The 12 most spoken languages - 1999 Loglan/Lojban Project baseline values Following is data derived from the 1999 Encyclopedia Brittanica Book of the Year regarding language populations for the top 12 languages, which are the baseline set for the Loglan/Lojban project (only the top 6 are used for Lojban gismu making). For comparison, summary numbers from 1995 are also shown, along with amount of change, as well as the numbers used in the original 1987 Lojban word-making. I think that these numbers serve as a fairly authoritative estimate of the number of speakers of the 12 languages, and unlike other published estimates, my methodology in generating the numbers is open to inspection, along with the source data I used for individual countries. The number of 2nd language speakers is determined by taking actual counts of such 2nd language (or creole) speakers generated by official sources and reported in the Brittanica. An increment is added to reflect 2nd language literacy in the official language of a country, presuming that all official languages of the country are taught in the schools, based on official-source literacy figures. Finally, for officially Arabic/Moslem countries, the status of Arabic as a religious language that is taught to believers is used to generate an additional increment. This is most significant for Iran where the religion is heavily state supported even though the official language is not Arabic, and there are few native speakers of that language. Having determined these numbers, the Lojban gismu-making weights are determined by summing the number of native speakers and 1/2 the total from all 3 methods of estimating 2nd language speakers (since these 3 methods include an elimination of overlap in the calculation). The total of 1st and all 2nd language speakers is not used in the Lojban algorithm. The 1999 numbers are summarized as follows (in millions). Note that Arabic has now passed Russian and moved into 5th place among the languages used. This, in addition to Hindi passing English several years ago, suggest that the gismu list would look somewhat different if remade from scratch today, since when languages are close together in population, a change in order will significantly affect tie-breaking results in scoring of words. Given that the Lojban gismu list is baselined, these numbers are primarily for academic interest. However, they can be used in making fu'ivla (borrowings) where it is not clear that a particular language root is appropriate. Using an algorithm like the gismu algortihm (though not necessarily with the same constraints on word form, would give an "international" or "Lojbanic" root to use as the basis of a fu'ivla. native 2nd/creole+literacy+religion Total speakers native+1/2*2nd normalized weight for 6 languages based on 1.0 total. (change from 1995) (change from 1987) Chinese 837.161 349.964+21.529 1208.654 1022.908 .334 (-.013) (-.026) Hindi 455.352 221.315+61.362 738.029 596.690 .195 (-.001) (+.039) English 346.126 381.337+69.936 797.399 571.763 .187 (+.027) (-.021) Spanish 341.977 15.686+13.891 371.553 356.765 .116 (-.007) (+.000) Arabic 230.533 0+25.387+50.801 306.721 268.627 .088 (+.003) (+.015) Russian 204.517 0+86.956 291.473 247.995 .081 (-.008) (-.006) Bengali 205.66 0+1.104 206.764 206.212 Portuguese 169.154 12.048+7.070 188.272 178.713 Japanese 126.407 0+1.118 127.525 126.966 French 80.077 60.391+24.105 164.573 122.325 Malay-Indon. 