The following is a list of English-speaking populations by country, including information on both native speakers and second-language speakers.
List
Country Population Total English speakers Total % As first language L1 % As an additional language L2 or L3 % Notes / SourcesTotal6,547,313,2781,714,281,48026.18%386,541,8445.90%1,214,238,26518.55% 312,142,415299,270,00095.88%244,079,24178.19%55,191,93717.68%Figures are from the 2022 American Community Survey 5-year estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau for persons age 5 and older. Total English speakers are those who either spoke English at home (i.e. as first language) or reported speaking another language at home but could speak English "very well" or "well" (i.e. as an additional language). 1,400,000,000 269,800,00019%1,259,6780.02% 268,540,32218.98%2021 estimate. 2011 figure for first language. 206,200,000125,039,68860.64%20,000,0009.70%103,198,04050.05%English is the most widespread language in the country due to the many different languages spoken, with 60 million speakers. This includes speakers of an English creole, accounting for 51% to 57% of the total population. It is estimated that 10% of Nigerians speak English as a first language.220,892,331108,044,69148.91%8,6420.0035%108,036,04948.91%English is one of the official languages under the constitution and is commonly used in education and administration. According to statistics from various sources, the English-speaking population ranges from 88.69 million to 108 million, accounting for 49% to 58% of the total population. 279,118,86685,968,61130.80%837,3560.30%85,131,25530.50%Indonesians learn English as a major foreign language. 110,000,00070,117,93563.74%36,9350.04%70,081,00063.71%Over 60 million people aged 5 years or more can speak English.Total population: Census 2010. Proportion of total speakers: Census 2000,"The Language Planning Situation in the Philippines". text above Figure 7Proportion of native speakers: Census 1995, as quoted by Andrew Gonzalez in 1625 "The Language Planning Situation in the Philippines" , Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 19 (5&6), 487–525, p. 492: 67.04% of the then 68.4 million people were native speakers of English. 1998.From mid-2009 to late 2013 this entry overstated the number of native speakers by roughly 100fold, and inflated the number of total speakers, on the alleged basis of material in . In fact, Ethnologue as of 24 December 2013 simply repeats the number of native speakers, 20,000, reported in Crystal 2003, on the basis of an old (pre-1995) census, and does not address total speakers at all. This attempt to correct these errors in turn perpetrates both error and original research, by applying the old percentages listed above, 63.71% of people over 5 as total speakers in 2000, and .04% of people as native speakers in 1995, to the 2010 totals from Philippines in Figures, 2013, Chapter 5, Demography , tables 5.1 and 5.6. Andrew Gonzalez died in 2006; someone else's attention to the 2010 census figures, which appear not to be online and may not have been printed yet in adequate detail, is needed to produce reliable, more or less current, numbers. "Six out of 10 people aged 5 and over can speak English (63.71%)." 64,835,74263,718,83498.28%59,323,56891.50%4,395,2666.78%Data is from the 2021 census. Additional English speaker figures are for usual residents aged 3 years and over with a main language other than English who can speak English "very well" or "well" (or, in the case of Scotland, those who have reported speaking ability in English). 82,347,00045,900,00055.74%774,0000.94%45,100,00054.77%Native speakers: Mikrozensus 2021, Statistisches Bundesamt.Non-native speakers: Eurobarometer report 2012. Does not include foreign military personnel based in Germany. 52,533,10941,332,71178.68%––7,900,00015.04%Crystal (2003), p. 109. 110,990,00038,846,50035.0%––––Speakers to at least an intermediate level, Euromonitor International Report 2012 126,146,09935,320,90728.00%???? 61,090,00031,000,00050.70%5,228,3018.73%25,771,69938.96%Native speakers from 2022 Census.Non-native speakers: Crystal (2003), p. 109. 37,138,50030,480,75082.07%20,193,33554.37%10,287,41527.70%The 2016 count reported that 23,757,525 people were able to conduct a conversation in English only, while 6,216,065 were able to converse in both English and French. The census also asked for the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual: 52% or 19,460,850 reported English as their only mother tongue, 165,320 reported both English and French as mother tongues, 533,265 reported English and a non-official language as mother tongues, and 33,900 reported English, French and a non-official language as mother tongues. The data also show that 26,007,500 Canadians report English as their first official language spoken. 25,422,78823,161,34491.10%18,303,66272.00%4,857,67219.10%The 2021 census data is subject to multiple interpretations. The data noted that 18,303,662 persons out of 23,401,892 total only spoke English, and a further 4,857,672 spoke English either "Very Well" or "Well". A further 872,213 persons were listed as speaking English "Not Well" or "Not At All". However, 1,389,243 persons provided incomplete information; 1,331,417 provided no language or proficiency details and 57,828 gave no information on proficiency. 44,270,00019,800,00044.73%––19,800,00044.73%Uganda Bureau of Statistics (2016) 49,700,00019,400,00039.00%––19,400,00039.00%Eurobarometer-type data reports that about 39% of respondents in Spain say they are able to hold a conversation in English 38,036,11819,000,00049.95%737,2761.94%18,000,00047.32%AutoLingual (blog). Number of first language speakers comes from Statistics Poland. However, of the 737,276 people who spoke English "at home", 714,002 also spoke another language "at home", including 707,487 people who also spoke Polish "at home". 26,210,87217,610,87067.19%––17,610,87067.19%2021 Ghanaian Census, on population aged 6 or above who were "literate" in English. 