipuri):

Mi'kmaq:

  • Nova Scotia ("first language"; with English (de facto), French, Scottish Gaelic)

Moksha:

  • Mordovia (state language; with Erzya and Russian)

Mongolian:

Náhuatl:

  • Mexico (*only recognized)
  • El Salvador (*only recognized)

Nenets:

Nepali:

  • India (with 21 other regional languages)

Nogai:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)
  • Karachay–Cherkessia (state language; with Abaza, Cherkess, Karachay and Russian)

Occitan:

Odia:

  • India (with 21 other regional languages)

Ossetic (Digor and Iron dialects):

Pangasinan:

  • Luzon (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Bikol, Ibanag, Ilocano, Ivatan, Kapampangan, Sambal, and Tagalog)

Portuguese:

Punjabi:

Romanian:

  • Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak and Ruthenian)

Russian. Russian is fixed as a state language in the Constitutions of the republics of the Russian Federation:

Rusyn:

  • Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Romanian, Hungarian, Slovak)
  • Ukraine
    • Zakarapts'ka region (with Ukrainian, Hungarian)

Rutul:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Sakha:

  • Sakha (state language; with Russian)

Sambal:

  • Luzon (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Bikol, Ibanag, Ilocano, Ivatan, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, and Tagalog)

Sami:

  • Finland (in four municipalities)
  • Norway (in six municipalities in two provinces)
  • Sweden (in four municipalities and surrounding municipalities)

Sanskrit:

Saraiki

Sarikoli:

Selkup:

Serbian:

Sindhi:

  • India (with 21 other regional languages)
  • Pakistan (Official language in the Province of Sindh along with Urdu and English)

North and South Slavey:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Slovak:

  • part of Serbia
    • Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, Romanian and Ruthenian)

Slovene:

Spanish:

Surigaonon:

  • Visayas and Mindanao (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Aklanon, Bikol, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Kinaray-a, Maguindanao, Maranao, Tagalog, Tausug, Waray, and Yakan)

Tabasaran:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Tagalog:

  • Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Aklanon, Bikol, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ibanag, Ilocano, Ivatan, Kapampangan, Kinaray-a, Maguindanao, Maranao, Pangasinan, Sambal, Surigaonon, Tausug, Waray, and Yakan)

Tahitian:

Tamil:

Tat:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Tatar:

Tausug:

  • Mindanao (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Maguindanao, Surigaonon, Tagalog, Maranao, and Yakan)

Telugu:

Tibetan:

Tłįchǫ:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, and South Slavey)

Tsakhur:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)

Tswana:

Turkish:

Tuvan:

  • Tyva (state language; with Russian)

Udmurt:

  • Udmurtia (state language; with Russian)

Urdu:

  • Pakistan (with English as co-official language)
  • India (with 21 other regional languages)

Uyghur:

Veps:

  • Karelia (authorized language; with Finnish and Karelian)

Vietnamese:

Waray:

  • Visayas (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Aklanon, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a, and Tagalog)

Welsh:

  • Wales (United Kingdom) (with English)

Yakan:

  • Mindanao (Philippines) (with Filipino, English, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Maguindanao, Maranao, Surigaonon, Tagalog, and Tausug)

Yiddish:

Yukaghir:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Yukaghir population)

Zhuang:

See also