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Many countries, through the use ofcensuses, enumerate their populations by languages and by their level of competence in using those languages.

Pashto andDari (Persian) are theofficial languages of Afghanistan;bilingualism is very common.^[1] Both areIndo-European languages from theIranian languages sub-family. Dari has always been theprestige language and alingua franca for inter-ethnic communication. It is the native tongue of the Tajiks, Hazaras, Aimaks, and Kizilbash.^[2] Pashto is the native tongue of the Pashtuns, although many Pashtuns often use Dari and some non-Pashtuns are fluent in Pashto.

Other languages, includingUzbek,Arabic,Turkmen,Balochi,Pashayi, andNuristani languages (Ashkunu,Kamkata-viri,Vasi-vari,Tregami, andKalasha-ala), are the native tongues of minority groups across the country and have official status in the regions where they are widely spoken. Minor languages also includePamiri (Shughni,Munji,Ishkashimi, andWakhi),Brahui,Hindko, andKyrgyz. A small percentage of Afghans are also fluent inUrdu, English and other languages.

Theofficial language ofAlgeria isModern Standard Arabic (literary Arabic), as specified in its constitution since 1963. In addition to this,Berber has been recognized as a "national language" by constitutional amendment since 8 May 2002.Algerian Arabic and Berber are thenative languages of over 99% of Algerians, with Algerian Arabic spoken by about 72% and Berber by 27.4%.^[5]French, though it has no official status, is widely used ingovernment, culture, media (newspapers) andeducation (fromprimary school), due toAlgeria's colonial history and can be regarded as being ade facto co-official language of Algeria.Kabyle, the most spoken Berber language in the country, is taught and partially co-official (with a few restrictions) in parts ofKabylie.

Official language isCatalan, although the most spoken language isSpanish. Other minority languages areFrench andPortuguese.

Thede facto official language isEnglish, whileAntiguan Creole is dissuaded from use. Around 10,000 inhabitants speakSpanish.

Thede facto^[A] official language isSpanish, spoken by almost all Argentines.^[6] Due to the extensive Argentine geography, Spanish has a strong variation among regions, although the prevalent dialect isRioplatense, primarily spoken in the La Plata Basin and accented similarly toNeapolitan language.^[7]

There are several second-languages in widespread use among the Argentine population:

• English,^[B] taught sinceelementary school. 42.3% of Argentines claim to speak it, with 15.4% of them claiming to have a high level of language comprehension.^{[citation needed]}
• Italian, by 1.5 million people.^[6][C]
• Arabic, specially itsNorthern Levantine dialect, by one million people.^[6]
• Standard German, by 400,000 people.^[6][D]
• Yiddish, by 200,000 people,^[6] thelargest Jewish population in Latin America and 7th in the world.^[8]
• Guaraní, by 200,000 people,^[6] mostly in Corrientes, where it is officialde jure.^[9]
• Catalan, by 174,000 people.^[6]
• French, including the rareOccitan language.
• Quechua, by 65,000 people, mostly in the Northwest.^[6]
• Wichí, by 53,700 people, mainly in Chaco^[6] where, along withKom andMoqoit, it is officialde jure.^[10]
• Vlax Romani, by 52,000 people.^[6]
• Japanese, by 32,000 people.^[6]
• Aymara, by 30,000 people, mostly in the Northwest.^[6]
• Ukrainian, by 27,000 people.^[6]
• Welsh, including itsPatagonian dialect, in which 25,000 people are fluent.^[6] Some districts have recently incorporated it as an educational language.^[11]

Armenian is the only official language. Due to its Soviet past, Russian is still widely used in Armenia and could be considered asde facto second language. According to a 2013 survey, 95% of Armenians said they had some knowledge of Russian (24% advanced, 59% intermediate) compared to 40% who said they knew some English (4% advanced, 16% intermediate and 20% beginner). However, more adults (50%) think that English should be taught in public secondary schools than those who prefer Russian (44%).^[12]

Although Australia has no official language, English has always been entrenched as thede facto national language.^[13]Standard Australian English serves as the standard dialect. According to the 2016 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for 72.6% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home areMandarin (2.5%),Arabic (1.4%),Cantonese (1.2%),Vietnamese (1.2%),Italian (1.2%),Greek (1.0%),Tagalog (0.8%), Hindi (0.7%),Spanish (0.6%) andPunjabi (0.6%);^[14] a considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. A 2010–2011 study by the Australia Early Development Index found the most common language spoken by children after English was Arabic, followed by Vietnamese, Greek, Chinese, and Hindi.^[15][16] 0.3% of Australians spoke anIndigenous Australian language at home in 2016.^[14]

The official and national language of Austria isGerman. In some regions in the east of the countryCroatian is a co-official language too.