63,038,24717,121,18727.16%––17,121,18727.16%Crystal (2003), p. 109. 33,365,00017,016,00051.00%––17,016,00051.00%Sociological study by KIIS 59,619,29016,812,64028.2%536,5740.9%16,276,06627.3%Languageknowledge.eu 67,500,00016,000,00024.6%––16,000,00057.25%According to recent European Commission data compiled by Language Knowledge, approximately 24.6% of the population in France reported speaking English in 2024 120,664,00015,686,26213.00%––15,686,26213.00%Consulta Mitofsky-Tracking Poll Roy Campos: Las Lenguas Extranjeras en México, January 2013; and II Conteo de Población y Vivienda, (INEGI) 27,170,00015,580,00057.34%380,0001.40%15,200,00055.94%EF English Proficiency Index 16,770,00015,250,00090.94%––15,250,00090.94%Eurobarometer report 2016 80,200,256 12,000,00014.96%––12,000,00014.96%Eurobarometer report 2006 216,000,00012,000,0005.56%292,0000.14%10,250,0004.75%British council (2012) and EF. About 5% of Brazilians have a proficient grasp of English as a second or foreign additional language and an additional 6% have a very rudimentary knowledge. 14,439,00011,850,71082.07%505,3653.50%11,530,71079.86% 46,118,79316,141,57835.00%138,3560.30%16,003,22234.70%Eligible population is from the final results of the 2024 General Population and Housing Census announced in February 2025. Because the census did not collect data on native or foreign languages, the total and additional speaker counts are modeled using the proportions from the 2011 Euromonitor International report. 165,158,61610,784,4886.53%709,8730.43%10,074,6156.10%Population data are from 2022 Bangladeshi census, and second language data come from the subsequent survey 1,432,035,20010,000,0000.70%––10,000,000<0.70%Figures are for English users in mainland China only (i.e. excluding Hong Kong where English is an official language and Macau). The often-cited figure of 300 million is for "learners".. Quote: "What this suggests, it seems, is that Yan's (2004) ten million may after all be a more informed estimate of the actual regular users of English in China." (page 9)" 10,377,7719,236,00089.00%––9,236,00089.00%Statistics Sweden, 2021 35,341,1317,660,00021.67%240,0000.67%7,420,00021.00%2022 Population and Housing Census on literacy rate amongst people aged 15 or above. Figure for native speakers referred to those who were "literate in English only" while number for non-native speakers referred to those who were literate in "both Kiswahili and English". 19,740,0007,500,00037.99%–– 7,500,00037.99%Euromonitor International Report (2009) 37,340,0006,883,22018.43%––6,883,22018.43% 10,584,5346,250,00059.05%––6,250,00059.05%Eurobarometer report 2006 The Belgian population is divided in two distinct linguistic regions: The Belgian Dutch-speaking Flanders, and the Belgian French-speaking Wallonia (the region of Brussels also has a majority of native French speakers). Like in the Netherlands, a high percentage of Flemish people speak English fluently, and in Wallonia, a lower percentage of people speak English (as it is the case in France), which brings down the total percentage. 9,601,0003,100,00031.6%100,0001.4%3,200,00033%Data collected in Israel between 2018 and 2020 by the National Center for Exams and Evaluation showed that only 33% of Israeli students are able to hold a basic conversation in English;https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/hyqp0xal6 “We thought Israelis could speak English, then we saw the data”: “15% of respondents demonstrated high-level proficiency in the language. An additional 18% possess English that enables only basic conversation” such data only refers to academic students who had declared to have studied English, which indicates that English knowledge among the general population is at a much lower level. https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/hyqp0xal6 “We thought Israelis could speak English, then we saw the data”: “15% of respondents demonstrated high-level proficiency in the language. An additional 18% possess English that enables only basic conversation” 8,415,0006,150,00073.08%–– 6,150,00073.08%Eurobarometer report 2012 19,043,7675,900,00030.98%––5,900,00030.98%Eurobarometer report 2012 10,787,6905,500,00050.98%––5,500,00050.98%Eurobarometer report 2012 10,562,2145,350,00050.65%16,4810.16%5,350,00050.65% 135,125,6715,066,5153.75%––5,066,5153.75%Russian population Census, 2021, total count excluded 12,056,452 people who did not specify a language. 5,084,8794,958,52797.52%4,333,37285.22%625,15512.29%Central Statistics Office 2022 Census; Figures for native speakers are people whose spoke English or Irish at home (which likely included the approximately 70,000 people who spoke Irish daily outside education system), and additional speakers are people who spoke other languages and declared that they spoke English "very well" or "well". 5,866,0004,900,00083.53%500,0008.52%4,400,00075.01%Crystal (2003), p. 109. This includes speakers of an English creole. 4,889,2024,750,05697.15%3,692,67075.53%1,057,38621.62%There were 4,993,923 responses to 2023 Census: Language spoken. 4,750,056 gave English as a response . Another 104,721 reported no language (e.g. too young). Hence it is most meaningful to express the English-speaking per cent without including the figures for these 104,721. This gives 97.2% English-speaking (3,673,679 divided by 3,755,565), 2.8% non-English-speaking. Figures for native speakers are those who declared English to be the only language they spoke, so they are very likely to be undercounts. 5,543,0004,770,00086.05%––4,770,00086.05%Eurobarometer report 2012 5,136,7004,500,00087.60%––4,500,00087.60% 6,331,0004,459,19170.43%––4,459,19170.43%2011 Census. This statistic is people who are literate in Standard English, not including Tok Pisin. 7,179,1274,217,53558.75%330,7824.61%3,886,75354.14%According to 2021 population census, Hong Kong has approximately 4.2 million speakers, of whom 330,782 regard English as their "usual" language. 23,042,300