List of countries by official languages

This is a list of official, or otherwise administratively-recognized, languages of sovereign countries, regions, and supra-national institutions.

Official languages of sovereign countries

Afrikaans:

• South Africa (with English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Albanian:

• Albania

Arabic:

• Algeria (with French)
• Bahrain
• Chad
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• Eritrea
• Jordan
• Iraq (with Kurdish)
• Israel (with Hebrew)
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Maldives
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Nubia
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Senegal
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Syria
• Tunisia
• The United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

Armenian:

• Armenia (with Russian)

Assamese:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Azeri:

• Azerbaijan

Bahasa Indonesia:

• Indonesia

Bulgarian:

• Bulgaria

Bengali:

• Bangladesh
• India (with English, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Assamese, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Sanskrit, Sindhi)

Catalan:

• Andorra
• parts of Spain
  • Balearic Islands (with Spanish)
  • Catalonia (with Spanish)
  • Valencia (called Valencian, with Spanish)

Cree

• part of Canada
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Chipewyan

• part of Canada
  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Croatian

• Croatia
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (with Bosnian, Serbian)
• part of Serbia and Montenegro
  • Vojvodina (with Serbian, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak and Ruthenian)

Danish

• Denmark
  • Faroe Islands (with Faroese)
  • Greenland (with Inuktitut)

Dari:

• Afghanistan (with Pashtu)

Dogrib/Tli Cho

• part of Canada
  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Dutch:

• Belgium (with French and German)
• The Netherlands
• Suriname

Dzongkha:

• Bhutan

English:

• United Kingdom (which includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland)
• Australia
• Bahamas
• Botswana (but the national language is Setswana)
• Canada (federally, with French)
  • New Brunswick (with French)
  • Nunavut (with French, Inuktitut, and Inuvialuktun)
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)
  • Yukon (with French)
• Cyprus (with Turkish and Greek (Hellenic))
• Fiji (with Bau Fijian and Hindustani)
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Hong Kong (with Chinese)
• India (with Hindi and 14 other languages)
• Kenya (with Kiswahili)
• Kiribati
• Malta (with Maltese)
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Papua New Guinea (with Tok Pisin and Motu)
• Republic of Ireland (with Irish)
• South Africa (with Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)
• New Zealand (an official language by custom; the other by law is Māori)
• Singapore (with Malay, Tamil and Mandarin)
• Philippines (but the national language is Filipino)
• The Gambia
• English is an official language in the following states and territories of the United States of America.
  • • Hawaii (with Hawaiian language)
    • New Mexico (with Spanish)
    • Puerto Rico (with Spanish)

Fijian

• Fiji (with English and Hindustani)

Filipino:

• Philippines (with English)

Finnish:

• Finland (with Swedish)

French:

• Algeria (with Arabic)
• Belgium (with Dutch and German)
• Canada (federally, with English)
  • New Brunswick (with English)
  • Quebec
  • Nunavut (with English, Inuktitut, and Inuvialuktun)
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)
  • Yukon (with English)
• Cameroon
• Chad
• Congo-Brazzaville
• Congo-Kinshasa
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Djibouti
• France
• Haiti (with Haitian Creole)
• Ivory Coast
• Luxembourg (with German and Letzeburgish)
• part of Italy
  • the Aosta Valley (with Italian)
• Monaco
• Senegal
• Switzerland (federally, with German, Rhaeto-Romantsch and Italian)
  • Geneva
  • Vaud
  • Valais
  • Jura
  • Neuchâtel
  • Fribourg (with German)
  • Bern (with German)

German:

• Austria
• Belgium (with Dutch and French)
• Germany
• Liechtenstein
• Luxembourg (with French and Letzeburgish)
• part of Italy
  • province of Bolzano-Bozen (with Italian and Ladin)
• Switzerland (with French, and Italian)
  • 17 of the 26 cantons (unilingually German)
  • Graubünden (with Italian and Romansh)
  • Bern, Fribourg (with French)

Greek (Hellenic):

• Greece (Hellas)
• Cyprus (with Turkish and English)

Gwich'in:

• part of Canada
  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, Dogrib, English, French, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Haitian Creole is an official language of:

• Haiti (with French)

Hebrew:

• Israel (with Arabic)

Hindi

• India (with English and 14 other languages)
• Fiji (with English and Bau Fijian; known constitutionally as Hindustani as an umbrella term to cover Urdu, as well as Hindi.)

