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 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. Gicen 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 826.642 347.702+21.013 1195.367 1010.999 .342 (-.005) (-.018) Hindi 437.404 75.29+250.56 763.254 600.329 .203 (+.005) (+.047) English 343.463 209.915+70.234 623.612 483.538 .163 (+.003) (-.045) Spanish 335.633 15.498+14.001 365.132 350/383 .118 (-.005) (+.002) Arabic 226.609 0+25.136+52.395 304.140 265.645 .090 (+.005) (+.017) Russian 206.961 0+85.594 292.555 249.758 .084 (-.005) (-.003) Bengali 195.7 0+1.086 196.786 196.243 Portuguese 167.631 7.667+11.418 186.716 177.174 Japanese 126.088 0+1.69 127.778 126.088 Malay-Indon. 39.337 0+155.222 194.559 116.948 French 74.911 42.849+28.269 146.029 110.470 German 92.487 1.903+9.786 104.176 98.331 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 1998 World Almanac native 2nd n+1/2s norm. weight weight Chinese 788 853/999 752.1 319.1 911.7 .360 .342 English 420 330/487 366.5 322.4 527.7 .208 .163 Hindi 382 348/457 294 200.3 394.2 .156 .203 Spanish 296 346/401 264.7 58.2 293.8 .116 .118 Russian 285 168/280 164.3 109.7 219.12 .087 .084 Arabic 177 195/230 155.9 57.7 184.8 .073 .090 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 .097 .212 Brunei .051 Cambodia .320 Canada .319 China 807.000 321.970 20.656 (1227.740-807.0) * .815 - 321.97 Costa Rica .007 Fr. Polynesia .013 Guam .002 HongKong .072 6.220 --- (6.491-0.072) * 6.292/(6.292+2.050)* .922 - 6.220 Japan .220 N.Korea .040 S.Korea .050 Macau .005 .400 Malaysia 1.900 Mauritius .004 Nauru .0009 N. Marianas I. .0038 Palau .0003 Panama .008 Phillipines .060 Reunion .020 Singapore 2.399 .357 (3.104-2.399) * 2.399/(2.399+1.826) * .891 Taiwan 4.340 18.800 --- (21.616-4.340) * .940 - 18.8 Thailand 7.350 USA 1.510 Vietnam 1.050 826.642 347.702 21.013 1010.999 184.357 Hindi/Urdu (Nepali Pahari/Bhojpuri/Malthili in Nepal/Bhutan) Bhutan .300 Fiji .339 India 425.320 59.840 202.995 (967.613-425.32) * 425.32/456.32 *.520 - 59.84 Jamaica .050 Mauritius .021 Nepal .860 15.150 Pakistan 10.350 47.565 (136.183-10.35) * .378 Surinam .030 Trinidad .044 USA .390 437.404 75.290 250.560 600.329 162.925 English Amer. Samoa .002 .061 Andorra .001 Antigua .061 .004 Aruba .008 Australia 15.027 2.873 .591 (18.508-15.027) * .995 - 2.873 Bahamas .260 .027 (.287-.260) * .982 Bangladesh 3.300 --- 125.340 * 3.3/(3.3+122.49) * .381 - 3.3 Barbados .252 creole Belize .115 .065 creole .014 (.228-.115) * .703 -.065 Bermuda .062 Botswana .600 .448 (1.501 * .698) - .600 Brunei .118 Cameroon 2.930 6.376 (14.678 * .634) - 2.930 Canada 19.173 7.776 (30.287-19.173) * 19.173/(19.173+7.3) * .966 Colombia .050 creole Costa Rica .069 creole Denmark .024 Dominica .074 --- .0744 * .944 -.074 Fiji .160 .553 .778 * .916 - .160 France .080 Gambia .482 1.248 * .386 Ghana 11.675 18.101 * .645 Gibraltar .024 .003 (.0271-.024) * .99 Grenada .098 Guam .058 .096 .001 (.156-.058) * .99 - .096 Guernsey .062 Guyana .746 .027 (.773-.746) * .981 Honduras .012 creole Hong Kong .143 1.907 India .330 30.670 .153 (967.613-.330) * 31/(31+485.16) * .520 -30.67 Ireland 3.580 .048 (3.644-3.580) * 3.580/(3.580+1.190) * 1.000 Isle of Man .072 Jamaica 2.380 .133 (2.536-2.38) * .850 Japan .070 Jersey .086 Kenya 2.200 Kiribati .074 .0884 * .900 Lesotho .400 1.032 2.008 * .713 - .4 Liberia 2.820 creole Luxembourg .005 Macau .002 Malawi .480 4.940 9.609 * .564 - .48 Malaysia .330 6.070 Malta .008 .008 (.375-.008) * .008/.367 * .96 Marshall Isl .0603 Mauritius .002 Micronesia .0005 Monaco .002 Namibia .013 .131 Nauru .0008 .0095 Nether Antill .017 New Zealand 3.477 .166 (3.653-3.477) * 3.477/3.687 * 1.0 Nicaragua .040 creole Nigeria 16.0+36.0 creole 7.076 103.464 *.571 - 52.0 N Mariana Isl .0026 .0459 .003 (.0536-.0026) * .963 - .0459 Norway .024 Pakistan 16.000 Palau .0005 .0166 Panama .381 creole Papua New Guin .07+2.910 creole .266 4.496 * .722 - 2.980 Phillipines 37.200 6.094 71.539 * .946 * 37.2/(37.2+20.95) - 37.2 Puerto Rico 1.805 St Kitts Nevis .039 St Lucia .145 St. Vincent .111 .001 (.112-.111) * .960 Samoa .089 Seychelles .002 .028 Sierra Leone 4.400 --- 4.424 * .314 - 4.4 Singapore 1.161 --- 3.104 * 1.161/(1.161+3.064) * .891 - 1.161 Solomon Isl .008 .218 (.411-.008) * .541 South Africa 3.940 3.543 (42.446-3.94) * 3.94/(6.49+.64+1.1+7.43+9.51+4.16+2.93+3.06+1.78+.72) * .818 Sri Lanka 1.860 Swaziland .792 1.032 * .767 Sweden .032 Tanzania .900 Tonga .003 (.101-.98) * .928 Trinidad 1.229 creole .020 1.265 * .979 -1.229 Tunisia .290 Tuvalu .010 .0103 * .950 Uganda 2.100 Unit Kingdom 57.320 1.599 (58.919-57.32) * 1.0 USA 230.830 29.170 5.976 (267.939-230.83) * .955 - 29.17 Vanuatu .060 .120 Virgin Isl .079 .016 (.0972-.079) * .897 Zambia .100 1.800 5.434 (9.35 - .1) * .782 - 1.8 Zimbabwe .250 5.050 4.458 (11.423 -2.5) * .851 - 5.05 343.363 209.915 70.234 483.538 140.075 2nd includes Spanish Catalan/Galician Andorra .030 Argentina 34.290 1.055 (34.587-33.49) * .962 Aruba .006 Australia .097 Belgium .050 Belize .072 .058 Bolivia 6.810 .460 (7.414-6.500) * 6.500/(6.5+1.71+2.52) * .831 Canada .100 Chile 13.080 1.399 (14.21-12.74) * .952 Colombia 35.850 Costa Rica 3.382 .079 (3.344-3.261) * .948 Cuba 11.190 Dominican Rep 7.650 .126 (7.823-7.67) * .821 Ecuador 11.110 .721 (11.460-10.66) * .901 El Salvador 5.162 Equat. Guinea .311 .396 * .785 France .220 .210 Guatemala 7.270 2.086 (10.621-6.870) * .556 Honduras 5.413 .072 (5.512-5.413) * .727 Israel .046 Italy .030 Luxembourg .003 Mexico 83.950 5.850 .870 (91.450-83.95) * .896 - 5.85 Nicaragua 4.112 .150 (4.340-4.112) * .657 Panama 2.036 .722 (2.831-2.036) * .908 Paraguay 2.734 .739 (4.828-2.734) * 2.734/(2.734+4.402) * .921 Peru 18.740 3.491 (23.489-18.74) * 18.74/(18.74+3.87) * .887 Puerto Rico 3.658 .060 (3.725-3.658) * .897 Spain 31.530 6.690 1.309 (39.880-31.53) * .958 - 6.69 Sweden .055 USA 19.790 Uraguay 3.080 .103 (3.186-3.08) * .973 Venezuela 