40.439 0+157.457 197.896 119.167 German 92.247 2.168+10.019 104.434 98.340 The 1995 numbers are summarized as follows (in millions): native 2nd/creole+literacy+religion Total speakers native+1/2*2nd normalized weight for 6 languages based on 1.0 total. Chinese 801.552 314.039+25.225 1140.816 971.184 .347 Hindi 413.231 66.39+206.000 685.621 549.426 .196 English 334.786 187.907+59.895 582.588 448.343 .160 Spanish 330.999 12.644+11.531 355.174 343.086 .123 Russian 210.948 0+77.965 288.913 249.930 .089 Arabic 205.272 0+19.705+46.991 271.968 238.620 .085 Bengali 183.860 0+.927 184.787 184.323 Portuguese 166.662 6.294+10.028 182.984 174.823 Japanese 125.086 0 125.086 125.086 French 74.529 41.198+29.477 145.204 109.866 Malay-Indon. 37.752 137.526 175.278 106.515 German 94.768 1.714+8.511 104.993 99.880 For comprison, here is the total speakers from the 1987 World Almanac, the comparable figures from the 1997 World Almanac, and the numbers used in the 1987 original Lojban gismu-remaking effort, which were based on the 1985 Brittanica BotY. Note that Hindi passed up English in about 1989 due to rapidly increasing numbers of native speakers along with a major increase in literacy which is continuing. A significant part of the drop in native English, French, German, and Indonesian speakers is due to the switching of creole speakers and some estimates of non-native official language speakers (especially in Africa) from native to 2nd language totals. 1987 1997 1987 gismu-remaking 1999 World Almanac native 2nd n+1/2s weight weight Chinese 788 853/999 752.1 319.1 911.7 .360 .334 English 420 330/487 366.5 322.4 527.7 .208 .187 Hindi 382 348/457 294 200.3 394.2 .156 .195 Spanish 296 346/401 264.7 58.2 293.8 .116 .116 Russian 285 168/280 164.3 109.7 219.12 .087 .081 Arabic 177 195/230 155.9 57.7 184.8 .073 .088 Bengali 171 197/204 87 80.8 127.4 Portuguese 164 173/188 110.4 45.5 133.2 Malay/Indon. 128 54/164 121.1 39.5 140.9 Japanese 122 125/126 120.1 0.6 120.4 German 118 98/124 105.4 18.3 114.6 French 114 74/126 81.1 75.5 118.9 Following are the 6 columns of 1999 raw data, by language, by country. In the raw data, Column 1 is native speakers of the language from the Britannica BotY. Column 2 is non-native speakers, speakers of the language as a lingua franca, and speakers of creoles and other significantly non-standard dialects (e.g. Catalan and Galician for Spanish, Luxembourgish for German, and non-Mandarin Chinese.) These numbers also come straight from the BotY. Ukrainian and Belarussian are considered native Russian speakers, since the differences are more political than linguistic (though in the longer term, Ukrainian speakers probably should be switched into the 2nd language column). Urdu is considered a native dialect of Hindi. What is rarely carried in the BotY are speakers of the official language of a country as a second language. For example, how many non-native-English speakers in the UK speak English as a second language. The answer is something less than 100%; so I used the percentage literacy multiplied by the number of non-native-or-creole speakers of an official language. For European countries, literacy is close to 100%, but for 3rd world countries, the number is far less. For countries with 2 official languages, I further reduced the result of the above calculation by the ratio of the speakers of the official language