There are approximately 444 million people in the world who speak French as their main language. It is the official language of 29 countries. It is estimated that around 12% of the European Union’s population speaks French as a first language, making it the fourth most widely-spoken European language.
Furthermore, the language’s reach extends far beyond Europe and, in fact, the largest share of the world’s French-speaking population resides in Africa. Moreover, French is recognised as an official language of several global institutions, including the United Nations, NATO and the World Trade Organization.
People who are fluent in French are commonly referred to as "Francophones". With a population of 67 million, France has the largest number of French speakers in the world. The DRC is the second most French-speaking country with an estimated 37 million people, followed by Canada and Cameroon with 10 and 9 million respectively.
List of French-speaking countries
French is recognized as an official language in 29 countries around the world, listed below. Most of the French-speaking countries are part of La Francophonie, and many of them are former French colonies. It is important to note that some of these countries, like Canada, have more than one official language. As a result, French is not especially the first language of all these countries.
- France
- Congo (DRC)
- Canada
- Cameroon
- Belgium
- Ivory Coast
- Madagascar
- Haiti
- Senegal
- Burkina Faso
- Benin
- Guinea
- Mali
- Togo
- Congo (RC)
- Niger
- Chad
- Switzerland
- Central African Republic
- Gabon
- Burundi
- Rwanda
- Luxembourg
- Djibouti
- Equatorial Guinea
- Comoros
- Vanuatu
- Seychelles
- Monaco
In addition, France continues to have political influence over certain overseas territories, known as "Départements et territoires d'outre-mer", or DOM-TOM. These include territories such as Guyana, Guadeloupe and French Polynesia.
