List of official languages

This is a list of official languages.

Official languages by country

For a list ordered by country names, see List of official languages by state. For a list ordered by language, see below.

Official languages of supra-national institutions

See List of official languages by institution.

Official languages of sovereign countries

A

Afar:

Afrikaans:

Aja-Gbe:

Akan (Akuapem Twi, Ashante Twi, Fante):

Albanian:

Amazigh:

Amharic:

Anii:

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

Armenian:

Assamese:

Aymara:

Azerbaijani:

B

Balanta:

Bambara:

Bariba:

Bassari:

Bedik:

Belarusian:

Bengali:

Berber:

Biali:

Bislama:

Boko:

Bomu:

Bosnian:

Bozo:

Buduma:

Bulgarian:

Burmese:

C

Cantonese:

Catalan:

Chinese, Mandarin:

Chichewa:

Chirbawe (Sena):

Chokwe

Comorian

Croatian:

Czech:

D

Dagaare:

Dagbani:

Dangme

Danish:

Dari:

Dendi:

Dhivehi:

Dioula:

Dogon:

Dutch:

Dzongkha:

E

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

Estonian:

Ewe-Gbe:

F

Fijian:

Filipino:

Finnish:

Fon-Gbe:

Foodo:

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

Fula:

G

Ga:

Gbe:

Gen-Gbe:

Georgian:

German:

Gonja:

Gourmanché

Greek:

Guaraní:

Gujarati:

H

Haitian Creole:

Hassaniya:

Hausa:

Hebrew:

Hindi:

Hiri Motu:

Hungarian:

I

Igbo:

Icelandic:

Indonesian:

Irish:

Italian:

J

Japanese:

Jola:

K

Kabye:

Kalanga:

Kanuri:

Kasem:

Kazakh:

Khmer:

Kikongo-Kituba:

Kimbundu:

Kinyarwanda:

Kirundi:

Kissi

Khoisan:

Korean:

Kpelle:

Kurdish:

Kwanyama:

Kyrgyz:

L

Lao:

Latin:

Latvian:

Lingala:

Lithuanian:

Lukpa:

Luxembourgish:

M

Macedonian:

Malagasy:

Malay:

Malinke:

Maltese:

Mamara:

Manding (Mandinka, Malinke):

Mandinka:

Mandjak:

Mankanya:

Manx Gaelic:

Māori:

Marshallese:

Mbelime:

Moldovan

Mongolian:

Montenegrin:

Mossi:

N

Nambya:

Nateni:

Nauruan

Ndau:

Ndebele (Northern):

Ndebele (Southern):

Nepali:

New Zealand Sign Language:

Noon:

North Korean:

Northern Sotho:

Norwegian:

Nzema:

O

Oniyan:

Ossetian:

P

Palauan:

Papiamento:

Pashto:

Persian:

Polish:

Portuguese:

Q

Quechua:

R

Romanian:

Romansh:

Russian:

S

Safen:

Samoa

Sango

Sena:

Serbian:

Serer:

Seychellois Creole

Shona:

Sinhala:

Slovak:

Slovene:

Somali:

Songhay-Zarma:

Soninke:

Sotho:

Spanish:

Susu:

Swahili:

Swati:

Swedish:

Syenara:

T

Tajik:

Tagalog:

Tamasheq:

Tamil:

Tammari:

Tasawaq:

Tebu:

Telugu:

Tetum:

Thai:

Tigrinya:

Tok Pisin:

Toma:

Tonga:

Tongan

Tshiluba

Tsonga:

Tswana:

Turkish:

Turkmen:

Tuvaluan

U

Ukrainian:

Umbundu:

Urdu:

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

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).

