what are the most widely used languages in the world
List of languages by number of native speakers
Top languages by population per Nationalencyklopedin Rank Language Native speakers in millions 2007 ( 2010 ) Fraction of world population ( 2007 ) Mandarin ( entire branch ) 935 ( 955 ) 14.1 % Spanish 390 ( 405 ) 5.85 % English 365 ( 360 ) 5.52 % Hindi 295 ( 310 ) 4.46 % 5 Arabic 280 ( 295 ) 4.23 % 6 Portuguese 205 ( 215 ) 3.08 % 7 Bengali ( Bangla ) 200 ( 205 ) 3.05 % 8 Russian 160 ( 155 ) 2.42 % 9 Japanese 125 ( 125 ) 1.92 % 10 Punjabi 95 ( 100 ) 1.44 % 11 German 92 ( 95 ) 1.39 % 12 Javanese 82 1.25 % 13 Wu ( e.g. Shanghainese ) 80 1.20 % 14 Malay ( inc . Malaysian and Indonesian ) 77 1.16 % 15 Telugu 76 1.15 % 16 Vietnamese 76 1.14 % 17 Korean 76 1.14 % 18 French 75 1.12 % 19 Marathi 73 1.10 % 20 Tamil 70 1.06 % 21 Urdu 66 0.99 % 22 Turkish 63 0.95 % 23 Italian 59 0.90 % 24 Yue ( incl . Cantonese ) 59 0.89 % 25 Thai 56 0.85 % 26 Gujarati 49 0.74 % 27 Jin 48 0.72 % 28 Southern Min ( incl . Hokkien and Teochew ) 47 0.71 % 29 Persian 45 0.68 % 30 Polish 40 0.61 % 31 Pashto 39 0.58 % 32 Kannada 38 0.58 % 33 Xiang ( Hunanese ) 38 0.58 % 34 Malayalam 38 0.57 % 35 Sundanese 38 0.57 % 36 Hausa 34 0.52 % 37 Odia ( Oriya ) 33 0.50 % 38 Burmese 33 0.50 % 39 Hakka 31 0.46 % 40 Ukrainian 30 0.46 % 41 Bhojpuri 29 0.43 % 42 Tagalog ( Filipino ) 28 0.42 % 43 Yoruba 28 0.42 % 44 Maithili 27 0.41 % 45 Uzbek 26 0.39 % 46 Sindhi 26 0.39 % 47 Amharic 25 0.37 % 48 Fula 24 0.37 % 49 Romanian 24 0.37 % 50 Oromo 24 0.36 % 51 Igbo 24 0.36 % 52 Azerbaijani 23 0.34 % 53 Awadhi 22 0.33 % 54 Gan Chinese 22 0.33 % 55 Cebuano ( Visayan ) 21 0.32 % 56 Dutch 21 0.32 % 57 Kurdish 21 0.31 % 58 Serbo - Croatian 19 0.28 % 59 Malagasy 18 0.28 % 60 Saraiki 17 0.26 % 61 Nepali 17 0.25 % 62 Sinhalese 16 0.25 % 63 Chittagonian 16 0.24 % 64 Zhuang 16 0.24 % 65 Khmer 16 0.24 % 66 Turkmen 16 0.24 % 67 Assamese 15 0.23 % 68 Madurese 15 0.23 % 69 Somali 15 0.22 % 70 Marwari 14 0.21 % 71 Magahi 14 0.21 % 72 Haryanvi 14 0.21 % 73 Hungarian 13 0.19 % 74 Chhattisgarhi 12 0.19 % 75 Greek 12 0.18 % 76 Chewa 12 0.17 % 77 Deccan 11 0.17 % 78 Akan 11 0.17 % 79 Kazakh 11 0.17 % 80 Northern Min 10.9 0.16 % 81 Sylheti 10.7 0.16 % 82 Zulu 10.4 0.16 % 83 Czech 10.0 0.15 % 84 Kinyarwanda 9.8 0.15 % 85 Dhundhari 9.6 0.15 % 86 Haitian Creole 9.6 0.15 % 87 Eastern Min ( inc . Fuzhounese ) 9.5 0.14 % 88 Ilocano 9.1 0.14 % 89 Quechua 8.9 0.13 % 90 Kirundi 8.8 0.13 % 91 Swedish 8.7 0.13 % 92 Hmong 8.4 0.13 % 93 Shona 8.3 0.13 % 94 Uyghur 8.2 0.12 % 95 Hiligaynon / Ilonggo ( Visayan ) 8.2 0.12 % 96 Mossi 7.6 0.11 % 97 Xhosa 7.6 0.11 % 98 Belarusian 7.6 0.11 % 99 Balochi 7.6 0.11 % 100 Konkani 7.4 0.11 % Total 5,610 85 %