Native language according to the census in 2009^[17]

English is the most widely spoken language in the Bahamas.Bahamian Creole serves as a vernacular among much of the population.Haitian Bahamians speakHaitian Creole.^[19]

Arabic is the official language of Bahrain, though English is widely used.^[20]Bahrani Arabic is the most widely spoken dialect of the Arabic language, though this differs slightly from standard Arabic. Among the Bahraini and non-Bahraini population, many people speakPersian, the official language of Iran, orUrdu, the official language ofPakistan.^[20]Malayalam andNepali are also widely spoken in theNepalese workers and Gurkha Soldiers community. Hindi is spoken among significant Indian communities.^[20]

According to the Report on Socio-Economic and Demographic Survey 2023 of the2022 Bangladeshi census, 99.17% of Bangladeshis spoke theBengali language as a mother tongue while 0.83% spoke other languages. 92.94% of people did not speak a second language; 6.10% of people spoke English as a second language; 0.80% of people spoke Bengali as a second language, and 0.17% of people spoke another language.^[21] Other languages include theChakma language and theSantali language.

While English is the official language of Barbados,Bajan Creole is used as a vernacular tongue. 98% of Barbados' population is literate in English.^[22]

According to the2019 Belarusian census, 54.1% of the population spoke theBelarusian language natively while 42.3% spoke theRussian language. The rest of the population spoke languages such asPolish andUkrainian.^[23]

In the past, Belgium held a census each ten years, including a language census (nl/fr). Since 1932, the results of this census defined to which official language a municipality belonged (Dutch, French or German). However, this caused a lot of conflicts along the language border, inBrussels andits periphery (due to theFrancization of Brussels). The territory of Belgium was consequently divided into four definitive officiallanguage areas^[24] and the language census was abolished, effective 1 September 1963. No national language censuses have been held since then.

According to the last census in 2012^[25]

The officiallanguage of Brunei isMalay. The principal spoken language isMelayu Brunei (Brunei Malay). Brunei Malay is rather divergent from standard Malay and the rest of the Malay dialects, being about 84% cognate with standard Malay,^[26] and is mostly mutually unintelligible with it.^[27] English and Chinese are also widely spoken, English is also used in business, as aworking language, and as the language of instruction from primary to tertiary education,^{[28][29][30][31]} and there is a relatively largeexpatriate community.^[32] Other languages spoken includeKedayan,Tutong,Murut andDusun.^[26]

In the Bulgarian census, the question about the mother tongue and the ethnic group is an optional one. The results among the people that have answered both questions according to the latest census in 2011 are:^[33]

According toStatistics Canada, no other national census includes as many questions about language as does theCensus in Canada; the 2016 census included seven such questions.^[34] In 2016, all respondents were asked, "Can this person speak English or French well enough to conduct a conversation?"; "What language does this person speakmost often at home?"; "Does this person speak any other languageson a regular basis at home?"; and "What is the language that this personfirst learned at homein childhood andstill understands?".^[35] In addition, a sample of 25% of households received a longer survey asking, "What language(s),other than English or French, can this person speak well enough to conduct a conversation?"; "In [the person's] job, what language did this person usemost often?"; and "Did this person use any other languageson a regular basis in this job?".^[36]

The following is the breakdown of the language spoken most often at home according to the 2016 census:^[37]

Among immigrant languages (a term used by Statistics Canada to refer to languages other than English, French, Aboriginal languages, and sign languages), the top ten languages most commonly spoken at home in 2016 were the following:^[38]