divided by the total speakers of all official languages. The result of this calculation is considered as an increment to any number of 2nd language speakers given in column 2. That increment is shown in column 3, and the data used in the calculation is shown in column 4. (In previous iterations of these statistics, I have used variations on this method to estimate 2nd language speakers. Creole speakers were originally treated as native speakers, though I have since learned that the creoles are sufficiently different from the standard language that a native speaker level of knowledge of the standard language is improbable.) The former Soviet states are a special case, in that Russian (or a dialect) is an official language in only 3 of the current countries, but the educational system up to a couple of years ago was built around Russian as the official language. Because of this, I calculated 2nd language Russian speakers, as if it *were* the official language, but then subtracted the number of native Russian speakers in the country from this total to determine the column 3 number. In future years, this number may need to be slowly prorated downward as a new education system supplants the Russian one, but this should not have significant effect for at least a decade, as the older 2nd language Russian speakers will probably retain their educated knowledge of the language for as long as Russia is the dominant economic power of the region. Columns 5 and 6 exist for Arabic only, and are an increment based on countries in which Arabic is the official language or the Muslim religion is militantly supported by the government (Iran being the major example). In this case, I determined if there was an excess of followers of the Muslim religion above the total number of 1st and 2nd language speakers of Arabic determined in columns 1-4. This excess was then multiplied by the literacy rate to get a guesstimate of non-Arabic native speakers who might still have considerable knowledge of the Arabic language through religious training. I did not calculate a religion-based number for countries that are Muslim, but which are unlikely to have government-sponsored teaching of the language (e.g. Indonesia). Chinese (Mandarin) Cantonese/undiff. other Australia .098 .214 Brunei .051 Cambodia .330 Canada .322 China 817.000 325.990 21.184 (1242.980-817.0) * .815 - 325.99 Costa Rica .007 Fr. Polynesia .013 Guam .002 HongKong .074 6.454 --- (6.66-0.074) * 7.59/(7.59+2.1)* .922 - 6.454 Japan .240 N.Korea .030 S.Korea .050 Macau .005 .410 (.426-.005) * .415/.425) *.895 -.410 Malaysia 2.000 Mauritius .004 Nauru .0009 N. Marianas I. .0047 Palau .0003 Panama .008 Phillipines .070 Reunion .020 Singapore 1.371 1.070 .345 (3.164-1.371) * 3.812/(1.183+.446+2.441+.235) * .891 -1.070 Taiwan 4.390 16.970 --- (21.843-4.390) * .940 - 16.97 Thailand 7.420 USA 1.520 Vietnam 1.070 837.161 349.964 21.529 1022.908 185.747 Hindi/Urdu (Nepali Pahari/Bhojpuri/Malthili in Mauritius/Nepal/Bhutan) Bhutan .220 Fiji .347 India 442.620 206.78 11.798 (984.004-442.62) * 649.4/(649.4+187.0) *.520 - 206.78 Jamaica .050 Mauritius .021 .245 Nepal .880 14.29 Pakistan 10.780 49.563 (141.900-10.78) * .378 Trinidad .044 USA .390 455.352 221.315 61.362 596.690 141.338 English Amer. Samoa .002 .061 Antigua .066 .003 Aruba .008 Australia 15.204 2.896 .607 (18.725-15.204) * .995 - 2.896 Bahamas .260 .032 (.293-.260) * .982 Bangladesh 