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List of countries where English is an official language

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The following is a list of sovereign states and territories where English is an official language, in order of population. Several of these nations, like Canada and the Philippines, use English as an official language but not the sole official language.

In Australia, English is only a de facto official language. This is the same in the U.S. and the UK, although some states or regions within the UK and the U.S. have English as a de jure official language.

The status of English as a country's official language does not necessarily correlate with the number of English-speakers in that country. This is especially true for India and many African nations, and to a smaller extent for the Philippines.

Note that almost all of these countries are current or former colonies of the UK (see also British Empire). Exceptions include the Philippines, which is a former colony of Spain and the United States, Liberia, which was founded by freeborn and formerly enslaved black people from the United States, and countries formerly part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Palau, Marshall Islands, and Micronesia, Federated States of). American Samoa, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are also currently US territories, while the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico are US commonwealths, both former Spanish colonies before they were transferred to American control. English is a co-official language in Puerto Rico, however more than 90% of the population solely use Spanish at home and work on an everyday basis.

These nations total 2,135 million people, 15,583,152 square miles and about 18 trillion US dollars in GDP. India represents over half this population, and the United States represents over half this GDP.



Rank Country (*= de facto official language) Population[1]
1 India 1,103,600,000
2 United States* 300,007,997
3 Pakistan 162,419,946
4 Nigeria 128,771,988
5 Philippines 87,857,473
6 United Kingdom* 60,441,457
7 South Africa 44,344,136
8 Kenya 33,829,590
9 Canada 32,300,000
10 Uganda 27,269,482
11 Ghana 21,029,853
12 Australia* 20,300,000
13 Sri Lanka 20,064,776
14 Cameroon 16,380,005
15 Zimbabwe 12,746,990
16 Malawi 12,158,924
17 Zambia 11,261,795
18 Rwanda 8,440,820
19 Hong Kong [2] 6,898,686
20 Sierra Leone 6,017,643
21 Papua New Guinea 5,545,268
22 Singapore 4,425,720
23 Republic of Ireland 4,130,700
24 New Zealand* 4,108,561
25 Puerto Rico 3,912,054
26 Liberia 3,482,211
27 Jamaica 2,731,832
28 Namibia 2,030,692
29 Lesotho 1,867,035
30 Botswana 1,640,115
31 The Gambia 1,593,256
32 Mauritius 1,230,602
33 Swaziland 1,173,900
34 Trinidad and Tobago 1,088,644
35 Fiji 893,354
36 Guyana 765,283
37 Solomon Islands 538,032
38 Malta 398,534
39 The Bahamas 301,790
40 Belize 279,457
41 Barbados 279,254
42 Vanuatu 205,754
43 Guam 168,564
44 Saint Lucia 166,312
45 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 117,534
46 U.S. Virgin Islands 108,708
47 Micronesia, Federated States of 108,105
48 Kiribati 103,092
49 Jersey 90,812
50 Grenada 89,502
51 Seychelles 81,188
52 Northern Mariana Islands 80,801
53 Isle of Man 75,049
54 Dominica 69,029
55 Antigua and Barbuda 68,722
56 Bermuda 65,365
57 Guernsey 65,228
58 American Samoa 64,869
59 Marshall Islands 59,071
60 Cayman Islands 44,270
61 Saint Kitts and Nevis 38,958
62 Gibraltar 27,884
63 British Virgin Islands 22,643
64 Cook Islands 21,388
65 Turks and Caicos Islands 20,556
66 Palau 20,303
67 Anguilla 13,254
68 Montserrat 9,341
69 Saint Helena 7,460
70 Falkland Islands 2,967
71 Norfolk Island 1,828
72 Christmas Island [3] 1,600
73 Pitcairn Islands 67

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1.   The population figures are based on List of countries by population.
  2.   Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China
  3.   Christmas Island is an external territory of Australiako:나라별 영어 사용자 수
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