Infographic : French, the 5th World Language
The French language in figures
- 5th most-spoken language after Mandarin Chinese, English, Spanish and Arabic
- 300 million French speakers worldwide (up 9.6% between 2014 and 2018) [1]
French is an international language
- 2nd most-used language in diplomacy, particularly European and multilateral diplomacy, after English;
- Official UN language;
- Working language of the European Union and the African Union;
- Official language of the Olympic Games together with English.
French is a modern language
- 4th most used language on the Internet, which now brings together over 4 billion users;
- 3rd most used language in business (the Francophone area now accounts for over 15% of global wealth);
- 2nd language of international information in the media.
French is a living language:
- 2nd most-studied language [2];
- 125 million people study French around the world;
- half a million of French teachers outside France.
It is one of the rare languages to be taught in the education systems of every country.
March 2020