3.300 Barbados .252 creole .006 .265 * .974 -.252 Belize .119 .061 creole .021 (.235-.119) * .703 -.061 Bermuda .062 Botswana .580 .431 1.448 * .698 - .580 Brunei .120 Cameroon 7.500 2.028 15.029 * .634 - 7.500 Canada 19.328 7.842 (30.677-19.328) * 19.328/(19.328+7.693) * .966 Colombia .050 creole Costa Rica .071 creole Denmark .024 Dominica .076 creole Fiji .160 .566 .793 * .916 - .160 France .080 Gambia .499 1.292 * .386 Ghana 1.290 10.641 18.497 * .645 - 1.29 Gibraltar .024 .003 (.0271-.024) * .99 Grenada .100 Guam .055 .092 --- (.148-.055) * .99 - .092 Guernsey .062 Guyana .746 .035 (.782-.746) * .981 Honduras .011 creole Hong Kong .147 1.953 India .210 186.790 --- (984.004-.210) * 187/(187+649.4) * .520 -186.79 Ireland 3.590 .043 (3.647-3.590) * 3.590/(3.590+1.190) * 1.000 Isle of Man .073 Jamaica 2.400 Japan .080 Jersey .086 Kenya 2.600 .193 28.337 * 2.6/20.6 * .781 - 2.6 Kiribati .021 .055 .084 * .900 - .021 Lesotho .500 --- 2.09 * .713 * .5/2.28 - .5 Liberia .55+2.222 creole Luxembourg .004 Macau .002 Malawi .510 5.040 9.84 * .564 - .51 Malaysia .360 6.340 Malta .008 .008 (.377-.008) * .008/.369 * .96 Marshall Isl .0628 Mauritius .002 Micronesia .0005 Monaco .002 Namibia .013 .297 Nauru .0008 .0096 Nepal 6.500 Nether Antill .017 New Zealand 3.457 .329 (3.801-3.457) * 3.457/(3.457+.161) * 1.0 Nicaragua .027 creole Nigeria 50.0 creole 13.114 110.532 *.571 - 50.0 N Mariana Isl .0032 .0571 .004 (.0666-.0032) * .963 - .0571 Norway .024 Pakistan 16.000 Palau .0006 .0174 Panama .387 creole Papua New Guin .07+2.990 creole .261 4.60 * .722 - 3.060 Phillipines 38.000 6.243 73.131 * .946 * 38.0/(38.0+21.42) - 38.0 Puerto Rico 1.794 St Kitts Nevis .042 St Lucia .157 St. Vincent .112 .001 (.113-.112) * .960 Samoa .090 Seychelles .003 .025 Sierra Leone 4.400 --- 4.577 * .314 - 4.4 Singapore 1.183 --- 3.164 * 1.183/(1.183+.446+2.441+.235) * .891 - 1.183 Solomon Isl .158 .072 .426 * .541 - .158 South Africa 3.990 3.013 (42.835-3.99) * 3.99/(3.99+6.47+.64+1.11+7.5+9.6+4.2+2.96+3.08+1.8+.73) * .818 Sri Lanka 1.930 Surinam .400 Swaziland .040 .701 .966 * .767 Sweden .032 Tanzania 3.300 30.609 * 3.3/(2.2+28.0) * .678 -3.3 Tonga .029 .062 .098 * .928 - .029 Trinidad 1.235 creole .013 1.275 * .979 - 1.235 Tunisia .300 Tuvalu .010 .0104 * .950 Uganda 2.400 Unit Kingdom 57.520 1.606 (59.126-57.52) * 1.0 USA 232.910 29.090 6.581 (270.262-232.91) * .955 - 29.09 Vanuatu .060 .120 Virgin Isl .096 .020 (.118-.096) * .897 Zambia .100 1.700 5.620 (9.461 - .1) * .782 - 1.7 Zimbabwe .250 4.950 4.236 (11.044 -.25) * .851 - 4.95 346.126 381.337 69.936 571.763 225.636 2nd includes Spanish Catalan/Galician Andorra .030 .020 Argentina 34.980 1.101 (36.125-34.98) * .962 Aruba .007 Australia .098 Belgium .050 Belize .074 .056 Bolivia 6.980 .492 (7.957-6.98) * 6.98/(6.98+1.82+2.71) * .831 Canada .101 Chile 13.290 1.458 (14.822-13.29) * .952 Colombia 37.320 .333 (37.685-37.32) * .913 Costa Rica 3.445 .083 (3.533-3.445) * .948 Cuba 11.116 Dominican Rep 7.730 .126 (7.883-7.73) * .821 Ecuador 11.320 .770 (12.175-11.32) * .901 El Salvador 5.752 Equat. Guinea .178 .454 * .785 * 1/2 France .220 .260 Guatemala 6.990 2.119 (10.802-6.990) * .556 Honduras 5.752 .121 (5.919-5.752) * .727 Italy .030 Mexico 88.270 6.150 .624 (95.830-88.27) * .896 - 6.15 Nicaragua 4.648 .076 (4.763-4.648) * .657 Panama 2.125 .583 (2.767-2.125) * .908 Paraguay 2.879 .827 (5.223-2.879) * 2.879/(2.879+4.636) * .921 