There are abouts 292living languages in China.^[39] The languages most commonly spoken belong to theSinitic branch of theSino-Tibetan language family, which containsMandarin (spoken natively by 70% of the population),^[40] and otherChinese languages:Wu (includingShanghainese),Yue (includingCantonese andTaishanese),Min (includingHokkien andTeochew),Xiang,Gan, andHakka. Languages of theTibeto-Burman branch, includingTibetan,Qiang,Naxi andYi, are spoken across theTibetan andYunnan–Guizhou Plateau. Other ethnic minority languages insouthwest China includeZhuang,Thai,Dong andSui of theTai-Kadai family,Miao andYao of theHmong–Mien family, andWa of theAustroasiatic family. Acrossnortheastern andnorthwestern China, minority ethnic groups speakAltaic languages includingManchu,Mongolian and severalTurkic languages:Uyghur,Kazakh,Kyrgyz,Salar andWestern Yugur.Korean is spoken natively along the border withNorth Korea.Sarikoli, the language ofTajiks in western Xinjiang, is anIndo-European language.Taiwanese aborigines, including a small population on the mainland, speakAustronesian languages.^[41]

Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on theBeijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as alingua franca in the country between people of different linguistic backgrounds.^[42]

Cyprus has two official languages,Greek andTurkish.^[43]Armenian andCypriot Maronite Arabic are recognized as minority languages.^[44][45] Although without official status,English is widely spoken. English features on road signs, public notices, and in advertisements, etc.^[46] English was the sole official language during British colonial rule and lingua franca (until 1960) and continued to be used (de facto) in courts of law until 1989 and in legislature until 1996.^[47] A reported 80.4% of Greek Cypriots have command of the English language assecond language (L2).^[48]Russian is widely spoken among the country's minorities, residents and citizens of post-Soviet countries, as well asPontic Greeks. It is used and spoken by approximately 100,000 people, including Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Armenians, Pontic Greeks, Georgians and Bulgarians.^{[citation needed]} Russian, after English and Greek, is the third language used on many signs of shops and restaurants, particularly in Limassol and Paphos. In addition to these languages, 12% speak French and 5% speak German.^[49]

The everyday spoken language of Greek Cypriots isCypriot Greek and that of Turkish Cypriots isCypriot Turkish. These both differ from their respectivestandard register quite significantly.^{[citation needed]}

The first official censuses for the Czech lands (then part ofAustria-Hungary) in the years 1869–1910 recorded each person's "language of communication" ("obcovací řeč"). This used to be criticised by linguistic minorities as representing the language of a person's surroundings rather than his or her own. The Czechoslovak censuses (1921, 1930, 1950, 1961, 1980) did not register respondents' language but "národnost" (ethnicity) which was to be assessed primarily, but not exclusively, on the basis of the person's "maternal tongue" ("mateřská řeč"). The 1970 census as well as modern censuses (1990, 2001, 2011) register both "ethnicity" and "maternal tongue" (which was, for example in the 2001 census, defined as "the language in which your mother or the persons having raised you spoke with you during your childhood"^[50]).^[51] The 2011 census form was the first to allow a person to claim two native languages. While certain options are habitually suggested in the form (in 2011: Czech, Slovak, Romani, Polish, German, sign language), the possibility "Other" can be chosen together with completing one's own specification. Unlike "ethnicity", this is an obligatory field in the form.^[52]

As the2011 census introduced the possibility to state two native languages, the table below includes the number in both languages' rows.

¹ IncludingMoravian (62,908 in 2011, 28,647 in 2021)

Danish censuses did not include inquiries on languages. The last one was in 1970.

Speakers by mother tongue in census 2010.^[56]

• Official languages:
  • Tetum: 449,085
  • Portuguese: 595
• National languages:
  • Atauro (Wetarese, including Dadu'a, Rahesuk, Raklungu and Resuk): 8,400
  • Bekais (Becais, Welaun): 3,887
  • Bunak (Bunaq, Búnaque, Buna', Bunake, Mgai, Gai, Marae): 55,837
  • Fataluku (Fataluco, Fatalukunu, Dagaga, Dagoda, Dagada): 37,779
  • Galoli (Galóli, Lo'ok, Galole, Galolen, Glolen): 13,066
  • Habun (Habo): 2,741
  • Idalaka (Idalaca, including Idaté, Lakalei, Isní und Lolein): 18,854
  • Kawaimina (Cauaimina, including Kairui, Waimaha, Midiki, Naueti): 49,096
  • Kemak (Ema, Quémaque): 61,969
  • Makuva (Makuwa, Maku'a, Lovaia, Lovaea): 56
  • Makalero (Macalero, Maklere): 7,802
  • Makasae (Macasae, Makasai, Makassai, Makassae, Macassai, Ma'asae, including Sa'ane): 101,854
  • Mambai (Mambae, Manbae): 131,361
  • Tokodede (Tocodede, Tukude, Tokodé, Tocod): 39,483
  • Baikeno (Dawan): 62,201
• Working languages:
  • English
  • Indonesian
• Extinct languages:
  • Rusenu
• Other languages:
  • Adabe: 181

