List of countries where English is an official language
Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIS : List of countries where English is an official language
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.
English in the U.S. and UK is only a de facto official language; these countries have no de jure official language (although some states or regions within them do). New Zealand also has English as a de facto official language, but also has two other de jure official languages (Māori and New Zealand Sign 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). Two exceptions are the Philippines and Liberia, both former US colonies. Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are also currently US territories.
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 | Population |
| 1 | India | 1,103,600,000 |
| 2 | United States | 297,600,000 |
| 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 | Liberia | 3,482,211 |
| 26 | Jamaica | 2,731,832 |
| 27 | Namibia | 2,030,692 |
| 28 | Lesotho | 1,867,035 |
| 29 | Botswana | 1,640,115 |
| 30 | The Gambia | 1,593,256 |
| 31 | Mauritius | 1,230,602 |
| 32 | Swaziland | 1,173,900 |
| 33 | Trinidad and Tobago | 1,088,644 |
| 34 | Fiji | 893,354 |
| 35 | Guyana | 765,283 |
| 36 | Solomon Islands | 538,032 |
| 37 | Malta | 398,534 |
| 38 | The Bahamas | 301,790 |
| 39 | Belize | 279,457 |
| 40 | Barbados | 279,254 |
| 41 | Vanuatu | 205,754 |
| 42 | Guam | 168,564 |
| 43 | Saint Lucia | 166,312 |
| 44 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 117,534 |
| 45 | U.S. Virgin Islands | 108,708 |
| 46 | Micronesia | 108,105 |
| 47 | Kiribati | 103,092 |
| 48 | Jersey | 90,812 |
| 49 | Grenada | 89,502 |
| 50 | Seychelles | 81,188 |
| 51 | Isle of Man | 75,049 |
| 52 | Dominica | 69,029 |
| 53 | Antigua and Barbuda | 68,722 |
| 54 | Bermuda | 65,365 |
| 55 | Guernsey | 65,228 |
| 56 | Marshall Islands | 59,071 |
| 57 | Cayman Islands | 44,270 |
| 58 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 38,958 |
| 59 | Gibraltar | 27,884 |
| 60 | British Virgin Islands | 22,643 |
| 61 | Cook Islands | 21,388 |
| 62 | Turks and Caicos Islands | 20,556 |
| 63 | Palau | 20,303 |
| 64 | Anguilla | 13,254 |
| 65 | Montserrat | 9,341 |
| 66 | Saint Helena | 7,460 |
| 67 | Falkland Islands | 2,967 |
| 68 | Norfolk Island | 1,828 |
| 69 | Christmas Island | 1,600 |
| 70 | Pitcairn Islands | 67 |
See also
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 Australia
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.