Peru 19.790 3.599 (24.801-19.79) * 19.79/(19.79+4.65) * .887 Puerto Rico 3.718 .041 (3.786-3.718) * .897 * 3.718/(3.718+1.794) Spain 29.290 9.170 .558 (39.371-29.29) * .965 - 9.17 Sweden .056 USA 20.340 Uraguay 3.080 .132 (3.216-3.08) * .973 Venezuela 22.510 .667 (23.242-22.51) * .911 Virgin Islands .016 341.977 15.686 13.891 356.765 14.788 Russian/Ukrainian/Belarusian Armenia 3.754 3.800 * .988 Australia .034 Azerbaijan .230 7.622 8.070 * .973 - .23 Belarus 10.120 .113 (10.235-10.12) * .979 Canada .283 Czech .013 Estonia .470 .973 1.447 *.997 - .47 Finland .018 Georgia .480 4.924 5.431 *.995 - .480 Israel .520 Kazakhstan 6.430 8.972 15.797 *.975 - 6.43 Kyrgyzstan .840 3.710 4.691 *.970 - 0.84 Latvia .970 1.463 2.445 *.995 - 0.97 Lithuania .390 3.295 3.704 *.995 - .39 Moldova .458 3.645 4.243 *.967 - .458 Poland .420 Romania .094 Russia 129.480 17.033 (146.861-129.48) * .98 Slovakia .034 Tajikistan .590 5.381 6.112 *.977 - .590 Turkmenistan .343 4.279 4.731 *.977 - .343 Ukraine 49.200 1.084 (50.302-49.20) * .984 USA .390 Uzbekistan 2.710 20.706 24.091 *.972 - 2.71 204.517 86.956 247.995 43.478 Arabic Algeria 25.840 2.590 (30.045-25.84) * .616 .979 30.02 religion-25.84-2.590 * .616 Australia .182 Bahrain .430 .173 (.633-.43) * .852 .0 .520 religion-.430-.173 * .852 Belgium .160 Cameroon .150 Canada .049 Chad 1.920 1.219 (7.360-1.92) * 1.92/(1.92+2.2) * .481 .395 3.96 religion-1.92-1.219 * .481 Comoros .009 .004 (.546-.009) * .009/(.543+.009+.110) *.573 .303 .542 religion-.004-.009 * .573 Denmark .024 Djibouti .070 .111 (.652-.070) * .070/.170 *.462 .209 .634 religion-.111-.070 * .462 Egypt 62.500 .391 (63.261-62.50) * .514 .0 56.30 religion-62.5-.391 *.514 Eritrea .010 .530 2.66 religion -.010 * .200 France 1.490 Gaza 1.076 .006 (1.082-1.076) * 1.076/1.082 * .956 .0 1.068 religion Gibraltar .002 Iran 1.330 43.000 60.97 religion-1.33 * .721 Iraq 16.750 2.884 (21.722-16.750) * .580 .833 21.07 religion-16.75-2.884 * .580 Israel 1.030 .997 (5.740-1.03) * 1.03/(1.03+3.62) * .956 Jordan 4.590 .080 (4.682-4.59) * .866 4.52 religion-4.59-.080 Kenya .070 Kuwait 1.460 .319 (1.866-1.46) * .786 1.59 religion-1.46-.319 Lebanon 3.260 .227 (3.506-3.26) * .924 Libya 5.460 .176 (5.691-5.46) * .762 .0 5.52 religion-5.46-.176 Mali .160 Mauritania 2.050 .174 (2.511-2.05) * .377 .104 2.50 religion-2.05-.174 * .377 Mayotte .119 .130 religion *.919 Morocco 18.050 4.249 (27.772-18.05) * .437 2.374 27.73 religion-28.05-4.249 * .437 Netherlands .140 Niger .030 Nigeria .300 Oman 1.810 .326 (2.364-1.81) * .588 .0 2.08 religion-1.81-.326 *.588 Panama .015 Qatar .230 .277 (.579-.230) * .794 .034 .550 religion-.230-.277 * .794 Saudi Arabia 19.750 .651 (20.786-19.750) * .628 .0 20.09 religion-19.75-.651 * .628 Somalia .027 (6.842-6.730 Somali) * .240 1.633 6.83 religion -.027 * .240 Sudan 16.560 7.833 (33.551-16.56) * .461 .045 24.49 religion-16.56-7.833 * .461 Sweden .068 Syria 13.800 1.087 (15.335-13.80) * .708 .0 13.19 religion-13.8-1.087 *.708 Tunisia 9.330 .033 (9.380-9.33) * .667 9.33 religion-9.33-.033 *.667 Turkey .880 UAE 1.150 1.262 (2.744-1.15) * .792 .156 2.61 religion-1.15-1.262 * .792 USA .420 West Bank 1.740 .124 (1.881-1.74) * 1.74/(1.74+.15) * .956 1.54 religion-1.74-.124 Western Sahara .288 .288 religion Yemen 16.000 .168 (16.388-16.00) * .432 .087 16.37 religion-16.0-.168 * .432 230.533 25.387 50.801 268.627 38.094 Bengali Bangladesh 124.670 1.104 127.567-124.67 *.381 India 