Languages of the World
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Multilingualism in the world’s countries according to CLDR

How many languages do people know, and does any one of them dominate? The Greenberg index (1 − Σp²) computed from CLDR data: 0 – everyone knows just one language, close to 1 – many languages, each known by a large part of the population, none of them dominant.

Method: CLDR gives the share of the population that knows a language – including as a second language – and is not a full census. A language’s share is its percentage divided by the sum of the percentages of all the country’s languages; index = 1 − the sum of squared shares. Because CLDR also counts second-language speakers, countries where many people know e.g. English rank high (Germany, Poland), while Papua New Guinea – with hundreds of mother tongues that CLDR does not describe – comes out low. It measures how multilingual the population is according to CLDR, not the diversity of mother tongues.

  • 0–0.2 71
  • 0.2–0.4 27
  • 0.4–0.6 64
  • 0.6–0.8 67
  • 0.8–1 5

Multilingualism and the number of official languages

High index, one official language (or none): Mozambique 0.83, Zambia 0.80, Guinea 0.78, Germany 0.78, Liberia 0.77, Nigeria 0.76, Netherlands 0.75, Ethiopia 0.75, Slovenia 0.74, Estonia 0.73, Nepal 0.73, Lebanon 0.72.

Low index, several official languages: New Zealand 0.05.

Countries with at least a million inhabitants. Number of official languages – by law, including those not in the atlas (Bolivia, Mali, Zimbabwe).