Language World Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Countries
English 59 24 16 4 3 12 India, United States, Pakistan, United Kingdom. See the full list
French 29 21 2 - 5 1 France, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Canada, Madagascar. See the full list
Arabic 26 14 - 12 - - Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Morocco. See the full list
Spanish 21 1 19 - 1 1 Spain, Mexico, Equatorial Guinea, Easter Island in (Oceania). See the full list
Portuguese 10 6 1 1 2 - Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola. See full list
Russian 8 - - 3 5 - Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Abkhazia*, South Ossetia*, Transnistria*. See also the full list
German 8 1 - - 7 - Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Italy, Namibia
Fula 7 7 - - - - Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal
Italian 6 - - - 6 - Italy, Croatia, San Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland, Vatican City
Malay 4 - - 4 - - Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei
Manding 4 4 - - - - Burkina Faso (Dioula), Guinea (Malinke), Mali (Bambara), Senegal (Maninka)
Swahili 4 4 - - - - Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
Chinese, Mandarin 3 - - 3 - - China, Taiwan*, Singapore
Dutch 3 - 1 - 2 - Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname
Gbe 3 3 - - - - Benin, Ghana, Togo
Kikongo 3 3 - - - - Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo
Persian 3 - - 3 - - Iran, Afghanistan (known as Dari), Tajikistan (known as Tajik)
Romanian 3 - - - 3 - Romania, Moldova, Transnistria* (uses Cyrillic script there)
Serbian 3 - - - 3 - Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*
Somali 3 3 - - - - Djibouti, Somalia, Somaliland*
Soninke 3 3 - - - - Mali, Mauritania, Senegal
Tamil 3 - - 3 - - India, Singapore, Sri Lanka
Tswana 3 3 - - - - Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Albanian 2 - - - 2 - Albania and Kosovo*
Armenian 2 - - - 2 - Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh*
Aymara, Quechua 2 - 2 - - - Bolivia and Peru
Berber 2 2 - - - - Algeria and Morocco
Chichewa 2 2 - - - - Malawi and Zimbabwe
Croatian 2 - - - 2 - Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Greek 2 - - - 2 - Greece and Cyprus
Hausa 2 2 - - - - Niger and Nigeria
Hindi 2 2 - - - - India and Fiji
Korean 2 - - 2 - - North Korea and South Korea
Lingala 2 2 - - - - Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of the Congo
Slovak 2 - - - 2 - Slovakia and Czech Republic
Songhay-Zarma 2 2 - - - - Mali, Niger
Sotho 2 2 - - - - Lesotho and South Africa
Swati 2 2 - - - - Swaziland and South Africa
Swedish 2 - - - 2 - Sweden and Finland
Tamasheq 2 2 - - - - Mali and Niger
Turkish 2 - - - 2 - Turkey and Cyprus
Ukrainian 2 - - - 2 - Ukraine and Transnistria*
Venda 2 2 - - - - South Africa and Zimbabwe
Wolof 2 2 - - - - Mauritania and Senegal
Yoruba 2 2 - - - - Benin and Nigeria
Xhosa 2 2 - - - - South Africa and Zimbabwe
Note
Asterisk shows the countries which independence is disputed

Official regional and minority languages

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Abaza:

Adyghe:

Aghul:

Aklanon:

Albanian:

Albanian:

Altay:

Arabic:

Aranese see Occitan

Armenian:

Assamese:

Avar:

Azeri:

Balkar:

Bashkir:

Basque:

Bengali:

Bikol:

Bosnian:

Buryat:

Cantonese Chinese:

Catalan:

Cebuano:

Chavacano:

Chechen:

Cherkess:

Cherokee:

Chipewyan:

Chukchi:

Chuvash

Cree:

Crimean Tatar

Croatian:

Dargwa:

Dolgan:

Dutch:

English:

Erzya:

Even:

Evenki:

Faroese:

Finnish:

French:

Frisian (West):

Gagauz:

Galician:

German:

Greek:

Guaraní:

Gujarati:

Gwich'in:

Hawaiian:

Hiligaynon:

Hindi:

Hungarian:

Ibanag:

Ilocano:

Ingush:

Inuinnaqtun:

Inuktitut:

Inuvialuktun:

Irish:

Italian:

Ivatan:

Japanese:

Kabardian

Kalaallisut:

Kalmyk:

Kannada:

Kapampangan:

Karachay:

Karelian:

Kashmiri:

Kazakh:

Khakas:

Khanty:

Kinaray-a:

Komi:

Komi-Permyak:

Korean:

Kumyk:

Kyrgyz:

Lak:

