The 12 most spoken languages - 1995 Loglan/Lojban Project baseline values Following is data derived from the 1995 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 1994 are also shown, along with amount of change. 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 source data 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 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 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 (-.001) Hindi 413.231 66.39+206.000 685.621 549.426 .196 (+.002) English 334.786 187.907+59.895 582.588 448.343 .160 (-.003) Spanish 330.999 12.644+11.531 355.174 343.086 .123 ( 0) Russian 210.948 0+77.965 288.913 249.930 .089 (+.001) Arabic 205.272 0+19.705+46.991 271.968 238.620 .085 (+.001) 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 These were the 1994 numbers (The Russian 2nd language numbers were of lower quality because most of the ex-CIS states had no reported literacy figures in the Brittanica, and I used a floor value that turned out to be significantly low). native 2nd/creole+literacy+religion native+1/2*2nd normalized weight for 6 languages based on 1.0 total. Chinese 792.183 310.584+21.957 958.454 .348 Hindi 405.745 56.6+201.225 534.658 .194 English 329.906 163.662+73.214 448.343 .163 Spanish 325.856 7.069+15.723 337.252 .123 Russian 210.772 0+62.456 242.000 .088 Arabic 198.468 0+19.264+48.323 232.262 .084 Bengali 180.290 0+.904 180.742 Portuguese 164.124 6.199+9.238 171.843 Japanese 124.6059 0 124.6059 French 72.589 41.384+23.010 104.786 Malay-Indon. 36.656 .04+133.053 103.203 German 91.616 1.716+7.625 96.287 For comprison, here is the total speakers from the 1987 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. 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 1987 gismu-remaking 1995 World Almanac native 2nd n+1/2s norm. weight weight Chinese 788 752.1 319.1 911.7 .360 .347 English 420 366.5 322.4 527.7 .208 .160 Hindi 382 294 200.3 394.2 .156 .196 Spanish 296 264.7 58.2 293.8 .116 .123 Russian 285 164.3 109.7 219.12 .087 .089 Arabic 177 155.9 57.7 184.8 .073 .085 Bengali 171 87 80.8 127.4 Portuguese 164 110.4 45.5 133.2 Malay/Indon. 128 121.1 39.5 140.9 Japanese 122 120.1 0.6 120.4 German 118 105.4 18.3 114.6 French 114 81.1 75.5 118.9 Following are the 6 columns of 1995 raw data, by language, by country In the raw data, Column 1 is native speakers of the language from the 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 I know the differences are more political than linguistic. 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 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 Russian speakers will probably retain their educated knowledge 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 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 .059 .179 Brunei .043 Cambodia .300 Canada .306 China 784.000 312.38 4.869 1192.300-784.0 *.777 - 312.38 Costa Rica .006 Fr. Polynesia .012 Guam .002 HongKong .066 1.080 2.843 (5.979-1.080)*5.730/(5.730+1.080+1.890)*.881 Japan .200 N.Korea .040 S.Korea .040 Macau .005 .400 Malaysia 1.770 Panama .008 Phillipines .170 Singapore 2.275 .463 2.933-2.275 * 2.275/2.933 *.907 Taiwan 2.780 17.050 21.074-2.78 *.932 Thailand 6.990 USA 1.470 Vietnam 1.010 801.552 314.039 25.225 971.184 169.632 Hindi/Urdu (Nepali Pahari/Bhojpuri/Malthili in Nepal/Bhutan) Bhutan .280 Fiji .356 India 401.640 55.73 175.910 913.744-401.64 *457.37/487.37 *.482 -55.73 Jamaica .050 Mauritius .021 Nepal .700 10.380 Oman .050 Pakistan 9.990 31.090 131.434-9.99 * .256 Trinidad .044 USA .380 413.231 66.390 