21.160 .623 (21.844-21.160) * .911 Virgin Islands .013 329.815 12.832 14.376 343.419 13.604 Russian/Ukrainian/Belarusian Australia .027 Azerbaijan .570 6.752 7.525 *.973 - .57 Belarus 10.210 .119 (10.332-10.21) * .979 Canada .271 Czech .013 Estonia .520 .963 1.487 *.997 - .52 Georgia .490 4.969 5.514 *.990 - .490 Israel .093 Kazakhstan 8.220 8.032 16.669 *.975 - 8.22 Kyrgyzstan 1.150 3.199 4.483 *.970 - 1.15 Latvia 1.060 1.442 2.515 *.995 - 1.060 Lithuania .430 3.211 3.700 *.984 - .430 Moldova 1.380 2.810 4.346 *.964 - 1.380 Poland .420 Romania .094 Russia 129.740 17.099 (147.188-129.74) * .98 Slovakia .033 Tajikistan .570 5.128 5.832 *.977 - .570 Turkmenistan .490 3.497 4.081 *.977 - .490 Ukraine 50.870 1.115 (52.003-50.87) * .984 USA .390 Uzbekistan 2.580 19.665 22.886*.972 - 2.58 209.621 78.000 248.621 39.000 Arabic Algeria 23.190 2.921 (27.939-23.19) * .615 1.106 27.910 religion-26.111 * .615 Australia .180 Bahrain .420 .084 (.519-.42) * .852 .0 .470 religion-.504 * .852 Belgium .160 Cameroon .130 Canada .047 Chad 1.660 1.507 (6.361-1.66) * 1.66/(1.66+.83) * .481 .127 3.43 religion-3.167 * .481 Comoros .009 .005 (.545-.009) * .009/.550 *.573 .302 .541 religion-.014 * .573 Djibouti .040 .112 (.586-.040) * .040/.090 *.462 .185 .551 religion-.152 * .462 Egypt 58.980 .368 (59.695-58.98) * .514 .0 53.730 religion Eritrea .010 .004 (3.531-.01) * .01/(.01+1.73) * .200 .351 1.770 religion -.014 * .200 France 1.470 Gaza .785 Gibraltar .002 Iran 1.320 42.878 60.79 religion-1.32 * .721 Iraq 15.740 2.710 (20.413-15.740) * .580 .783 19.80 religion-18.45 * .580 Israel .990 .880 (5.386-.99) * .99/(.99+3.704) * .949 Jordan 4.150 .032 (4.187-4.15) * .866 Kenya .070 Kuwait 1.640 .040 (1.691-1.64) * .786 Lebanon 2.800 .193 (3.009-2.80) * .924 Libya 5.190 .165 (5.407-5.19) * .762 .0 5.240 religion -5.355 Mauritania 1.850 .160 (2.274-1.85) * .377 .094 2.260 religion-2.01 * .377 Morocco 17.840 3.994 (26.980-17.84) * .437 2.214 26.900 religion-21.834 * .437 Netherlands .167 Niger .030 Nigeria .300 Oman 1.590 .235 (2.163-1.59) * .41 .0 1.630 religion-1.825 Qatar .230 .277 (.579-.230) * .794 .034 .550 religion-.507 * .794 Saudi Arabia 16.990 .559 (17.880-16.990) * .628 .076 17.670 religion-17.549 * .628 Somalia .062 (6.734-6.620) * .548 3.649 6.720 religion -.062 * .548 Sudan 13.870 6.559 (28.098-13.87) * .461 .037 20.510 religion-20.429 * .461 Sweden .067 Syria 12.710 1.135 (14.313-12.71) * .708 .0 12.740 religion-13.845 Tunisia 8.840 .037 (8.896-8.84) * .653 Turkey .850 UAE .920 1.010 (2.195-.920) * .792 .143 2.110 religion-1.93 * .792 USA .410 West Bank 1.115 Western Sahara .218 Yemen 12.800 .099 (13.058-12.80) * .385 .054 13.040 religion-12.899 * .385 209.780 23.148 52.033 247.370 37.590 Bengali Bangladesh 117.370 1.037 120.093-117.37 *.381 India 70.730 Nepal .020 USA .040 188.160 1.037 188.679 .519 Portuguese Andorra .007 Angola 4.000 .819 11.558 * .417 - 4.0 Australia .029 Brazil 151.850 3.309 (155.822-151.85) *.833 