80.920 Nepal .030 USA .040 205.660 1.104 206.212 .552 Portuguese Andorra .007 Angola 3.800 .731 10.865 * .417 - 3.8 Australia .027 Brazil 157.800 3.304 (161.766-157.80) *.833 Canada .187 Cape Verde .400 France .680 Guinea-Bissau .124 .411 creole .318 (1.206-.535) * .549 Luxembourg .054 Macau .010 Mozambique .230 4.800 2.583 (18.641 -.230) * .401 - 4.8 Paraguay .165 Portugal 9.870 .084 (9.964-9.87) * .896 Sao Tome .117 .0 .136 * .542 - .117 Spain 2.520 (Galician) USA .500 169.154 12.048 7.070 178.713 9.559 Japanese Brazil .610 Guam .003 Hong Kong .013 Japan 125.280 1.118 126.398-125.28 * 1.0 N.Marianas I. .0013 USA .500 126.407 1.118 126.966 .559 French Algeria 6.000 Andorra .004 Australia .043 Bahamas .030 creole Belgium 3.340 2.420 10.208-3.340 * 3.34/(3.34+6.05+.09) *1.0 Benin .600 1.657 6.101 *.370 -.600 Burkina Faso .030 4.570 --- 11.266-.03 *.192 - 4.57 Burundi .520 1.435 5.537 *.353 -.520 Cameroon 4.500 2.316 10.751 *.634 -4.50 Canada 7.693 6.307 30.677-7.693 *7.693/(7.683+19.388) *.966 Cent Afr Rep .800 .076 3.376 *.600 *.8/3.8 -.35 Chad 2.200 --- 7.360 *.481 * 2.2/4.12 - 2.2 Comoros .091 .019 .043 .546-.091 * .110/(.543+.110+.009) *.573 -.019 Congo Rep 1.400 .591 2.658 *.749 - 1.4 Congo (Zaire) 3.800 --- 49.001 *.773 * 3.8/77.8 (other lingua franca) - 3.8 Ivory Coast 7.700 --- 15.446 *.401 -7.7 Djibouti .100 .077 .652 *.462 * .10/.17 -.10 Dominica .069 creole Dominican Rep .160 creole Egypt .260 Equ. Guinea .178 .454 * 1/2 * .785 France 55.100 3.251 58.390 -55.1 *.988 French Guiana .159 creole .008 .169-.159 *.830 Fr Polynesia .184 .042 .228-.184 *.950 Gabon 1.000 --- 1.208 *.632 -1.000 Guadaloupe .413 .019 .434-.413 *.901 Guinea .700 1.984 7.477 *.359 -.7 Guinea-Bissau .120 Haiti 6.180 Italy .310 Jersey .006 .080 .0856*1.0 -.006 Lebanon .840 Luxembourg .016 Madagascar 2.200 --- 14.463 * 2.2/16.51 * .802 -2.2 Mali 1.000 2.134 10.109 * .310 - 1.0 Martinique .385 .012 .398-.385 * .925 Mauritania .250 Mauritius .040 .817 creole Mayotte .056 .067 .134 * .919 - .056 Monaco .013 .019 .032 -.013 * 1.0 Morocco 11.100 New Caledonia .070 .078 .204-.070 * .579 Niger 1.500 --- 9.672 * .136 - 1.5 Reunion .630 creole .048 .692-.63 * .782 Rwanda .600 St. Lucia .121 creole Sao Tome & Pr .001 Senegal 3.400 --- 9.723 *.331 - 3.4 Seychelles .001 .074 creole .004 .0794-.075 * .842 Switzerland 1.370 1.223 7.118-1.37 * 1.37/(1.37+4.53+.54) * 1.0 Togo 2.500 .036 4.906 * .517 - 2.5 Tunisia 2.760 USA 2.000 .220 creole Vanuatu .030 Vietnam .370 Virgin Islands .003 80.077 60.391 24.105 122.325 42.248 Malay-Indonesian Australia .029 Brunei .249 .058 .315-.249 * .878 Indonesia 24.580 149.480 202.957-24.58 * .838 Malaysia 12.900 7.668 22.083-12.90 * .835 New Caledonia .005 Singapore .446 .251 3.164-.446 * .446/(1.183+.446+2.441+.235) *.891 Thailand 2.230 40.439 157.457 119.167 78.728 German Australia .109 Austria 7.424 .646 8.070-7.424* 1.000 Belgium .090 .096 10.208-.09 * .09/9.48 * 1.000 Belize .003 Brazil .890 Canada .531 .028 (Yiddish) Czech .048 Denmark .027 France 1.510 Germany 74.830 7.318 82.148-74.83 * 1.000 Hungary .040 Italy .310 Kazakhstan .480 Kyrgyzstan .030 Liechtenstein .028 .003 .0314-.028 *1.0 Luxembourg .010 .280 (Lux'ish) .135 .425-.010 *1.0 -.280 Namibia .015 Paraguay .045 Poland .500 Romania .097 Russia .350 Slovakia .005 Sweden .045 Switzerland 4.530 1.820 7.118-4.530 * 4.530/6.440 *1.0 USA 1.810 .350 (Yiddish, PA Dutch) 92.247 2.168 10.019 98.340 6.093