Lezgian

Macedonian:*part of Albania

Maguindanao:

Malayalam:

Mansi:

Maranao:

Marathi:

Mari (Hill and Meadow):

Mayan:

Moksha:

Mongolian:

Náhuatl:

Nenets:

Nepali:

Nissart:

Nogai:

Occitan:

Odia:

Ossetic (Digor and Iron dialects):

Pangasinan:

Portuguese:*part of the People's Republic of China

Punjabi:

Romanian:

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

Rusyn:

Rutul:

Sakha:

Sambal:

Sami:

Sanskrit:

Saraiki

Sarikoli:

Scottish Gaelic:

Scots:

Selkup:

Serbian:

Sindhi:

North and South Slavey:

Slovak:

Slovene:

Spanish:

Surigaonon:

Tabasaran:

Tagalog:

Tahitian:

Tamil:

Tat:

Tatar:

Tausug:

Telugu:

Tibetan:

Tłįchǫ:

Tsakhur:

Tswana:

Turkish:

Tuvan:

Udmurt:

Urdu:

Uyghur:

Veps:

Vietnamese:

Waray:

Welsh:

Yakan:

Yiddish:

Yukaghir:

Zhuang:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Section 6. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
  2. ↑ Article 14. Albanian Constitution
  3. ↑ Article 5. Kosovo Constitution
  4. ↑ Article 5. Ethiopian Constitution
  5. 1 2 Article 4. Constitution of Iraq
  6. 1 2 Article 5. Constitution du Maroc
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Loi n° 2001-037 du 31 décembre 2001 fixant les modalités de promotion et de développement des langues nationales
  8. ↑ Article 12. Constitution of Armenia
  9. ↑ Article 15. Constitution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
  10. 1 2 3 4 Artículo 5. Constitución Política del Estado
  11. 1 2 3 Artículo 48. Constitución Política del Perú
  12. ↑ Article 21. Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  13. 1 2 Article 17. Constitution of the Republic of Belarus
  14. ↑ 3. The state language. Constitution of Bangladesh
  15. ↑ Loi no02-03 du 27 Moharram 1423 correspondant au 10 avril 2002 portant révision constitutionnelle.
  16. 1 2 3 Article 3. Constitution of the Republic of Vanuatu
  17. 1 2 3 Hilary Footitt; Michael Kelly (2012). Languages at War: Policies and Practices of Language Contacts in Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-230-36877-4.
  18. ↑ Article 3. Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria
  19. ↑ Article 450. Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar
  20. ↑ Article 2. La Constitució del Principat d’Andorra
  21. 1 2 3 4 Articles 44, 53, 123. Constitution of the Republic of Singapore
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Constitution of Zimbabwe 2013, Africatime.com, 22 March 2013
  23. ↑ Article 12. Constitution of the Republic of Croatia
  24. 1 2 3 Article 16. Constitution of Afghanistan
  25. ↑ Article 11. Constitution of the Republic of Maldives
  26. ↑ Article 1. Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan
  27. 1 2 3 Section 4. Fiji Constitution
  28. 1 2 Article 8. Constitution of Ireland 1937
  29. ↑ Article 152 - National Language and Other Languages, Constitution of Malaysia
  30. 1 2 Article 49. Constitution of Mauritius
  31. ↑ Namibia - Constitution, servat.unibe.ch/icl (International Constitutional Law collection), 1990, retrieved 2008-05-02 (Article 3)
  32. 1 2 Article 18. Constitution de la République Centrafricaine
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 Article 1. Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  34. 1 2 3 Article 5. Constitution de la République du Congo
  35. 1 2 Article 5. La Constitution de la République d’Haïti
  36. 1 2 3 4 Article 4. Constitution fédérale de la Confédération Suisse
  37. 1 2 Article 8. Constitution of Georgia
  38. 1 2 3 (Russian) Статья 4. Конституция Республики Южная Осетия
  39. 1 2 App. D., Part 1, Art. 3. Constitution of Cyprus
  40. 1 2 Artículo 140. Constituciones de la República del Paraguay
  41. 1 2 3 Article 55. Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
  42. ↑ "Axis Translations". Axis Translations. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  43. ↑ Part XVII. Constitution of India
  44. ↑ Article H. Fundamental Law of Hungary
  45. 1 2 Article 36. Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia
  46. 1 2 Article 7. Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan
  47. ↑ Article 5. Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia
  48. 1 2 (Russian) Статья 10. Конституция Кыргызской Республики
  49. 1 2 Article 13. Constitution of the Republic of Moldova
  50. 1 2 3 Article 12. Constitution of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica
