balochi: 6,625,000 native speakers

Basemap modified from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Human_Language_Families_%28wikicolors%29.png

Balochi: 6,625,000 native speakers

BALOCHI

Balochi is a language of Pakistan. Roughly 4% of the population there speak it as a first language.

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Balochi

Balochi is a language of Balochistan, a region of Pakistan. As well as the 5 million speakers there, there are significant numbers in the neighbouring territories of Iran, Afghanistan, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Turkmenistan. Balochi is spoken by roughly 6.6 million people in at least 11 territories.



Bulgarian: 7,525,000 native speakers

BULGARIAN

This small map removes the countries where Bulgarian is dominant. This map therefore only shows 13.2% of all speakers of Bulgarian. The territory omitted is Bulgaria.


Bulgarian

Bulgarian in spoken by roughly 7.8 million people, in at least 13 territories. After Bulgaria, the largest populations, numbering in the hundreds of thousands are found in the Republic of Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine.Bulgarian is closely related to Macedonian; the distinction is as much political as linguistic.



Swedish: 8,285,000 native speakers

SWEDISH

This small map removes the countries where Swedish is dominant. This map therefore only shows 4.6% of all speakers of Swedish. The territory omitted is Sweden.


Swedish

Swedish is spoken by roughly 8.3 million people, in at least 10 territories. It is strongly related to Norwegian and Danish; in fact, all three are largely mutual intelligible, and are often considered as dialects of a Scandinavian continuum. Outside of Sweden, the largest Swedish-speaking population is in Finland; mainly the coastal areas of the south and west, and the Aland Islands. There are also smaller numbers of speakers in Norway, Iceland, the United Kingdom and Estonia, and further away in the United States and Canada.



Haitian Creole: 8,382,000 native speakers

HAITIAN CREOLE FRENCH

This small map removes the countries where Haitian Creole French is dominant. This map therefore only shows 11.7% of all speakers of Haitian Creole French. The territory omitted is Haiti.


Haitian Creole French

Haitian Creole is based on French, and like many creoles it developed from the need for slaves, mainly from west Africa and speaking various languages, to communicate with each other and French-speaking plantation managers. Hence the language is also influenced by African languages including Wolof, Fon and Ewe. It is now one of Haiti's two official languages. The number of speakers is roughly 8.3 million in at least 9 territories. Speakers numbering hundreds of thousands live in Cuba, the United States and the Dominican Republic.



Uyghur: 8,384,000 native speakers

UYGHUR

Uyghur is a language of China. Roughly 0.6% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Uyghur

The vast majority of the roughly 8 million speakers of Uyghur are in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. It is spoken in around 10 territories, with most of the remainder being in Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.



Shona: 8,467,000 native speakers

SHONA

Shona is a language of Zimbabwe. Roughly 75% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Shona

Shona (chiShona) is spoken by 8 to 9 million people, the vast majority living in Zimbabwe. There are also Shona-speaking populations in southern Zambia and Botswana.A linguist, Clement Doke, is credited with the recommendation of a unified Shona language from several dialects in a report in 1931.



Romani: 8,824,000 native speakers

ROMANI

Romani is a language of Romania. Roughly 8% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Romani

Romani is the language of travelling communities of Indian origin. Due to the nature of the small, travelling communities, data on the number of speakers is considered unreliable. There are around 9 million speakers, in at least 47 territories. The largest numbers of speakers are in many Eastern European territories, and also the United States. There are several major dialects, the largest of which is Vlax Romani, followed by the Balkan, Carpathian and Sinte variants.



Catalan: 8,825,000 native speakers

CATALAN

Catalan is a spoken mainly in Spain and Andorra. Roughly 22% of the Spanish population speak it as a first language.


Catalan

Catalan is mostly spoken in a region that spans Eastern Spain, Andorra (where it is the official language), South-West France, and the Balearic Islands. It is also spoken in Alghero in Sardinia, Cuba (from 19th-century migration), and by a small number in the United Kingdom. The total number of speakers is just over 9 million, of which the vast majority are in Spain.



Rwanda: 9,136,000 native speakers

RWANDA

Rwanda is a language of Rwanda. Roughly 78% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Rwanda

The Rwanda language (or Kinyarwanda) is spoken by between 7 and 9 million people. Most of those people are in Rwanda (where it is an official language), and there are speakers in southern Uganda, and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rwanda is closely related to Kirundi, and they are largely mutually intelligible.



Kazakh: 9,516,000 native speakers

KAZAKH

Kazakh is a language of Kazakhstan. Roughly 45% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Kazakh

The Kazakh language is the official language of Kazakhstan. Estimates of the numbers of speakers in that country vary from around 5 million (Ethnologue) to nearly 10 million. The difference may be attributable to the difficulty in classifying first-language speakers - many people in Kazkhstan are bi-lingual, speaking Russian as well as Kazakh. We have put the worldwide number of speakers at around 9.5 million, in around 13 territories, with the largest number outside Kazakhstan in China, Uzbekistan, Russia and Mongolia.



Czech: 9,938,000 native speakers

CZECH

This small map removes the countries where Czech is dominant. This map therefore only shows 3.4% of all speakers of Czech. The territory omitted is Czech Republic.


Czech

Czech is spoken by roughly 10 million people, in at least 11 territories. After the Czech Republic, the majority of speakers are in Slovakia and other neighbouring territories. There are also speakers in the United Kingdom and the United States.Slovak and Czech are mutually intelligible, and might be considered to be dialects of the same language. Their influence on each other predates the creation of Czechoslovakia.



