List of official languages

Official languages by sovereign countries

Afrikaans:

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

Albanian:

• Albania

Arabic:

• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Chad

• Djibouti
• Iraq (with Kurdish)
• Israel (with Hebrew)
• Lebanon
• Morocco
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Sudan
• Syria
• The United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

Armenian:

• Armenia

Azeri:

• Azerbaijan

Bahasa Indonesia:

• Indonesia

Bulgarian:

• Bulgaria

Catalan:

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

Danish

• Denmark
  • Greenland (with Inuktitut)

Dari:

• Afghanistan (with Pashtu)

Dutch:

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

Dzongkha:

• Bhutan

English:

• 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 (but the national language is Fijian)
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Hong Kong (with Chinese)
• India (Hindi)
• Kenya (with Kiswahili)
• Kiribati
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Papua New Guinea (with Tok Pisin and Motu)
• Republic of Ireland (but secondary to 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
• parts of the United States. The USA Federal Government does not have an official language; English is the first language by custom, not law. See English-only movement. English is official language in the following states and territories:
  • Alabama
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii (with Hawaiian language)
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Kentucky
  • Mississippi
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • New Hampshire
  • New Mexico (with Spanish)
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Puerto Rico (with Spanish)
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Virginia
  • Wyoming

Filipino:

• Philippines (with English)

Finnish:

• Finland (with Swedish)

French:

• 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)
• Chad
• Congo-Brazzaville
• Congo-Kinshasa
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Djibouti
• France
• Haiti (with Haitian Creole)
• part of Italy
  • the Aosta Valley (with Italian)
• Monaco

• Switzerland (with German, Italian, and Rhaeto-Romansch)
  • Geneva
  • Vaud
  • Valais
  • Jura
  • Neuchâtel
  • Fribourg, Bern (with German)

German:

• Austria
• Belgium (with Dutch and French)
• Germany
• part of Italy
  • South Tyrol (with Italian)
• Switzerland (with French, Italian, and Rhaeto-Romansch)
  • 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)

Haitian Creole is an official language of:

• Haiti (with French)

Hebrew:

• Israel (with Arabic)

Inuktitut:

• part 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)

Irish is the first official language of:

• Republic of Ireland (with English as a secondary official language)

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

Japanese:

• Japan

Kazakh:

• Kazakhstan

Khmer:

• Cambodia

Korean:

• North Korea
• South Korea

Lao is an official language of:

• Laos

Latin is an official language of:

• Holy See (Vatican City)

Latvian:

• Latvia

Lithuanian:

• Lithuania

Malay:

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

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 is an official language of:

• 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)

Pashtu:

• Afghanistan (with Dari)

Portuguese:

• Angola
• Brazil
• Cape Verde
• East Timor
• Guinea-Bissau
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Macau (with Chinese)
• Mozambique
• Portugal
• Sao Tome and Principe
• part of Spain
  • Galicia, using the name Galician Galician, above. (with Spanish)

Punjabi:

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

Romanian:

• Romania

Rhaeto-Romansh:

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

Russian:

• Kazakhstan (with Kazakh)
• Russia

Sardinian is a partially official language of:

• part of Italy
  • Sardinia (with Italian)

Sinhala:

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

Sotho:

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

Spanish:

• Argentina
• Bolivia (with Aymara and Quecha)
• Chile
• Colombia
• 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:

• Kenya (with English)
• Tanzania
• Uganda

Swazi:

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

Swedish:

• 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, 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))

Urdu:

• India (with 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

• 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)

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)

Catalan:

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

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)

Telugu:

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

Galician:

• part of Spain
  • Galicia (with Spanish)

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)

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)

• part of Italy
  • the Dolomite Mountains (with Italian)

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)

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)

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)

See also List of official languages by institution for the official languages of regional or international institutions.

Referenced By