  51. 1 2 3 Article 2. Constitution of Tajikistan
  52. ↑ Article 68. Constitution of the Russian Federation
  53. ↑ (Russian) Статья 6. Конституция Республики Абхазия
  54. ↑ Slovak language is defined as official language together with Czech language by several laws - e.g. law 500/2004, 337/1992. Source: http://portal.gov.cz. Cited: "Například Správní řád (zákon č. 500/2004 Sb.) stanovuje: "V řízení se jedná a písemnosti se vyhotovují v českém jazyce. Účastníci řízení mohou jednat a písemnosti mohou být předkládány i v jazyce slovenském..." (§16, odstavec 1). Zákon o správě daní a poplatků (337/1992 Sb.) „Úřední jazyk: Před správcem daně se jedná v jazyce českém nebo slovenském. Veškerá písemná podání se předkládají v češtině nebo slovenštině..." (§ 3, odstavec 1). http://portal.gov.cz
  55. ↑ Section 3. Spanish Constitution
  56. ↑ Article 7. The Constitution of Kenya (2010)
  57. 1 2 3 4 5 Article 11 of the Constitution of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic
  58. 1 2 Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Adygea
  59. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Dagestan
  60. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 DepEd adds 7 languages to mother tongue-based education for Kinder to Grade 3. GMA News. July 13, 2013.
  61. 1 2 Article 13 of the Constitution of the Republic of Altay
  62. 1 2 3 Article 76 of the Constitution of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic
  63. 1 2 Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bashkortostan
  64. 1 2 Article 67 of the Constitution of the Republic of Buryatia
  65. ↑ Article 108 of the Statute of the Zabaykalsky Krai
  66. 1 2 Article 10 of the Constitution of the Chechen Republic
  67. ↑ "The Cherokee Nation & its Language" (PDF). University of Minnesota: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition. 2008. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
  68. 1 2 3 4 5 Article 6 of the Law of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) On languages in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
  69. 1 2 Article 8 of the Constitution of the Chuvash Republic
  70. 1 2 3 Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Mordovia
  71. 1 2 3 Law of the Republic of Karelia On state support of Karelian, Veps and Finnish languages in the Republic of Karelia
  72. 1 2 Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ingushetia
  73. 1 2 Article 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kalmykia
  74. ↑ Article 4 of the Law of the Republic of Altay On languages
  75. 1 2 Article 69 of the Constitution of the Republic of Khakassia
  76. 1 2 3 Law of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug On the languages of the aboriginal minorities of the North living within the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug
  77. 1 2 3 Law of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug On native languages of the aboriginal minorities of the North within the territory of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
  78. 1 2 Article 67 of the Constitution of the Republic of Komi
  79. ↑ Article 42 of the Statute of the Perm Krai
  80. 1 2 Article 15 of the Constitution of the Republic of Mari El
  81. 1 2 Article 15 of the Constitution of the Republic of North Ossetia—Alania
  82. ↑ Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Karelia
  83. 1 2 Article 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
  84. 1 2 Article 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan
  85. 1 2 Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Tyva
  86. 1 2 Article 8 of the Constitution of the Udmurt Republic
  87. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Treće izvješće Republike Hrvatske o primjeni Europske povelje o regionalnim ili manjinskim jezicima" (PDF). Government of Croatia. August 2006. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  88. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Government of Croatia. "NAPUTAK ZA DOSLJEDNU PROVEDBU ZAKONA O UPORABI JEZIKA I PISMA NACIONALNIH MANJINA U REPUBLICI HRVATSKOJ". Narodne novine. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  89. 1 2 3 "Registar Geografskih Imena Nacionalnih Manjina Republike Hrvatske" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-03-30.
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