Top languages by population per Nationalencyklopedin Rank Language Native speakers in millions 2007 ( 2010 ) Fraction of world population ( 2007 ) Mandarin ( entire branch ) 935 ( 955 ) 14.1 % Spanish 390 ( 405 ) 5.85 % English 365 ( 360 ) 5.52 % Hindi 295 ( 310 ) 4.46 % 5 Arabic 280 ( 295 ) 4.23 % 6 Portuguese 205 ( 215 ) 3.08 % 7 Bengali ( Bangla ) 200 ( 205 ) 3.05 % 8 Russian 160 ( 155 ) 2.42 % 9 Japanese 125 ( 125 ) 1.92 % 10 Punjabi 95 ( 100 ) 1.44 % 11 German 92 ( 95 ) 1.39 % 12 Javanese 82 1.25 % 13 Wu ( e.g. Shanghainese ) 80 1.20 % 14 Malay ( inc . Malaysian and Indonesian ) 77 1.16 % 15 Telugu 76 1.15 % 16 Vietnamese 76 1.14 % 17 Korean 76 1.14 % 18 French 75 1.12 % 19 Marathi 73 1.10 % 20 Tamil 70 1.06 % 21 Urdu 66 0.99 % 22 Turkish 63 0.95 % 23 Italian 59 0.90 % 24 Yue ( incl . Cantonese ) 59 0.89 % 25 Thai 56 0.85 % 26 Gujarati 49 0.74 % 27 Jin 48 0.72 % 28 Southern Min ( incl . Hokkien and Teochew ) 47 0.71 % 29 Persian 45 0.68 % 30 Polish 40 0.61 % 31 Pashto 39 0.58 % 32 Kannada 38 0.58 % 33 Xiang ( Hunanese ) 38 0.58 % 34 Malayalam 38 0.57 % 35 Sundanese 38 0.57 % 36 Hausa 34 0.52 % 37 Odia ( Oriya ) 33 0.50 % 38 Burmese 33 0.50 % 39 Hakka 31 0.46 % 40 Ukrainian 30 0.46 % 41 Bhojpuri 29 0.43 % 42 Tagalog ( Filipino ) 28 0.42 % 43 Yoruba 28 0.42 % 44 Maithili 27 0.41 % 45 Uzbek 26 0.39 % 46 Sindhi 26 0.39 % 47 Amharic 25 0.37 % 48 Fula 24 0.37 % 49 Romanian 24 0.37 % 50 Oromo 24 0.36 % 51 Igbo 24 0.36 % 52 Azerbaijani 23 0.34 % 53 Awadhi 22 0.33 % 54 Gan Chinese 22 0.33 % 55 Cebuano ( Visayan ) 21 0.32 % 56 Dutch 21 0.32 % 57 Kurdish 21 0.31 % 58 Serbo - Croatian 19 0.28 % 59 Malagasy 18 0.28 % 60 Saraiki 17 0.26 % 61 Nepali 17 0.25 % 62 Sinhalese 16 0.25 % 63 Chittagonian 16 0.24 % 64 Zhuang 16 0.24 % 65 Khmer 16 0.24 % 66 Turkmen 16 0.24 % 67 Assamese 15 0.23 % 68 Madurese 15 0.23 % 69 Somali 15 0.22 % 70 Marwari 14 0.21 % 71 Magahi 14 0.21 % 72 Haryanvi 14 0.21 % 73 Hungarian 13 0.19 % 74 Chhattisgarhi 12 0.19 % 75 Greek 12 0.18 % 76 Chewa 12 0.17 % 77 Deccan 11 0.17 % 78 Akan 11 0.17 % 79 Kazakh 11 0.17 % 80 Northern Min 10.9 0.16 % 81 Sylheti 10.7 0.16 % 82 Zulu 10.4 0.16 % 83 Czech 10.0 0.15 % 84 Kinyarwanda 9.8 0.15 % 85 Dhundhari 9.6 0.15 % 86 Haitian Creole 9.6 0.15 % 87 Eastern Min ( inc . Fuzhounese ) 9.5 0.14 % 88 Ilocano 9.1 0.14 % 89 Quechua 8.9 0.13 % 90 Kirundi 8.8 0.13 % 91 Swedish 8.7 0.13 % 92 Hmong 8.4 0.13 % 93 Shona 8.3 0.13 % 94 Uyghur 8.2 0.12 % 95 Hiligaynon / Ilonggo ( Visayan ) 8.2 0.12 % 96 Mossi 7.6 0.11 % 97 Xhosa 7.6 0.11 % 98 Belarusian 7.6 0.11 % 99 Balochi 7.6 0.11 % 100 Konkani 7.4 0.11 % Total 5,610 85 %