Ranking

#CountryIndexLanguages in CLDROfficial
1 India 0.86 79 2
2 South Africa 0.85 13 12
3 Mozambique 0.83 12 1
4 Pakistan 0.80 24 2
5 Zambia 0.80 11 1
6 Philippines 0.79 20 2
7 Guinea 0.78 6 1
8 Germany 0.78 24 1
9 Switzerland 0.78 10 3
10 Kenya 0.77 20 2
11 Morocco 0.77 10 2
12 Liberia 0.77 12 1
13 Luxembourg 0.77 5 3
14 Belgium 0.76 6 3
15 Nigeria 0.76 15 1
16 Netherlands 0.75 12 1
17 Ethiopia 0.75 8 1
18 Slovenia 0.74 7 1
19 Estonia 0.73 6 1
20 Nepal 0.73 28 1
21 Lebanon 0.72 6 1
22 Ghana 0.72 10 1
23 Comoros 0.72 4 4
24 Indonesia 0.71 29 1
25 Austria 0.71 8 1
26 Mali 0.71 13 13
27 Algeria 0.71 8 2
28 Fiji 0.71 5 1
29 Slovakia 0.71 7 1
30 Sudan 0.71 9 2
31 Micronesia 0.71 6 1
32 Mauritius 0.70 6 2
33 Namibia 0.70 8 1
34 Singapore 0.70 19 4
35 Israel 0.70 13 1
36 Belize 0.70 6 1
37 Djibouti 0.70 4 2
38 Finland 0.69 10 2
39 Latvia 0.69 4 1
40 Niger 0.69 7 0
41 Thailand 0.68 15 1
42 Malta 0.68 4 2
43 Denmark 0.68 6 1
44 Bhutan 0.68 5 1
45 Lithuania 0.68 4 1
46 Eritrea 0.67 7 3
47 Sierra Leone 0.66 5 1
48 Senegal 0.66 13 1
49 Burkina Faso 0.65 3 0
50 Cameroon 0.65 27 2
51 Tunisia 0.65 3 1
52 Zimbabwe 0.65 9 16
53 Hong Kong SAR China 0.65 3 2
54 Egypt 0.64 5 1
55 Equatorial Guinea 0.64 5 3
56 Jordan 0.64 4 1
57 Iraq 0.63 8 2
58 Uganda 0.63 13 2
59 Iran 0.63 23 1
60 DR Congo 0.63 8 1
61 Kazakhstan 0.62 6 2
62 Macao SAR China 0.62 6 3
63 Tanzania 0.62 16 2
64 Wallis & Futuna 0.62 3 1
65 Cyprus 0.62 7 2
66 Vanuatu 0.62 3 3
67 Afghanistan 0.62 10 2
68 Poland 0.61 11 1
69 Seychelles 0.61 3 3
70 Italy 0.60 20 1
71 Canada 0.60 59 2
72 Bolivia 0.60 5 37
73 Angola 0.60 4 1
74 Bulgaria 0.59 5 1
75 Mauritania 0.59 5 1
76 Romania 0.59 11 1
77 United Kingdom 0.59 24 1
78 France 0.58 18 1
79 Benin 0.58 4 1
80 South Sudan 0.58 3 1
81 Syria 0.58 6 1
82 Malaysia 0.58 11 1
83 United Arab Emirates 0.57 6 1
84 Malawi 0.57 5 1
85 Greece 0.56 10 1
86 Bosnia & Herzegovina 0.56 4 3
87 Czechia 0.56 5 1
88 Andorra 0.56 3 1
89 Ukraine 0.55 12 1
90 Eswatini 0.54 4 2
91 Côte d’Ivoire 0.54 5 1
92 Taiwan 0.53 4 1
93 Portugal 0.53 5 1
94 Spain 0.53 9 1
95 Paraguay 0.53 17 2
96 Kosovo 0.52 3 2
97 Guatemala 0.52 26 1
98 Sweden 0.52 9 1
99 Liechtenstein 0.51 3 1
100 Moldova 0.50 5 1
101 Solomon Islands 0.50 3 1
102 Papua New Guinea 0.50 3 3
103 Burundi 0.50 4 3
104 Niue 0.50 2 2
105 Timor-Leste 0.50 2 2
106 Vatican City 0.50 2 1
107 American Samoa 0.50 2 2
108 Jamaica 0.50 2 1
109 Suriname 0.50 4 1
110 Armenia 0.50 3 1
111 Madagascar 0.50 3 2
112 Palestine 0.50 2 1
113 Cape Verde 0.50 2 1
114 Botswana 0.49 3 2
115 Marshall Islands 0.49 2 2
116 Maldives 0.49 2 1
117 Chad 0.49 2 2
118 Kyrgyzstan 0.49 3 2
119 Aruba 0.49 3 2
120 Nauru 0.49 2 2
121 Gambia 0.49 2 1
122 Lesotho 0.48 5 5
123 Central African Republic 0.47 3 2
124 Kiribati 0.47 2 2
125 Puerto Rico 0.46 2 2
126 Croatia 0.46 4 1
127 Hungary 0.46 8 1
128 Georgia 0.45 8 1
129 Haiti 0.45 2 2
130 Somalia 0.45 4 2
131 Togo 0.44 4 1
132 North Macedonia 0.44 3 2
133 Türkiye 0.43 26 1
134 French Polynesia 0.43 3 2
135 Sri Lanka 0.43 3 2
136 Ireland 0.42 3 2
137 Bangladesh 0.40 10 1
138 Sint Maarten 0.40 4 2
139 Belarus 0.39 2 2
140 Turkmenistan 0.39 5 1
141 Serbia 0.37 6 1
142 Rwanda 0.35 3 4
143 Tonga 0.35 2 2
144 China 0.35 26 1
145 Ecuador 0.32 3 1
146 Norway 0.32 3 2
147 Guam 0.31 2 2
148 São Tomé & Príncipe 0.31 2 1
149 Peru 0.31 3 1
150 Panama 0.28 3 1
151 Uzbekistan 0.28 4 1
152 Myanmar 0.27 9 1
153 Laos 0.27 5 1
154 Russia 0.27 47 1
155 Mexico 0.26 9 1
156 Northern Mariana Islands 0.26 2 3
157 Guinea-Bissau 0.26 3 1
158 Greenland 0.24 2 1
159 Curaçao 0.23 3 3
160 United States 0.22 25 1
161 Gabon 0.22 2 1
162 Brunei 0.21 3 1
163 Tajikistan 0.20 4 1
164 Qatar 0.20 3 1
165 Yemen 0.19 2 1
166 Azerbaijan 0.19 5 1
167 Palau 0.19 2 2
168 Brazil 0.19 13 1
169 Chile 0.18 3 1
170 Mongolia 0.16 5 1
171 Montenegro 0.14 2 1
172 Oman 0.13 3 1
173 Argentina 0.12 4 1
174 Australia 0.08 5 1
175 Vietnam 0.08 6 1
176 Republic of the Congo 0.07 2 1
177 Bahrain 0.07 2 1
178 St. Pierre & Miquelon 0.07 2 1
179 Saudi Arabia 0.06 2 1
180 New Zealand 0.05 2 3
181 Albania 0.05 3 1
182 Samoa 0.04 2 2
183 Cambodia 0.04 3 1
184 Antigua & Barbuda 0.04 2 1
185 Isle of Man 0.03 2 2
186 Japan 0.03 3 1
187 Honduras 0.02 3 1
188 San Marino 0.02 2 1
189 Iceland 0.01 2 1
190 Trinidad & Tobago 0.01 2 1
191 Colombia 0.01 3 1
192 El Salvador 0.00 4 1
193 Dominican Republic 0.00 2 1
194 Venezuela 0.00 2 1
195 Åland Islands 0.00 1 1
196 Anguilla 0.00 1 1
197 Bahamas 0.00 1 1
198 Barbados 0.00 1 1
199 Bermuda 0.00 1 1
200 British Indian Ocean Territory 0.00 1 1
201 British Virgin Islands 0.00 1 1
202 Cayman Islands 0.00 1 1
203 Cook Islands 0.00 1 2
204 Costa Rica 0.00 1 1
205 Cuba 0.00 1 1
206 Dominica 0.00 1 1
207 Falkland Islands 0.00 1 1
208 Faroe Islands 0.00 1 1
209 French Southern Territories 0.00 1 1
210 Grenada 0.00 1 1
211 Guernsey 0.00 1 1
212 Guyana 0.00 1 1
213 Jersey 0.00 1 1
214 Kuwait 0.00 1 1
215 Libya 0.00 1 1
216 Monaco 0.00 1 1
217 Montserrat 0.00 1 1
218 New Caledonia 0.00 1 1
219 Nicaragua 0.00 1 1
220 Norfolk Island 0.00 1 1
221 North Korea 0.00 1 1
222 Pitcairn Islands 0.00 1 1
223 Saint Helena 0.00 1 1
224 South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands 0.00 1 1
225 South Korea 0.00 1 1
226 St. Barthélemy 0.00 1 1
227 St. Kitts & Nevis 0.00 1 1
228 St. Lucia 0.00 1 1
229 St. Martin 0.00 1 1
230 St. Vincent & Grenadines 0.00 1 1
231 Turks & Caicos Islands 0.00 1 1
232 U.S. Virgin Islands 0.00 1 1
233 Uruguay 0.00 1 1
234 Western Sahara 0.00 2 1