Canada .180 Cape Verde .392 France .670 Germany .100 Guinea-Bissau .111 .367 creole .327 (1.073-.478) * .549 Luxembourg .042 Macau .010 Mozambique .220 7.085 (17.889-.220) * .401 Paraguay .157 Portugal 9.810 .083 (9.906-9.81) * .868 Sao Tome .113 .0 .131 * .542 - .113 Spain 1.570 (Galician) USA .490 163.676 6.442 11.623 172.709 9.033 Japanese Brazil .750 Guam .003 Hong Kong .012 Japan 124.230 1.132 125.362-124.23 * 1.0 N.Marianas I. .0011 USA .490 125.4861 1.132 126.052 .566 French Algeria 13.000 Andorra .005 Australia .050 Bahamas .050 creole Belgium 3.310 2.397 10.118-3.310 * 3.31/9.4 *1.0 Benin .810 .415 5.235 *.234 -.810 Bulgaria .240 Burkina Faso .600 1.228 10.044 *.182 -.600 Burundi .540 3.769 5.799 *.743 -.540 Cameroon 1.940 5.042 12.905 *.541 -1.94 Canada 7.300 5.985 29.107-7.30 *7.30/25.431 *.956 Cent Afr Rep .350 .012 3.069 *.377 *.35/1.12 -.35 Chad .840 .0 6.495 *.298 *.84/2.54 -.84 Comoros .089 .030 .016 .527-.089 * .119/.525 *.463 -.03 Congo .830 .786 2.856 *.566 - .830 Ivory Coast 4.900 2.576 13.895 *.538 -4.9 Djibouti .050 .070 .569 *.337 * .05/.08 -.05 Dominica .069 creole Dominican Rep .160 creole Egypt .260 France 54.300 3.638 57.982 -54.3 *.988 French Guiana .132 creole .011 .146-.132 *.82 Fr Polynesia .173 .040 .215-.173 *.95 Gabon .440 .251 1.139 *.607 -.44 Guadaloupe .405 .019 .426-.405 *.901 Guinea .550 Haiti .840 5.650 creole Israel .044 Italy .300 Jersey .006 .086 .0868*1.0 -.006 Lebanon .710 Luxembourg .014 Madagascar 1.400 .0 13.702 * 1.4/14.960 *.802 -1.4 Mali .700 .959 8.825 *.188 -.7 Martinique .368 .012 .381-.368 *.925 Mauritania .120 Mauritius .038 .791 creole Mayotte .046 .020 .110-.046 *.318 Monaco .012 .018 .0303-.012 *1.0 New Caledonia .061 .071 .183-.061 *.579 Niger 1.320 .809 8.813 -1.32 * .108 Reunion .590 creole .045 .647-.59 *.782 Rwanda .530 St. Lucia .114 creole Senegal .410 Seychelles .001 .066 creole .004 .0718-.067 *.842 Switzerland 1.340 1.198 6.991-1.34 *1.34 /6.32 *1.0 Togo .670 Tunisia 2.580 USA 1.930 .210 creole Vanuatu .050 creole Virgin Islands .003 Zaire 3.400 .0 43.775 *.718 * 3.4/67.4 (other lingua franca) -3.4 74.529 41.198 29.477 109.866 35.337 Malay-Indonesian Australia .032 Brunei .230 .054 .291-.230 *.882 Indonesia 23.650 143.828 195.283-23.65 *.838 Malaysia 11.660 6.920 19.948-11.66 *.835 Singapore .424 .243 2.989-.424 *.424/4.072 *.911 Thailand 2.140 38.136 151.046 113.659 75.523 German Australia .123 Austria 7.385 .557 8.027-7.47* 1.000 Belgium .090 .097 10.118-.09 * .09/9.350 * 1.000 Belize .003 Brazil .870 Canada .504 Czech .049 Denmark .009 France 1.320 Germany 77.440 6.136 81.966-75.83 * 1.000 Hungary .040 Israel .035 .114 (Yiddish) Italy .300 Kazakhstan .540 Liechtenstein .027 .004 .0305-.0269 *1.0 Luxembourg .009 .280 (Lux'ish) .100 .398-.009 *1.0 -.289 Paraguay .041 Poland .500 Romania .118 Russia .350 Slovakia .005 Sweden .045 Switzerland 4.445 1.617 6.991-4.452 * 4.452/6.991 *1.0 USA 1.840 94.768 1.714 8.511 99.880 5.112