French is an official de jure language in 26 independent nations and 10 subnational territories, making it one of the most geographically widespread languages after English and tied with Arabic. Overall, it is also used as a de jure or de facto official, secondary, or cultural language in about 50 states and territories. It is the 22nd most natively spoken language in the world,Statistics, in and the 6th most spoken by total number of speakers; this disparity reflects the fact that in most countries French serves primarily as a lingua franca or administrative language rather than as a native tongue, which is widespread in only five countries and territories. The following is a list of sovereign states and territories where French is an official language.
Sole official language Countries List of countries where French is the only official language: CountryContinentAfricaAfricaAfrica and Overseas FranceEurope, Africa, Oceania, the AmericasAfricaAfricaAfricaEuropeAfricaAfrica
Non-sovereign entities RegionCountry
Co-official use
Sovereign states In many countries, French is used as a co-official language alongside one or more other languages. List of countries where French is a co-official language: CountryAlongsideDutch, GermanKirundi, EnglishEnglishEnglishSangoArabicComorian, ArabicArabicSpanish, PortugueseHaitian CreoleLuxembourgish, GermanMalagasyKinyarwanda, English, SwahiliEnglish, Seychellois CreoleGerman, Italian, RomanshBislama, English
National subdivisions RegionCountryAlongside, AostaItalianDutchGermanEnglishEnglish and several indigenous languagesInuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, EnglishTamil, Malayalam, Telugu, EnglishEnglish
Officially recognized status Although a non-official minority language, French is granted certain rights in the following countries and territories:
()French's Legal Status In Louisiana, Conseil pour le développement du Français en Louisiane (CODOFIL) ()"Ici on parle français", Report of the Commission to Study the Development of Maine's Franco-American Resources, Maine State Legislature Law and Legislative Reference Library, December 1997 Article 49 in the Constitution of Mauritius. ilo.org
Intergovernmental organizations
French is an official language, mostly in conjunction with English, of 36 international organizations. These include:
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
Countries This table shows the total populations of the countries, not the number of French speakers – most of these countries have a majority that do not speak French. No.CountryContinentPopulation 1. Africa 115,403,027 2. Europe 68,374,591 3. North America 38,794,8134Africa30,966,1055.Africa29,981,758 6. Africa 29,452,714 7. Africa 19,093,595 8. Africa 18,847,519 9. Africa 14,697,052 10. Africa 13,986,179 11. Africa 13,623,302 12. Africa 13,590,102 13. Europe 11,977,634 14. North America 11,753,943 15. Africa 8,917,994 16. Europe 8,860,574 17. Africa 6,097,665 18. Africa 5,650,957 19. Africa 2,455,105 20. Africa 1,795,834 21. Africa 994,974 22. Africa 900,141 23. Europe 671,254 24. Oceania 318,007 25. Africa 98,187 26. Europe 31,813 Total All countries World 467,334,839
Dependent entities Nr.EntityContinentPopulationStatus1.Oceania304,167Collectivity of France with special status 2. Oceania 303,540 Overseas collectivity of France 3. North America 32,996 4. Oceania 15,964 5. North America 10,660 6. North America 5,819 7. Africa, Antarctica 8. North America
Note: Réunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Mayotte are classified as overseas departments and regions of France and are thus not a part of this list. While not de jure official, the U.S. states of Louisiana and Maine recognize the usage of French in law, governance, and commerce and allow state services and publicly funded education in the language, rendering it de facto official alongside English.Ward, Roger K. The French Language in Louisiana Law and Legal Education: A Requiem, Louisiana Law Review, 1997
Non-official but significant language While French is not an official language in these countries, it is widely used in administration and many professional sectors, as well as being highly influential as a cultural language in the local society and has certain privileges in the education system.
CountryContinentPopulation (2023)World Population 2023, The World Factbook, Central Intelligence AgencyUsage of French Africa 44,758,398 Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language () p. 9 "Nous y agrégeons néanmoins quelques données disponibles pour des pays n'appartenant pas à l'OIF mais dont nous savons, comme pour l'Algérie (11,2 millions en 20081 Africa 22,489,126 Administrative, commercial, educational Asia 16,891,245 Administrative (particularly judicial and diplomacy), cultural, some educationalAménagement linguistique dans le monde - Cambodge, Université Laval (in French) Asia 7,852,377 Administrative, commercial, cultural, educationalAménagement linguistique dans le monde - Laos, Université Laval (in French) Asia 5,331,203 De jure second language Africa 21,359,722 Administrative, commercial, educationalMali's new constitution adopted after court validation, Radio France Internationale, 22 July 2023. Africa 4,244,878 De facto second official language, educational Africa 1,309,448 Administrative (de facto official), cultural, educational Africa 37,067,420 Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language Africa 26,342,784 Administrative, commercial, educational Africa 11,976,182 Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official languageSamy Ghorbal, «Le français a-t-il encore un avenir ? », Jeune Afrique, 27 April 2008, pp. 77-78 Asia 99,460,000 Administrative (diplomatic), cultural, some educational, working language in medicine, science, and lawDuc Tri-Quê Anh. Promouvoir l’enseignement du français au Vietnam, Le Courrier du Vietnam, 7 March 2022. (in French)Kirkpatrick, Andy and Anthony J. Liddicoat, The Routledge International Handbook of Language Education Policy in Asia., Routledge, 2019, p. 192
See also Francophonie Geographical distribution of French speakers List of international organisations which have French as an official language French-based creole languages Geolinguistics Language geography
References
Notes