According to the2011 Population and Housing Census (PHC 2011) 157 (up from 109 in 2000) different languages are spoken as native language inEstonia. Of those 25 have more than 100 speakers.^[57]

Estonian is the official language of Estonia and 886,859 or 68.5% of permanent residents spoke it as native language.^[57] Russian is spoken by 383,062 (29.6%), Ukrainian by 8,012 (0.6%), Finnish by 2,617 (0.17%) and Belarusian by 1,663 (0.13%). Other languages have less than thousand speakers.

There are two official languages in the Faroe Islands,Danish andFaroese.^[58] According to the public censusHagstova Føroya in 2014, more than 90 percent had Faroese as their first language.^[59] The entire list of spoken languages in 2014 is:^[60]

Fiji currently recognises 3 languages in its country. The languages areFijian,Fiji Hindi andEnglish. As of 2017 450,000 of the population speaks Fijian as their first language and another 200,000 speak it as their second language. Fiji Hindi is another of the official languages of Fiji and has about 460,000 as of 1991. English is an official language as it was a British colony some time ago. There are many other languages spoken in Fiji such as Hindi and Chinese but they do not have any status in Fiji.

According to the Finnish constitution, the two national languages of Finland areFinnish andSwedish. About six per cent of the Finnish people speak Swedish as their mother tongue. The constitution also grants for the speakers ofSami,Romani and other languages the right to maintain and develop their language and culture. The right to use sign language is also set in the Finnish Language Act.^[61] In accordance with the Population Census Act, censuses are drawn every ten years, and the mother tongue of each resident is registered. However, key census data, including population by native language, are updated annually. According to the official statistics, speakers of 155 different languages have been registered. The censuses use the ISO 639-1 language classification.^[62][63]

France recognizes but one language, French, declared national language. Other indigenous languages have no official status, although their teaching is tolerated in some places under specific conditions, and there has never been any question about languages in a French national census.

However, the March 1999 census was associated with anINSEE survey "Study of family history" for 380 thousand people, including questions about language transmission.^[64][65]

The census 2011 and the West-German census 1987 did not inquire about language. Since the 2017 micro census, a survey conducted with a sampling fraction of 1% of the persons and households in Germany that supplies basic socio-demographic data and facilitates the ongoing monitoring of the labour market, a question asking "Which language is being spoken predominantly in your household?" was added,^[66] eighty years since the 1939 Census asked for the Mother tongue of the population.^[67]

The official language ofGreece isGreek, spoken by 99% of the population. In addition, a number of non-official, minority languages and some Greek dialects are spoken as well. The most common foreign languages learned by Greeks are English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.

The two official languages of Haiti areFrench andHaitian Creole. French is the principal written and administratively authorized language. It is spoken by all educated Haitians, is the medium of instruction in most schools, and is used in the business sector. Haitian Creole,^[68] which recently undergone a standardization, is spoken by virtually the entire population of Haiti.^[69]

Officially English and Chinese are the two official language ofHong Kong. The definition of Chinese is somehow ambiguous as Chinese itself consists of a number ofmutually unintelligible varieties. Cantonese is the major spoken language in Hong Kong and written in various form withtraditional Chinese characters. English is a variant of British English, though American English is also commonly used in Hong Kong.

From 19th century, thepopulation Census in Hong Kong has investigated what languages the people of Hong Kong speak.Hakka,Hoklo,Sze Yap,Shanghainese andTanka^{[dubious –discuss]} have lost importance over time. Cantonese has come to be spoken by the vast majority, though there are increasingly more Mandarin-speaking people, particularly since the turn of the millennium.

Starting from 1880 the Hungarian census system was based on native language (the language spoken at home in the early life of the person and at the time of the survey), vulgar language (the most frequently used language in the family), and other spoken languages.

