# The most spoken languages in the world

According to Ethnologue 2026, counting native and second-language speakers: these are the languages with the most speakers in the world. Indonesian is in the top ten! Which ones do you speak?

- 0 votes · 25 items
- Sep 11, 2026 · Nur Wibowo
- https://even.best/en/l/2331/the-most-spoken-languages-in-the-world

## Top 25

1. **English** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 1.5 billion speakers, most of them as a second language.
2. **Mandarin Chinese** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — More than 1.1 billion speakers, mostly native.
3. **Hindi** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 611 million speakers.
4. **Spanish** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 561 million speakers.
5. **Modern Standard Arabic** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 335 million, all as a second language.
6. **French** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 334 million speakers on five continents.
7. **Bengali** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 274 million speakers.
8. **Portuguese** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 269 million speakers.
9. **Indonesian** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 255 million speakers, mostly as a second language.
10. **Urdu** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 246 million speakers.
11. **Russian** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 210 million speakers.
12. **German** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 133 million speakers.
13. **Japanese** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 126 million, almost all native speakers.
14. **Nigerian Pidgin** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 121 million, mainly as a second language.
15. **Egyptian Arabic** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 118 million speakers.
16. **Marathi** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 99 million speakers.
17. **Vietnamese** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 97 million speakers.
18. **Telugu** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 96 million speakers.
19. **Swahili** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 95 million, mostly as a second language.
20. **Hausa** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 94 million speakers.
21. **Turkish** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 94 million speakers.
22. **Western Punjabi** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 90 million speakers.
23. **Tagalog** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 87 million speakers.
24. **Tamil** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 86 million speakers.
25. **Yue Chinese (Cantonese)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — About 86 million speakers.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.