Top 5 Francophone Countries
French is the seventh most spoken language in the world with an estimate of 282 million speakers. The language is one of the major romance languages which evolved from Vulgar Latin between the third and eighth centuries. Resulting from Vulgar Latin were also the famous Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian.
French is the only official language in 13 countries and co-official in 16 other countries. The language is mostly spoken in these top 5 countries:
1. FRANCE. France is located in Western Europe, bordered by the Bay of Biscay and the North Sea. The country borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco and Spain. The current population is 65,879,315 with 62 million persons being native French speakers. Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian are also minor languages spoken in France.
2. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC). DR Congo is situated in West Central Africa with a 25-mile coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. The current population of the Republic is 94,749,482 million people and approximately 42 million persons are natives of French. Congolese people also speak four other national languages: Kituba (Kikongo), Lingala, Swahili and Tshiluba.
3. CANADA. Canada is located in the Northern half of North America. The country is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. Currently holding a population of 38,479,363 million people, 10 million of whom are French speakers. Four other languages spoken in the country are English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Punjabi.
4. CAMEROON. Cameroon, located in Western Africa, is a small country that borders Nigeria, DR Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic and Chad. It is known as the "hinge of Africa" with a population of 27,751,849 million people. It is estimated that at least 9 million people are native French speakers. Along with French, the inhabitants also speak Pidgin English or Cameroonian Creole, and Camfranglais (a mix of French, English and Cameroonian Creole).
5. BELGIUM. Belgium, located in the west of Europe, is bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg or the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and France. It is considered as the "economic and urban nerve of Europe". The country currently has 11,742,400 million citizens, 4.5 million of which are French natives. Two other languages spoken in Belgium are Dutch and German, as well as the Luxembourgish dialect.
The remaining 24 countries that have French as an official or co-official language include:
Rwanda Togo Ivory Coast
Luxembourg Republic of Congo(RC Congo) Madagascar
Djibouti Niger Haiti
Equatorial Guinea Chad Senegal
Comoros Switzerland Burkina Faso
Vanuatu Central African Republic Benin
Seychelles Gabon French Guinea
Monaco Burundi Mali
Online Resources:
French speaking countries list | Lingoda live language education online. (2019, December 6). Lingoda. https://www.lingoda.com/en/content/french-speaking-countries/
Gymglish. (2021, November 15). French speaking countries. The Gymglish blog. https://www.google.com/amp/s/blog.gymglish.com/2021/11/15/french-speaking-countries/amp
List of countries and dependent territories of the World by population. (n.d.). Country Meters. https://countrymeters.info/en/list/List_of_countries_and_dependent_territories_of_the_World_by_population