Native language according to the last census in 2011^[70]

Iceland has been a very isolated and linguistically homogeneous island historically, but has nevertheless beheld several languages.Gaelic was native to many of the early Icelanders, theIcelandic orNorse language however prevailing, albeit absorbing Gaelic features. Later, northern trade routes broughtGerman,English,Dutch,French andBasque. Some merchants and clergymen settled in Iceland throughout the centuries, leaving their mark on culture, but linguistically mainly trade, nautical or religious terms. Excluding these andLatin words, Icelandic has altered remarkably little sincesettlement, the island's residents living in seclusion.

Icelandic is not only the national language, but is now "the official language in Iceland" by virtue of Act No 61/2011, adopted by parliament in 2011.^[71]Icelandic Sign Language was also officially recognised by law in 2011 as a minority language with constitutional rights and the first language of the Icelandic deaf community. During the time ofDanish rule,Danish was a minority language in Iceland,^[72] although it is nowadays only spoken by a small number of immigrants.

India is a linguistically diverse country, with over 121 languages and 270 dialects spoken.^[73] The population of India in 1991 exhibited 19.4%bilingualism and 7.2%trilingualism.Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India, with over 522 million native speakers. It is also the official language of the central government of India.Bengali is the second most widely spoken language in India, with over 97 million native speakers.Marathi is the third most widely spoken language in India, with over 83 million native speakers. The other major languages in India areTelugu,Tamil,Gujarati,Urdu,Kannada,Odia,Malayalam,Punjabi,Assamese,Konkani,Maithili,Dogri, andSantali.

Indonesian functions as the official language of the country, but it coexists with a high number of local languages. According to Ethnologue, there are currently about 737 living languages in Indonesia,^[74] the most widely spoken beingJavanese. Most Indonesians are bilingual and trilingual.

A number of Chinese varieties, most prominentlyMin Nan, are also spoken. The public use ofChinese, especially Chinese written characters, was officially discouraged between 1966 and 1998.

Arabic are used in religious setting, and in Madrasah (Islamic boarding school), and in various names (people and places). Arabic script (Jawi script) is used in many local languages.

English is taught in school as foreign language. Some school are also teaching other languages as foreign language, such as Chinese, and/or other Asian/European languages.

The majority of the population speaksPersian, which is also theofficial language of the country, as well as otherIranian languages or dialects.Turkic languages and dialects, most importantlyAzerbaijani language, are spoken in different areas in Iran. In southwestern and southern Iran,Luri andLari are spoken. InKurdistan Province and nearby area'sKurdish is widely spoken. In Khuzestan,many distinct Persian dialects are spoken.Arabic is also spoken in Khuzestan. Notable minority languages in Iran includeArmenian,Georgian, andNeo-Aramaic.Circassian was also once widely used by the large Circassian minority, but due to assimilation over the many years no sizable number of Circassians speak the language anymore.^{[75][76][77][78]}

Arabic is the majority language whileKurdish is spoken by approximately 10–15% of the population andTurkmen,^[79] theNeo-Aramaic language of theAssyrians and others, by 5%.^[80] Other smaller minority languages includesMandaic,Shabaki,Armenian,Circassian andPersian.

Previously to the invasion in 2003,Arabic was the sole official language. Since the newConstitution of Iraq was approved in June 2004, both Arabic andKurdish are an official languages,^[81] whileAssyrian Neo-Aramaic andTurkmen language (referred to as respectively "Syriac" and "Turkmen" in the constitution) are recognized as a regional languages.^[82] In addition, any region or province may declare other languages official if a majority of the population approves in a general referendum.^[83]

Based on theIraqi constitution: "The Arabic language and the Kurdish language are the two official languages of Iraq. The right of Iraqis to educate their children in their mother tongue, such as Turkmen, Assyrian, and Armenian shall be guaranteed in government educational institutions in accordance with educational guidelines, or in any other language in private educational institutions".^[84]

The 2016 Irish census included the following questions: "Can you speak Irish?" (and if yes, whether the respondent spoke Irish daily within the education system, daily outside the education system, weekly, less often, or never); "Do you speak a language other than English or Irish at home?" (and if yes, which language); and "How well do you speak English?" (very well, well, not well, or not at all).^[85]

In 2016, 1,761,420 persons stated that they could speak Irish (39.8% of the population). However, of this group, 418,420 (23.8% of Irish speakers) reported that they never spoke it, and 558,608 (31.7%) reported that they only spoke it within the education system.^[86]

French, as an official language, is taught in schools and serves as alingua franca in the country. Ethnic groups includeAkan 42.1%, Voltaiques orGur 17.6%,Northern Mandes 16.5%,Krous 11%,Southern Mandes 10%, other 2.8% (includes 30,000 Lebanese and 45,000 French; 2004). 77% of the population are considered Ivoirians. They represent several different peoples and language groups. An estimated 65 languages are spoken in the country. One of the most common isDyula, which acts as a trade language as well as a language commonly spoken by the Muslim population.

