ENGLISH in the World

ENGLISH LANGUAGE STATISTICS:

How many people speak English worldwide?

How many people speak English worldwide in 2023? At what age do children in different countries learn English? Find out in our English Language statistics roundup!

Elizabeth Gration
Nov. 26, 2021
Updated Mar. 2, 2023
Preply Blog

Current research suggests that the English language is now spoken by approximately 1.35 billion people worldwide. That’s 17% of the world’s population. But at what age do children around the world start learning English? And how much do people value this widely spoken language in 2022?
To discover all there is to know about the English language, we conducted a survey of 2,000 people, analysed over 4.3 million online searches and examined the most up-to-date research on the topic.

Global English Language Statistics of 2022 in a Nutshell

• People in the United Arab Emirates are the most keen to learn English, with a higher proportion of searches being conducted here for terms such as ‘Learn English’ and ‘Translate to English’ than any other country worldwide.
• Out of all US states, California has the highest proportion of people who speak a language other than English at home.
• 62% of UK adults think that English is the most important language for non-native children to learn at school around the world.
• English is an official language in 75 different countries worldwide, meaning that 39% of countries have English as one of their official languages.
• The average age at which children around the world start learning English at school is 7 and a half.

Which Countries Want to Learn English Most?

Given that English is the language of science, innovation, business and even the internet, it’s no surprise that so many people around the world want to learn it. But which countries worldwide have the strongest desire to learn the English language at the moment?
To find out, we conducted an analysis of over 4.3 million online searches carried out in the top 100 most populous countries in 2022. Our analysis looked specifically at searches made for the terms ‘learn English’ and ‘translate to English’, and found that:

• People in the United Arab Emirates want to learn English the most, as a higher proportion of searches are conducted here than any other country. Over the last year in the UAE, an average of 34,800 searches were conducted for the term ‘learn English’ and a staggering 1.1 million searches were conducted for the term ‘translate to English’.
• Those in Malaysia also appear to have a strong desire to learn English, with 23 searches being conducted for the term ‘learn English’ per 10,000 of the population, and a further 801 searches per 10,000 being carried out for the term ‘translate to English’ over the last year.
• Other countries that search for terms related to learning English the most include the Phillipines, Sweden and Israel.

Countries conducting the highest proportion of searches for the term ‘learn English’. Data obtained from the online search analysis tool Keyword Finder in February 2022.

Countries performing the highest proportion of searches for the term ‘translate to English’. Data obtained from the online search analysis tool Keyword Finder in February 2022.

At What Age Do Children Start to Learn English at School Around the World?

Our above findings indicate that as well as the people already learning the English language, many more intend to do so, whether that’s via a language learning course, an online tutor or using an interactive app. But as well as those wishing to learn English as adults, there are also many non-native speakers who learn the language whilst at school.
Data obtained from a study conducted at the University of Winnipeg in Canada enabled us to create the following map illustrating the ages at which children in countries around the world are taught English at school.

Map created using Flourish. Greyed out countries are English-dominant. Interactive version can be found here: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/7785913/.

As you can see, English is mandatory in a wide range of school curriculums all over the globe as 138 countries list English as a part of their core curriculum. However 40 other countries allow students to choose the language as an optional course if they so wish.

Numerous linguistic theorists over the years have found that the earlier we learn a language, the more likely we are to become proficient in it. This is commonly referred to as the critical period hypothesis, and some studies have found that learning a language after the age of 10 can significantly decrease your chances of reaching total fluency.
But which countries worldwide teach children English the earliest? And which leave it until after this critical period?
Our analysis of data from the University of Winnipeg’s study found that in the following 23 non-English dominant countries, English lessons are mandatory from the age of 4:

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Armenia
• Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Brunei
• Dominica
• Ecuador
• Ghana
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Jamaica
• Malta
• Marshall Islands
• Mauritania
• Mexico
• Monaco
• Netherlands
• Panama
• Singapore
• Spain
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago

However the following countries start teaching English as a mandatory subject from the age of 12+:

