List of countries where English is an official language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 | 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 | 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 | 1,600 |
| 73 | Pitcairn Islands | 67 |
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ The population figures are based on List of countries by population.
- ↑ Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China
- ↑ Christmas Island is an external territory of Australiako:나라별 영어 사용자 수