The official language of Jamaica isEnglish. Jamaicans primarily speak an English-AfricanCreole language known asJamaican Patois.

The 2011 Population and Housing Census did not include any questions about language use.^[87]

More than 99 percent of the population speaks Japanese as their first language.^[80]

Besides Japanese, other languages likeRyukyuan languages (Amami,Kunigami,Okinawan,Miyako,Yaeyama,Yonaguni), also part of theJaponic language family, are spoken in theRyukyu Islands chain. Few children learn these languages,^[88] but in recent years the local governments have sought to increase awareness of the traditional languages. TheOkinawan Japanese dialect is also spoken in the region. TheAinu language, which has no proven relationship to Japanese or any other language, ismoribund, with only a few elderly native speakers remaining in Hokkaido.^[89] Most public and private schools require students to take courses in both Japanese andEnglish.^[90][91]

Some figures from the2011 census:

Main language spoken as of 1 February 2011 (in %)

Source: STATEC – RP2011,Langue principale parlée au 1er février 2011, en %

Languages spoken at work, at school and/or at home on 1 February 2011 (multiple answers possible)

Source : STATEC – RP2011:Langues parlées au travail, à l'école et/ou à la maison au 1er février 2011 (réponses multiples possibles)

Number of languages spoken at work, at school and/or at home, as of 1 February 2011

Source : STATEC – RP2011:Nombre de langues parlées au 1er février 2011

As of the last national census in 2002, of the republic's 2,022,547 people, 67% speakMacedonian as their mother tongue. The next most common mother tongue isAlbanian with 25% of the population. Other minority languages includeTurkish (3.6%),Romani (1.9%), and theSerbo-croatian languages (1.6%).^[92]

The national or official language isMalay, which is the mother tongue of the majorityMalay ethnic group. The main ethnic groups within Malaysia comprise theMalays,Chinese andIndians, with many other ethnic groups represented in smaller numbers, each with its own languages. The largest native languages spoken inEast Malaysia are theIban,Dusunic and theKadazan languages.English is widely understood in service industries and is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary school.

Malaysia contains speakers of 137 living languages,^[93] 41 of which are found in Peninsula Malaysia.^[94] The government provides schooling at theprimary level in each of the three major languages, Malay, Chinese (Mandarin), and Tamil. Within these three there are a number of dialectal differences.^[95]

Malta has two official languages:Maltese and English. Maltese is also the national language. Until 1934,Italian was also an official language in Malta. Having been governed by many different countries in the past, theMaltese population is generally able to converse in languages which are not native to the country, namely English and Italian.

According to the 2011 census, there were 377,952 people aged 10 and over, of whom 352,121 people (93.2%) declared to speakMaltese "Well", 248,570 (65.8%) declared to speak English "Well" and 93,401 (24.7%) declared to speak Italian "Well", out of a scale made of "Well", "Average", "A little" and "Not at all".^[96]

The official language of Mongolia isMongolian, which is spoken by 95% of the population. A variety ofdialects ofOirat andBuryat are spoken across the country, and there are also some speakers ofMongolic Khamnigan. In the west of the country,Kazakh andTuvan, bothTurkic languages, are also spoken.Mongolian Sign Language is the principal language of the deaf community.

Russian is the most frequently spoken foreign language in Mongolia, followed byEnglish, although English has been gradually replacing Russian as the second language.Korean has gained popularity as tens of thousands ofMongolians work in South Korea.^[97]

Interest inChinese, as the language of the other neighbouring power, has been growing.^{[citation needed]} A number of older educated Mongolian citizens speak someGerman, as they studied in the formerEast Germany, while a few speak other languages from the formerEastern Bloc. Many younger people are fluent in the Western European languages as they study or work in, among other places,Germany,France andItaly.^{[citation needed]}

The official language of Myanmar isBurmese; which is spoken by 81% of population. First language is about 69% and second language user is about 12%.