• Benin (12)
• Burkina Faso (12)
• Cambodia (12)
• Central African Republic (12)
• Congo, Democratic Republic of the (12)
• Congo, Republic of the (12)
• Cote d’Ivoire (12)
• Timor-Leste (12)
• El Salvador (12)
• Gabon (12)
• Haiti (12)
• Indonesia (12)
• Mali (12)
• Mozambique (12)
• Nicaragua (12)
• Niger (12)
• Switzerland (12)
• Togo (12)
• Venezuela (12)
• Yemen (12)
• Luxembourg (14)
• Costa Rica (15)
• Iceland (15)

And the following 5 countries only provide English as an optional subject which can be taken by children over the age of 12:

• Angola
• Cape Verde
• Chad
• Guinea
• Senegal

Attitudes Towards the English Language going into 2023

It’s clear that different countries around the world have varying opinions when it comes to the importance of learning English from an early age. But what views do those living in the UK have on the matter?
To find out we polled 2,000 UK adults on 20/10/2021 using the market research company Censuswide asking:

‘For children around the world whose first language is NOT English, which language do you think it is most important they are taught at school?’

The survey revealed that:

• 62% of UK adults think that English is the most important language to teach children in non-English dominant schools.
• 9% of people say Spanish is the most important language for non-English children to learn at school.
• And 6.5% believe that children who are not native in English should be taught French at school.
• Other choices included Mandarin (3.4%), Arabic (1%) Hindi (0.9%), Russian (0.8%), Indonesian (0.6%), Bengali (0.55%) and Portuguese (0.55%).

How Many Countries Have English as an Official Language?

So now you know the ages at which children around the world start to learn English and the attitudes people from the UK have about the importance of the English language. But which countries have English listed as one of their official languages? And what even is an official language anyway?
Well, by definition, a country’s official language is:

‘The language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country’s government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc.’

• Our research found that English is recognised as an official language by law (also known as de jure) in 55 countries worldwide. That’s 28.5% of the world’s countries.
• If we include countries that have English as an official language by fact or de facto (not recognised by law), this increases the total to 75, therefore meaning that 39% of the world’s countries have English as one of their official languages.
• On top of this, there are also some territories within different countries that recognise English as an official language. These include Hong Kong (China), Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius (The Netherlands), San Andrés and Providencia (Colombia) and North and South Caribbean coast autonomous regions of Nicaragua.

Map created using Flourish. Interactive map can be found here: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/7730324/ using data obtained from here.

Which US States Have the Highest Rate of People Who Don’t Speak English at Home

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau tells us that 1 in 5 people in the US can speak two languages, but the vast majority of US adults have English as a first language.
Although English is undoubtedly the language of choice across most of the US, we wanted to find out which states have the highest percentage of people who speak a language other than English at home.
To do this we analysed data from the US census, which enabled us to discover that:

• In California 44% of people speak a language other than English at home.
• The state with the second highest proportion of individuals who speak a language other than English at home is Texas, where 35.5% of people say they do this.
• New Mexico also has a high proportion of people who speak a language other than English at home, with 34% of individuals saying this applies to them.

• The states with the lowest percentage of people who speak a language other than English at home are West Virginia, Mississippi and Montana where figures stand at just 2.6%, 4% and 4.2% respectively.

Fun Facts About the English Language in 2022

So now you know just how popular the English language is, which countries that want to learn it the most, the age at which most non-native speakers are taught English at school and people’s attitudes towards the language in 2022. But guess what? There’s so much more to learn about the English language! So we thought we’d leave you with a few fun facts and figures to be getting on with:

• Did you know that English is the third most common first language in the world, being spoken as a mother tongue by over 527 million people!
• English is by far the most studied language by non-native speakers worldwide, with some experts predicting that the language will be spoken by 2 billion individuals by 2050!
• Studies have concluded that the English language is one of the happiest languages in existence, along with Spanish and Portuguese!

Elizabeth Gration

Elizabeth is a marketing and SEO specialist who produces a wide range of content for clients in a multitude of industries. Her background is in English Language and Linguistics and she has over 5 years of experience working in digital marketing, SEO and PR.


Adapted from: https://preply.com/en/blog/english-language-statistics/. Accessed on March 20, 2023. © 2012-2023 Preply Inc. All rights reserved.