Brain Post: Which Country Has More English Speakers Than the USA?

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English is the second most spoken language on Earth right behind Mandarin.  508 million people on Earth speak English.

English is the official language of more countries than any other language:  Hong Kong, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, England, Ireland, Singapore, whoa… this list is long.  Lets just have a look at the wikipedia list below.

Irish guard faints.
Irish guard faints.

The United States has 309 million English speakers.  India has 1.25 billion English speakers;  about 4 times more English speakers than the USA… 

Thus, India is the answer to the question in the title of this post:  Which country has more English speakers than the USA?  India.  India has over 4 times more English speakers than the USA.

Sir Richard Branson is quite English.
Sir Richard Branson is quite English.

WHERE PEOPLE SPEAK ENGLISH:

Countries where English is a de jure/official language
Country Region Population1
 Antigua and Barbuda[1] Caribbean 85,000
 Bahamas[1] Caribbean 331,000
 Barbados[2] Caribbean 294,000
 Belize [3] Central America / Caribbean 288,000
 Botswana [3] Africa 1,882,000
 Cameroon[1] Africa 18,549,000
 Canada[1] North America 33,531,000
 Dominica[1] Caribbean 73,000
 Jordan[1] Middle East 6,000,000
 Fiji[1] Oceania 827,900
 Gambia[1] Africa 1,709,000
 Ghana[1] Africa 23,478,000
 Grenada[1] Caribbean 106,000
 Guyana[4] South America / Caribbean 738,000
 India [3][5] Asia 1,247,540,000
 Ireland[6] Europe 4,581,269
 Jamaica[7] Caribbean 2,714,000
 Kenya[1] Africa 37,538,000
 Kiribati[1] Oceania 95,000
 Lesotho[1] Africa 2,008,000
 Liberia[1] Africa 3,750,000
 Malawi[8] Africa 13,925,000
 Malta[1] Europe 412,600
 Marshall Islands[1] Oceania 59,000
 Mauritius[1] Africa / Indian Ocean 1,262,000
 Federated States of Micronesia[1] Oceania 111,000
 Namibia[1] Africa 2,074,000
 Nauru[9] Oceania 10,000
 New Zealand[1] Oceania 4,294,350
 Nigeria[1][10] Africa 148,093,000
 Pakistan[1] Asia 165,449,000
 Palau [3] Oceania 20,000
 Papua New Guinea[11][12] Oceania 6,331,000
 Philippines[13][1] Asia 90,457,200
 Rwanda[1] Africa 9,725,000
 Saint Kitts and Nevis[14] Caribbean 50,000
 Saint Lucia[1] Caribbean 165,000
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines[15] Caribbean 120,000
 Samoa[16] Oceania 188,359
 Seychelles[1] Africa / Indian Ocean 87,000
 Sierra Leone[1] Africa 5,866,000
 Singapore[17] Asia 5,312,400[18]
 Solomon Islands[1] Oceania 506,992
 South Africa[19] Africa 47,850,700
 South Sudan[20] Africa 8,260,490
 Sudan[1] Africa 31,894,000
 Swaziland[1] Africa 1,141,000
 Tanzania[1] Africa 40,454,000
 Tonga[21] Oceania 100,000
 Trinidad and Tobago[1] Caribbean 1,333,000
 Tuvalu[3] Oceania 11,000
 Uganda[1] Africa 30,884,000
 Vanuatu[22] Oceania 226,000
 Zambia[1] Africa 11,922,000
 Zimbabwe[1] Africa 13,349,000
Countries where English is the de facto language
Country Region Population1
 Australia[23] Australia / Oceania 22,930,576
 United Kingdom Europe 61,612,300
 United States North America 309,442,000
Countries where English is a common de facto secondary, but not primary, language language
Country Region Population1
 Israel[24][25][26] Asia / Middle East 8,051,200

Non-sovereign entities

Entity Region Population1
 American Samoa11 Oceania 67,700
 Anguilla[1] Caribbean 13,000
 Bermuda9[1] North America 65,000
 British Virgin Islands[1] Caribbean 23,000
 Cayman Islands [3] Caribbean 47,000
 Christmas Island12[1] Australia 1,508
 Cocos (Keeling) Islands[1] Australia 596
 Cook Islands14[1] Oceania 20,200
 Curaçao[27] Caribbean 150,563
 Falkland Islands South Atlantic 3,000
 Gibraltar[1] Europe 29,257
 Guam4 Oceania 173,000
 Guernsey10 Europe 61,811
 Hong Kong2[1] Asia 7,097,600
 Isle of Man8 Europe 80,058
 Jersey6[1] Europe 89,300
 Montserrat[3] Caribbean 5,900
 Niue14[1] Oceania 1,600
 Norfolk Island[1] Australia 1,828
 Northern Mariana Islands7 Oceania 53,883
 Pitcairn Islands13[1] Oceania 50
 Puerto Rico3 Caribbean 3,991,000
 Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha[3] South Atlantic 5,660
 Sint Maarten[28] Caribbean 40,900
Colombia San Andrés y Providencia, Colombia [29] Caribbean 59,573
 Tokelau[3] Oceania 1,400
 Turks and Caicos Islands[1] Caribbean 26,000
 U.S. Virgin Islands5 Caribbean 111,000
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10 thoughts on “Brain Post: Which Country Has More English Speakers Than the USA?”

  1. No doubt, India doesn’t have English speakers as many as America, But India is to overtake the US soon as the literacy rate in India is surging rapidly.

    Reply

  5. The claim that India has the most English speaking people is a crock. There are 1.25 billion people I’m India and the leading official language is English. But that doesn’t mean that all of them speak and read / write English. Most know their mother tongue and no other languages.
    The real numbers are 100 million speakers and 30 million who can read English.

    Reply

  6. The statistics regarding English speakers in India is incorrect. India has a literacy rate of 74.04% and not all literates know how to speak or read English.

    Reply

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