Belarusan: 10,047,000 native speakers

BELARUSAN

This small map removes the countries where Belarusan is dominant. This map therefore only shows 23.1% of all speakers of Belarusan. The territory omitted is Belarus.


Belarusan

Belarusan (or 'Belorussian' as it sometimes known) is spoken by roughly 10 million people, in around 15 territories. Outside of Belarus, speakers are generally in neighbouring countries; notably Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Lithuania.



Creole English: 10,153,000 native speakers

CREOLE ENGLISH

A creole English is well-used in Nigeria. Roughly 3% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Creole English

This data and map are a collection of English-based creoles. These languages developed during the period of slave trade and British colonization. Many would have begun as a pidgin; a simplified version of English used for communication between groups without a common language. When it develops through generations and becomes a first language for some speakers, it is defined as a creole. Many English-based creoles are spoken in the Caribbean, notably Jamaica. Nigerian Pidgin is used by many millions of speakers, both as a pidgin and as a creole.



Quechua: 10,319,000 native speakers

QUECHUA

Quechua is a language of Peru. Roughly 18% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Quechua

Quechua is an indigenous South American language. A version of Quechua was widely spoken across the Central Andes region before the time of the Incas, for whom it became the official language of their empire. There are roughly 10 million Quechua speakers in at least seven territories. The majority are in four of these; around 4.7 million in Peru, also in the south-west of Bolivia, much of Ecuador, and an area of north-west of Argentina. The remainder are in the south-west of Colombia, northern Chile, and a few in the United States.



Nyanja: 10,352,000 native speakers

NYANJA

Nyanja is a language of Malawi. Roughly 59% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Nyanja

Nyanja (or Chichewa) is spoken by between 9 and 10 million people in Central Africa. The majority are in Malawi, and other sizeable numbers are found in the east of Zambia, in the in the provinces of Tete and Niassa in north of Mozambique, and in Zimbabwe.



Somali: 10,713,000 native speakers

SOMALI

This small map removes the countries where Somali is dominant. This map therefore only shows 19.2% of all speakers of Somali. The territory omitted is Somalia.


Somali

Somali is the language of Somalia, and spoken by almost everyone in the country. It is also spoken by people numbering hundreds of thousands in Yemen, Kenya and Djibouti. Due to instability in Somalia, there are also significant communities in territories further afield, mostly in Western Europe. The total number of speakers is almost 11 million, in at least 16 territories.



Zulu: 11,002,000 native speakers

ZULU

Zulu is a language of South Africa. Roughly 24% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Zulu

There are roughly 11 million speakers of Zulu (or isiZulu), the vast majority of whom live in South Africa, mostly in the KwaZuluNatal and Gauteng provinces in the east of South Africa. There are also speakers in at least 6 other territories, including Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique and the United Kingdom.Zulu is widely used in education, government and the media within South Africa.



Hungarian: 11,204,000 native speakers

HUNGARIAN

This small map removes the countries where Hungarian is dominant. This map therefore only shows 25.2% of all speakers of Hungarian. The territory omitted is Hungary.


Hungarian

Hungarian is spoken by roughly 12 million speakers in around 13 territories. This includes most of the population of Hungary, and significant numbers in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, the United States and Canada.The Hungarian name for the language is 'Magyar'.



Greek: 12,105,000 native speakers

GREEK

This small map removes the countries where Greek is dominant. This map therefore only shows 15.3% of all speakers of Greek. The territories omitted are Greece and Cyprus.


Greek

We estimate that Greek is spoken as a first language by just over 12 million people in at least 31 territories. Outside of Greece and Cyprus, the largest populations are in the United States, Germany, Australia (many in Melbourne), the United Kingdom and Canada. Other smaller populations are spread throughout Europe.Greek is an ancient language; an early form, Mycenaean Greek, has been found on the 'Linear B' tablets dating from around the 13th century BC.



Sinhala: 14,085,000 native speakers

SINHALA

This small map removes the countries where Sinhala is dominant. This map therefore only shows 0.6% of all speakers of Sinhala. The territory omitted is Sri Lanka.


Sinhala

Sinhala (or Sinhalese) is the language of the Sinhalese ethnic group in Sri Lanka, and spoken by around 74% of the population in Sri Lanka. It is also spoken by tens of thousands in each of Australia, United Arab Emirates, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.



Fula: 14,172,000 native speakers

FULA

Fula is a language of Guinea. Roughly 31% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Fula

The Fula language is spoken over a large area of West Africa. The major dialects known as Pular, Pulaar and Fulfulde are considered by Ethnologue to be separate languages, but most linguists consider Fula to be a single language. Wilson (1989) is quoted on Wikipedia stating that "travellers over wide distances never find communication impossible". There are roughly 14 million speakers in 17 African territories. Over a million speakers live in each of Guinea, Senegal, Nigeria, Niger and Mali.



Khmer: 14,734,000 native speakers

KHMER

Khmer is a language of Cambodia. Roughly 90% of the population there speak it as a first language.


Khmer

Khmer is the official language of Cambodia, and the language of the Khmer people in Cambodia and elsewhere. There are approximately 14 million first-language speakers, in at least 9 territories. The largest populations outside Cambodia are in Thailand and Viet Nam (both have over a million Khmer speakers), many of these will have been refugees during the mid-1970s. Khmer people were also resettled to Thailand in the early nineteenth century. Other populations are recorded in the United States, France, Australia, Lao People's Dem Republic and the United Kingdom.


balochi: 6,625,000 native speakers

Documents

speakers of bulgarian

speakers of swedish

speakers of uyghur

number of speakers

creole frenchhaitian

language of china

language of pakistan

smaller numbers of speakers