206.000 549.426 136.195 English Amer. Samoa .002 .052 Andorra .001 Antigua .063 .0027 .066-.063 *.90 Aruba .006 Australia 15.188 2.112 .572 17.875-17.300 *.995 Bahamas .210 .059 .272-.210 *.95 Bangladesh 3.100 Barbados .027 .237 creole Belize .106 .054 creole .047 .210-.160 *.93 Bermuda .062 Botswana .580 .807 1.448-.580 *.736 Brunei .109 Cameroon 5.042 (12.905 * .541) - 1.940 Canada 18.396 7.331 29.107-18.396 * 18.396/25.696 *.956 Colombia .040 creole Costa Rica .066 creole Denmark .018 Dominica .022 .047 .072-.022 *.944 Fiji .160 .511 .771*.87 -.160 France .080 French Guiana .002 creole Gambia .288 1.060 *.272 Ghana 9.694 16.050 * .604 Gibraltar .026 .0028 .0288-.026 * .99 Grenada .092 Guam .054 .090 Guernsey .064 Guyana .572 creole .135 .733 *.964 -.572 Honduras .011 creole Hong Kong .132 1.758 India .310 29.690 .0 913.744-.310 * 30/487.37 *.482 -29.690 Ireland 3.340 .163 3.512-3.340 *3.340/3.516 *1.000 Isle of Man .070 Israel .064 Jamaica 2.350 .145 2.497-2.35 *.984 Japan .070 Jersey .087 Kenya 2.1 Kiribati .071 .0786 *.90 Lesotho .213 1.929-1.64 *.736 Liberia 2.580 creole Luxembourg .004 Macau .002 Malawi .490 3.559 9.732 *.416 -.49 Malaysia .320 5.680 .757 19.506-.320 *6.0/14.02 *.784 -5.68 Malta .008 .008 .368-.008 *.008/.354 *.96 Marshall Isl .002 .0541-.0524 *.912 Mauritius .002 Micronesia .0005 Monaco .002 Namibia .130 Nauru .0008 .0101 Nether Antilles .015 New Zealand 3.355 .160 3.525-3.355 *3.355/3.555 *1.0 Nicaragua .042 creole Nigeria 47.0 creole .0 93.471 *.424 - 47.0 N Mariana Isl .0022 .0419 .0006 .0463-.0022 *.963 -.0419 Norway .023 Pakistan 15.0 Panama .362 creole Papua New Guinea 2.870 creole .0 4.246 *.52 -2.87 Phillipines 36.0 5.719 68.278*.887 *36.0/52.26 -36.0 Puerto Rico 1.732 St Kitts Nevis .042 St Lucia .028 .114 St. Vincent .109 .0009 .110-.109 * .85 Seychelles .002 Sierra Leone 4.400 .0 4.616*.207 -4.4 Singapore 1.097 .0 2.933 *1.097/2.933 *.907 -1.097 Solomon Isl .195 .360 *.541 South Africa 3.620 2.738 41.749 -3.62 *3.62/38.52 *.764 Spain .100 Sri Lanka 1.830 Swaziland .062 (.883-.790)*.67 Sweden .032 Tanzania .800 Tonga .019 (.100-.98)*.928 Trinidad 1.226 creole Tunisia .280 Tuvalu .009 .0097*.955 Uganda .180 Unit Kingdom 56.830 1.592 58.422-56.83 * 1.0 USA 224.900 28.510 5.934 260.967-224.90 *.955 -28.51 Vanuatu .130 Virgin Islands .085 .017 .104-.085 *.90 West Samoa .086 .041 .164-.086 *.086/.163 *1.0 Zambia .800 5.848 9.132 *.728 -.8 Zimbabwe .240 8.098 10.971*.76 -.24 334.786 187.907 59.895 458.687 123.901 Spanish Andorra .029 Argentina 32.810 1.020 33.880-32.81 *.953 Aruba .005 Australia .098 Belgium .050 Belize .066 .054 Bolivia 7.076 .581 7.888-7.076 * 7.076/7.663 *.775 Canada .096 Chile 12.650 1.079 13.805-12.65 * .934 Colombia 34.180 Costa Rica 3.226 .076 3.308-3.226 *.928 Cuba 10.994 Dominican Rep 7.650 .127 7.803-7.65 *.833 Ecuador 10.440 .690 11.221-10.44 * .883 El Salvador 5.642 Equat. Guinea .242 .386 *.628 France .220 Germany .140 Gibraltar Guatemala 6.680 2.196 10.322-6.680 *.603 Honduras 5.207 .069 5.302-5.207 *.731 Israel .045 Luxembourg .003 Mexico 84.590 5.89 .439 91.840-84.59 *.873 -5.89 Nicaragua 3.989 .171 4.210-3.989 *.74 Panama 1.998 .515 2.583-1.998 *.881 Paraguay 2.608 1.107 4.732-2.608 * 2.608/4.507 *.901 Peru 21.090 1.887 23.383-21.09 * 21.09/22.87 *.893 Puerto Rico 3.588 .058 3.653-3.588 *.891 Spain 31.530 6.70 .556 39.193-31.53 *.947 -6.7 Sweden .055 USA 19.640 Uraguay 3.060 .103 3.168-3.06 *.95 Venezuela 20.510 .615 21.177-20.510*.922 Virgin Islands .014 330.999 12.644 11.531 343.086 12.087 Russian/Ukrainian/Belarusian Australia .027 Azerbaijan .560 6.664 7.424 *.973 -.56 Belarus 10.290 .112 10.404 -10.29 *.979 Canada .268 Czech .013 Estonia .520 .975 1.499 *.997 -.52 Georgia .490 4.958 5.503 *.990 -.490 Israel .092 Kazakhstan 8.370 8.386 17.186*.975 -8.37 Kyrgyzstan 1.150 3.203 4.488 *.970 -1.15 Latvia 1.070 1.468 2.551 *.995 -1.070 Lithuania .430 3.234 3.724 *.984 -.430 Moldova 1.380 2.821 4.358 *.964 -1.380 Poland .420 Romania .105 Russia 130.620 17.203 148.174-130.62 *.98 Slovakia .033 Tajikistan .570 5.109 5.813 *.977 -.570 Turkmenistan .480 3.471 4.044 *.977 -.480 Ukraine 51.160 1.126 52.304-51.16 * .984 USA .380 Uzbekistan 2.520 19.235 22.382*.972 -2.52 210.948 77.965 249.930 38.982 Arabic Algeria 23.090 2.712 27.815-23.09 *.574 1.139 27.815*.999 religion -25.802 *.574 Australia .179 Bahrain .400 .106 .552-.40 *.697 .0 .552*.85 religion -.506 *.697 Belgium .160 Cameroon .130 Canada .047 Chad 1.700 .956 6.495-1.7 *1.7/2.54 *.298 .010 2.69 religion-2.656 *.298 Comoros .009 .016 .527-.009 *.009/.137 *.463 .231 .527*.994 religion-.025 *.463 Djibouti .030 .068 .569-.030 *.030/.080 *.337 .151 .569*.96 religion-.098 *.337 Egypt 57.760 .342 58.466-57.76 *.484 .0 58.466*.9 religion Eritrea .394 3.779-1.81*.2 .299 3.779*.5 religion -.394 *.20 literate France 1.470 Gaza .751 Gibraltar .002 Iran 1.290 37.677 59.614*.991 religion-1.29 *.652 literate Iraq 15.320 2.716 19.869-15.320 *.597 .561 19.869*.955 religion-18.036*.597 Israel .980 .870 5.331- .980 * .980/4.647 *.948 Jordan 4.190 .027 4.224-4.19 *.801 Kenya .070 Kuwait 1.420 .039 1.469-1.42 *.797 Lebanon 2.760 .164 2.965-2.76 *.801 Libya 5.020 .131 5.225-5.02 * .638 .0 5.225*.97 religion -5.151 Mauritania 1.690 .129 2.069-1.69 *.34 .081 2.069*.994 religion-1.819 *.34 Morocco 17.610 4.378 26.554-17.61 *.495 2.084 26.544*.987 religion-21.988 *.495 Netherlands .166 Niger .030 Nigeria .300 Oman 1.500 .225 2.048-1.50 *.41 .015 2.048*.86 religion-1.725 *.41 Qatar .220 .251 .552-.220 *.757 .030 .552*.924 religion-.471 *.757 Saudi Arabia 17.050 .560 17.947-17.050 *.624 .076 17.947*.988 religion-17.610 *.624 Somalia .064 6.667-6.550* 548 3.611 6.667*.998 religion -.064 * .548 literate Sudan 12.690 3.525 25.699-12.69 *.271 .808 25.699*.747 religion-16.215 *.271 Sweden .060 Syria 12.300 1.002 13.853-12.3 *.645 .0 13.853*.896 religion -13.302 Tunisia 8.710 .031 8.757-8.71 *.653 Turkey .840 UAE .890 .902 2.125-.890*.730 .164 2.125*.949 religion-1.792 *.730 USA .400 West Bank 1.110 Western Sahara .218 Yemen 12.710 .097 12.961-12.71 *.385 .054 12.961*.999 religion-12.807 *.385 205.272 19.705 46.991 238.620 33.348 Bengali Bangladesh 114.740 .927 117.404-114.74 *.348 India 69.060 Nepal .020 USA .040 183.860 .927 184.323 .463 Portuguese Andorra .007 Angola 3.900 .784 11.233 * .417 -3.9 Australia .029 Brazil 154.950 3.309 159.000-154.95 *.817 Canada .178 Cape Verde .355 France .670 Germany .100 Guinea-Bissau .108 .359 creole .215 1.050-.467 * .365 Luxembourg .040 Macau .010 Mozambique .210 5.638 17.346-.210 * .329 Paraguay .150 Portugal 9.720 .082 9.814-9.72 *.868 Sao Tome .110 .0 .128*.542-.110 Spain 1.570 (Galician) USA .490 166.662 6.294 10.028 174.823 8.161 Japanese Brazil .760 Guam .003 Hong Kong .012 Japan 123.830 N.Marianas I. .0009 USA .480 125.0859 125.086 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 .224 .050 .283-.224 *.851 Indonesia 23.580 132.825 194.746-23.58 *.776 Malaysia 11.400 4.088 19.506-11.40 *11.40/17.72 *.784 Singapore .416 .563 2.933-.416 *.416/1.688 *.907 Thailand 2.100 37.752 137.526 106.515 68.763 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