70 Statistics About the English Language

Global English Language Statistics of 2022[1]

1. The English language is now spoken by approximately 1.35 billion people worldwide. That’s 17% of the world’s population.
2. 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.
3. Out of all US states, California has the highest proportion of people who speak a language other than English at home.
4. 62% of UK adults think that English is the most important language for non-native children to learn at school around the world.
5. English is an official language in 75 different countries worldwide, meaning that 39% of countries have English as one of their official languages.
6. The average age at which children around the world start learning English at school is 7 and a half.
7. Of 1,453 million speakers of English, 373 million are native speakers (those who speak English as their first language) and 1,080 million are non-native speakers (those who speak English as their second language).[3]
8. Nearly 58 percent of the content on the internet is in English.[3]
9. If we listen to every conversation happening in the world, only 4 percent of the conversations involve native speakers. Rest involves at least one non-native speaker.
10. More than 50 percent of the world’s technical and scientific periodicals are in English.

Which Countries Want to Learn English Most?[1]

11. People in the United Arab Emirates want to learn English the most, as a higher proportion of searches are conducted here than in 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’. 
12. 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.
13. Other countries that search for terms related to learning English the most include the Philippines, Sweden

Number of students learning English as a foreign language in 2022, by country[2]

14. In 2022, the United Kingdom had the most students learning English as a foreign language. There were approximately 262,400 students who were learning English as a second language that year, followed by Ireland with almost 116,000 foreign students. The third place ranking was completed by Canada, with around 105,000 students learning English as a foreign language.[2]
15. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in the UK is 262372. [2]
16. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in Ireland is 115869. [2]
17. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in Canada K is 104847. [2]
18. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in the USA is 100105. [2]
19. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in Australia is 94614. [2]
20. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in Malta is 56675. [2]
21. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in South Africa is 10039. [2]
22. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in New Zealand is 9056. [2]
23.  142 countries include English as a mandatory element of their national education policy. [5]
24. There are over 750 million worldwide who people speak English as a foreign language (EFL).
25. English as a second language accounts for roughly 375 million English language learners according to the British Council.

Attitudes Towards the English Language going into 2022[1]

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: 

26. 62% of UK adults think that English is the most important language to teach children in non-English dominant schools. 
27. 9% of people say Spanish is the most important language for non-English children to learn at school. 
28. And 6.5% believe that children who are not native English speakers should be taught French at school.
29. 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?[1]

30. 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.
31. 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.
32. On top of this, some territories within different countries recognise English as an official language. These include Hong Kong (China), Curaçao, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius (The Netherlands), San Andrés and Providencia (Colombia), and the North and South Caribbean coast autonomous regions of Nicaragua.

Language Learning “Latest” Statistics[4]

33. In 121 nations, English is the most popular language to learn and is the second most popular in an additional 8 nations, accounting for 62% of all countries.[4]
34. In 2018, 27.9% of users said that their primary motivation for learning a language was academics, but in 2019, 22.6% of users joined for this reason between March and April.[4]
35. The top English-learning nations are Yemen, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, and Guatemala, where between 70% and 80% of all students are enrolled in English.[4]
36. The rate of growth in language learning varied significantly by nation, with Iraq leading the list with a 640% increase in new students between March and April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.[4]
37. The rate of growth in language learning varied significantly by nation, with Iraq leading the list with a 640% increase in new students between March and April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.[4]
38. 88% of respondents said they would rather recruit bilingual individuals than monolingual ones.[4]
39. 97% of respondents in another study said that being able to speak another language made traveling simpler.[4]
40. According to Kaplan International, employees who can speak more than one language may anticipate a pay increase of up to 20%.[4]
41. English-speaking U.S. immigrants earn 15-19% more than those who solely speak their native tongue.[4]
42. In 2019 in the United States, English language learners (ELLs) made up 10.4% of the K-12 student population.[5]
43. According to the European Commission’s foreign language learning statistics, in 2019, 96 % of pupils in upper secondary general education in the EU were learning English as a foreign language.[5]
44. When it comes to learning English as a foreign language by country, Statista reports that in 2020 the UK recorded the highest amount of students with over 100,000 people learning English as a foreign language in the UK that year.[5]
45. There are thought to be 400 million English language learners in China.[5]
46. Pre-COVID, it was estimated that 250,000 native English speakers worked at more than 40,000 English language schools and institutes around the world to satisfy global demand for English language learning.[5]

How many English speakers are there worldwide?[5]

47. According to the English Effect, a report issued by the British Council, 1.75 billion people spoke English to a useful level worldwide in 2013.
48. Now in 2022, it is projected that there will be over 2 billion English speakers across the globe. This includes those who speak English as a second language (ESL). That’s over a quarter of the world’s population!
49. The overall total is made up of approximately 400 million native English speakers, with non-native speakers making up the rest. Combined, they make English the world’s most widely spoken language.
50. Statista puts the number at 1.5 billion people who speak English worldwide, either natively or as a second language.

Where is English spoken?[5]

51. English is the official language in 59 countries and 27 non-sovereign entities around the world. It is spoken in 88 countries and is also the language of the United Nations and European Union.
52. The United States has more than 230 million native English speakers, with over 283 million English speakers living there in total.
53. The United Kingdom has approximately 60 million native English speakers. These are the two largest native English-speaking countries by population.
54. Canada comes in third place with 20 million native English speakers.
55. Australia takes the 4th spot with roughly 17 million English speakers. Notable mentions also go to the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, and New Zealand!
56. India: 125 million people speak English
57. Pakistan: 108 million people speak English
58. Nigeria: 79 million people speak English.
59. The Philippines: 64 million people speak English

ESL market statistics[5]

60. The global English language learning market is huge and forecast to be worth $69.62 billion by 2029 according to a report issued by Meticulous Market Research.
61. As of October 2022, 61% of the content language for websites was in English.
62. There are many online learning platforms and multiple English learning apps that help people to start learning English. Consequently, the digital English language learning market alone is expected to grow by $ 14.37 billion during 2022-2026.

Which US States Have the Highest Rate of People Who Don’t Speak English at Home?[1]

63. 1 in 5 people in the US can speak two languages, but the vast majority of US adults have English as a first language. 
64. In California, 44% of people speak a language other than English at home. 
65. 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. 
66. 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.
67. 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.
68. English is the third most common first language in the world, being spoken as a mother tongue by over 527 million people!
69. 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! 
70. Studies have concluded that the English language is one of the happiest languages in existence, along with Spanish and Portuguese

[1][2][3][4]