Top Languages by Population
In prioritizing markets to target and languages to translate, should you care which languages are spoken by the largest population? Maybe. Maybe not.
Looking at the top 12 languages by percentage of world population, you’ll see some languages like Javanese and Lahnda (which includes Panjabi) that are rarely included when a company prioritizes 20 languages or more.
Top 12 Languages by Percentage of World Population
Source: Ethnologue.com
Why do companies usually not prioritize languages by world population? Because they follow the money. After looking at factors specific to an industry or market, most companies will likely focus on the following languages and locales:
* Top Languages by Internet Usage
* Top Languages by GDP (Percentage of GWP)
* Top Countries by GDP (Percentage of GWP)
So who in the world cares about the top languages by population?!?! The primary goals of some organizations is not to make money. For example, religious organizations care about influencing the maximum number of people worldwide, regardless of their economic status or access to technology. That is one of the main reasons why most of the translation world records are somehow tied to religion.
| Language | Speakers
(millions) |
% of World Population |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 1,213 | 20.4% |
| Spanish | 329 | 5.5% |
| English | 328 | 5.5% |
| Arabic | 221 | 3.7% |
| Hindi | 182 | 3.1% |
| Bengali | 181 | 3.0% |
| Portuguese | 178 | 3.0% |
| Russian | 144 | 2.4% |
| Japanese | 122 | 2.0% |
| German, Standard | 90.3 | 1.5% |
| Javanese | 84.6 | 1.4% |
| Lahnda | 78.3 | 1.3% |
| Telugu | 69.8 | 1.2% |
| Vietnamese | 68.6 | 1.2% |
| Marathi | 68.1 | 1.1% |
| French | 67.8 | 1.1% |
| Korean | 66.3 | 1.1% |
| Tamil | 65.7 | 1.1% |
| Italian | 61.7 | 1.0% |
| Urdu | 60.6 | 1.0% |
| Turkish | 50.8 | 0.9% |
| Gujarati | 46.5 | 0.8% |
| Polish | 40 | 0.7% |
| Malay | 39.1 | 0.7% |
| Bhojpuri | 38.5 | 0.6% |
| Awadhi | 38.3 | 0.6% |
| Ukrainian | 37 | 0.6% |
| Malayalam | 35.9 | 0.6% |
| Kannada | 35.3 | 0.6% |
| Maithili | 34.7 | 0.6% |
| Sunda | 34 | 0.6% |
| Burmese | 32.3 | 0.5% |
| Oriya | 31.7 | 0.5% |
| Persian | 31.4 | 0.5% |
| Marwari | 31.1 | 0.5% |
| Panjabi, Eastern | 28.2 | 0.5% |
| Filipino | 25 | 0.4% |
| Hausa | 25 | 0.4% |
| Tagalog | 23.9 | 0.4% |
| Romanian | 23.4 | 0.4% |
| Indonesian | 23.2 | 0.4% |
| Dutch | 21.7 | 0.4% |
| Sindhi | 21.4 | 0.4% |
| Thai | 20.4 | 0.3% |
| Pushto | 20.3 | 0.3% |
| Uzbek | 20.3 | 0.3% |
| Rajasthani | 20 | 0.3% |
| Yoruba | 19.4 | 0.3% |
| Azerbaijani | 19.1 | 0.3% |
| Igbo | 18 | 0.3% |
| Amharic | 17.5 | 0.3% |
| Chhattisgarhi | 17.5 | 0.3% |
| Oromo | 17.3 | 0.3% |
| Assamese | 16.8 | 0.3% |
| Serbo-Croatian | 16.4 | 0.3% |
| Kurdish | 16 | 0.3% |
| Cebuano | 15.8 | 0.3% |
| Sinhala | 15.6 | 0.3% |
| Rangpuri | 15 | 0.3% |
| Thai, Northeastern | 15 | 0.3% |
| Zhuang | 14.9 | 0.3% |
| Malagasy | 14.7 | 0.2% |
| Nepali | 13.9 | 0.2% |
| Somali | 13.9 | 0.2% |
| Khmer, Central | 13.6 | 0.2% |
| Madura | 13.6 | 0.2% |
| Bavarian | 13.3 | 0.2% |
| Greek | 13.1 | 0.2% |
| Chittagonian | 13 | 0.2% |
| Haryanvi | 13 | 0.2% |
| Magahi | 13 | 0.2% |
| Deccan | 12.8 | 0.2% |
| Hungarian | 12.5 | 0.2% |
| Fulah | 12.3 | 0.2% |
| Catalan-Valencian-Balear | 11.5 | 0.2% |
| Shona | 10.8 | 0.2% |
| Zulu | 10.3 | 0.2% |
| Sylheti | 10.3 | 0.2% |
| Quechua | 10.1 | 0.2% |
| Kanauji | 9.5 | 0.2% |
| Czech | 9.5 | 0.2% |
| Lombard | 9.1 | 0.2% |
| Bulgarian | 9.1 | 0.2% |
| Uyghur | 8.8 | 0.1% |
| Nyanja | 8.7 | 0.1% |
| Belarusan | 8.6 | 0.1% |
| Kazakh | 8.3 | 0.1% |
| Swedish | 8.3 | 0.1% |
| Akan | 8.3 | 0.1% |
| Xhosa | 7.8 | 0.1% |
| Bagheli | 7.8 | 0.1% |
| Haitian | 7.7 | 0.1% |
| Konkani | 7.6 | 0.1% |
| Rwanda | 7.5 | 0.1% |
| Gikuyu | 7.2 | 0.1% |
| Napoletano-Calabrese | 7 | 0.1% |
| Baluchi | 7 | 0.1% |
| Ilocano | 7 | 0.1% |
| Varhadi-Nagpuri | 7 | 0.1% |
| Turkmen | 6.6 | 0.1% |
This is only part of the list maintained by Ethnologue.com. If interested, visit Ethnologue.com to see the list of 174 languages by population and the lists of languages by world area, by language family, and by country.
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