Hungarian:

• Hungary
• part of Slovenia
• part of Serbia and Montenegro
  • Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Romanian, Slovak and Ruthenian)

Inuktitut:

• parts of Canada
  • Nunavut (with English, French, and Inuvialuktun)
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, and Slavey)
• part of Denmark
  • Greenland (with Danish)

Inuvialuktun

• part of Canada
  • Nunavut (with English, French, and Inuktitut)

Irish is the first official language of:

• Republic of Ireland (with English)

Italian:

• Italy (with German, French, Ladin and Sardinian in some provinces)
• Switzerland (with German, French, and Rhaeto-Romansh)
  • Ticino
  • Graubünden (with German and Rhaeto-Romansh)
• San Marino
• Vatican City (with Latin)
• part of Slovenia
• part of Croatia

Japanese:

• Japan

Kazakh:

• Kazakhstan

Khmer:

• Cambodia

Korean:

• North Korea
• South Korea

Lao:

• Laos

Latin:

• Holy See (Vatican City)

Latvian:

• Latvia

Lithuanian:

• Lithuania

Malay:

• Malaysia (as Bahasa Melayu)
• Brunei
• Singapore (with English, Tamil and Mandarin)

Maltese:

• Malta (with English)

Māori:

• New Zealand (with English)

Mandarin Chinese:

• the People's Republic of China
• the Republic of China (Taiwan)
• Singapore (with Malay, English and Tamil)

Moldovan (asserted by nationalists to be distinct from Romanian; most linguists remain skeptical):

• Moldova

Motu:

• Papua New Guinea (with English and Tok Pisin)

Ndebele:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Nepali:

• Nepal

Northern Sotho:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Occitan:

• Val Varaita and Val Maira (Piedmont, Italy)
• Val d'Aran (Catalonia, Spain)

Pashtu:

• Afghanistan (with Dari)

Persian:

• Iran

Polish:

• Poland

Portuguese:

• Angola
• Brazil
• Cape Verde
• East Timor
• Guinea-Bissau
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Macau (with Chinese)
• Mozambique
• Portugal
• São Tomé and Príncipe
• part of Spain
  • Galicia, using the name Galician [See: Galician, above.] (with Spanish)

Romanian:

• Moldova (known locally as Moldovan, and asserted by nationalists to be a separate language, an assertion disputed by most professional linguists)
• Romania
• part of Serbia and Montenegro
  • Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak and Ruthenian)

Rhaeto-Romansh:

• Switzerland (with German, French, and Italian)
  • Graubünden (with German and Italian)

Russian:

• Armenia (with Armenian)
• Kazakhstan (with Kazakh)
• Russia

Sardinian is a partially official language of:

• part of Italy
  • Sardinia (with Italian)

Serbian:

• Serbia
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Montenegro

Sinhala:

• Sri Lanka (with Tamil, and with English as a link language)

Slavey:

• part of Canada
  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, and Inuktitut)

Slovene:

• Slovenia

Sotho:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Spanish:

• Argentina
• Bolivia (with Aymara and Quecha)
• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Equatorial Guinea (with Bubi and Fang)
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Spain (Aranese, Basque, Catalan and Galician are co-official in some regions)
• Panama
• Paraguay (with Guarani)
• Peru (with Quechua)
• parts of the United States (co-official with English in New Mexico and Puerto Rico)
• Venezuela
• Uruguay

Swahili:

• Congo Zaire
• EACU
• Malawi
• S.Sudan

Swazi:

• Eswatini (with English)
• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Swedish:

• Sweden
• Finland (with Finnish)
  • Åland (unilingually Swedish) (an autonomous province under Finnish sovereignty)

Tamil:

• Singapore (with Malay, English and Mandarin)
• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
• Sri Lanka (with Sinhala, and with English as a link language)

Tok Pisin:

• Papua New Guinea (with English and Motu)

Tsonga:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Tswana:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Turkish:

• Turkey
• Cyprus (with Turkish and Greek (Hellenic))

Ukrainian:

• Ukraine

Urdu:

• India (with Hindi, English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
• Pakistan

Venda:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Xhosa, Zulu)

Vietnamese:

• Vietnam

Welsh:

• Wales (with English)

Xhosa:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Zulu)

Zulu:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa)

Official languages at the level of state or provincial unit only

Aranese:

• part of Spain
  • Val d'Aran (with Catalan and Spanish)

Assamese:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)and lots of languages!!!! more than the ones that are listed

Basque:

• part of Spain
  • Basque Country (with Spanish)

Bengali:

• Bangladesh
• India (with English, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Chipewyan:

• part of Canada
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Cree:

• part of Canada
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Dhivehi:

• Maldives

Dogrib:

• part of Canada
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Frisian:

• part of the Netherlands
  • Friesland (with Dutch)

Galician:

• part of Spain
  • Galicia (with Spanish)

NOTE: Whether Galician is in fact a language, or a dialect of Portuguese, is a matter of debate among linguists.

Gwich'in:

• part of Canada
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Gujarati:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Hawaiian is an official language in:

• part of the United States:
  • Hawaii (with English)

Inuvialuktun:

• parts of Canada
  • Nunavut (with English, French, and Inuktitut)
  • Northwest Territories (included in Inuktitut; with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, and Slavey)

Kannada:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Kashmiri:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Kurdish:

• part of Iraq (only in Kurdish regions, elsewhere Arabic is official)

Malayalam:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Marathi:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Oriya:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Punjabi:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Rusyn

• Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Romanian, Hungarian, Slovak)

Sanskrit:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi)

Sindhi:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sanskrit)

Slavey:

• part of Canada
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, and Inuktitut)

Telugu:

• India (with English, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Xhosa:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Zulu)

Zulu:

• South Africa (with Xhosa, Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda)

Related pages

• European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

This article "List of countries by official languages" is from Simple English Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:List of countries by official languages.

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