The 2011 National census lists 123 languages spoken as a mother tongue (first language) inNepal.^[98] Most belong to theIndo-Aryan andSino-Tibetanlanguage families.

The official language of Nepal isNepali (नेपाली), formerly called Khaskura then Gorkhali. According to the 2011 national census, the percentage of people with Nepali as the mother tongue is 44.6%.^[99]

The2018 New Zealand census included a question asking, "In what language(s) could you have a conversation about a lot of everyday things?"^[100] Respondents could choose more than one language. The top five selections were:^[101]

In the Norwegian census of 1970, in limited areas in Northern Norway, people were identified by ethnicity and language. Such information has not been included in any census since then.^[102] During the 19th century, the Norwegian government collected ethnicity and language information.^[103]

Ethnologue lists 175 individual languages in the Philippines, 171 of which are living languages, while 4 no longer have any known speakers. Most native languages are part of thePhilippine branch of theMalayo-Polynesian languages, which is itself a branch of theAustronesian language family.^[106] The only non-Austronesian language indigenous to the Philippines isChavacano, a Spanish-based creole. According to the1987 Philippine Constitution,Filipino and English are the official languages. Filipino is a standardized version ofTagalog, spoken mainly in Metro Manila and other urban regions. Both Filipino and English are used in government, education, print, broadcast media, and business. The constitution mandates that Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis.^[107]

Nineteen regional languages act as auxiliary official languages used as mediums of instruction:Aklanon,Bikol,Cebuano, Chavacano,Hiligaynon,Ibanag,Ilocano,Ivatan,Kapampangan,Kinaray-a,Maguindanao,Maranao,Pangasinan,Sambal,Surigaonon, Tagalog,Tausug,Waray, andYakan.^[108] Other indigenous languages such asCuyonon,Ifugao,Itbayat,Kalinga,Kamayo,Kankanaey,Masbateño,Romblomanon, and severalVisayan languages are prevalent in their respective provinces. TheChavacano language, acreole language born from Spanish (of the Mexican and Peruvian strain), is also spoken inCavite andZamboanga.^[109] Languages not indigenous to the islands are also taught in select schools.Standard Mandarin is used in Chinese schools catering to theChinese Filipino community. Islamic schools inMindanao teachModern Standard Arabic in their curriculum.^[110]French,German,Japanese,Korean,Spanish are taught with the help of foreign linguistic institutions, respectively,Alliance Française,Goethe-Institut,Japan Foundation,Korean Cultural Center orKing Sejong Institute, andInstituto Cervantes.^[111] The Department of Education began teaching theMalay languagesIndonesian andMalaysian in 2013.^[112]

In the2002 census and2011 census was the possibility to state more than onehome language, while in 2011 census was also possibility to statenative languages; the table below includes the number in all languages' rows.

The official language of Portugal is Portuguese, which is spoken by the whole population. A small minority speaksMirandese, recognized as a regional language, but all Mirandese speakers also speak Portuguese.

Arabic is the official language of Qatar, withQatari Arabic the local dialect.Qatari Sign Language is the language of the deaf community. English is also widely spoken,^[116] and is considered to be a rising lingua franca, especially in commerce, to the extent that steps are being taken to try to preserve Arabic from English's encroachment.^[117] English is particularly useful for communication with Qatar's large expatriate community. In 2012, Qatar joined the international French-speaking organisation ofLa Francophonie as a new associate member,^[118] justifying its inscription by the consequent number of French speakers in the country (10% of the Qatari population would be francophone).^[119][120] Reflecting the multicultural make-up of the country, many other languages are also spoken, includingHindi,Malayalam,Urdu,Tamil,Nepali andTagalog.^[121]

Romanian is the official language of Romania. According to the last census in 2011^[122]

Singapore has four official languages.^[124] The four languages that are recognised by theSingapore Government are:English,Malay,Mandarin, andTamil.^[125] They were chosen to correspond with the major ethnic groups present in Singapore at the time as well as for the following reasons: Mandarin had gained status since the introduction of Chinese-medium schools; Malay was deemed the "most obvious choice" for the Malay community; and Tamil for the largest Indian ethnic group in Singapore, in addition to being "the language with the longest history of education in Malaysia and Singapore".^[126] In 2009, more than 20 languages were identified as being spoken in Singapore, reflecting a rich linguistic diversity in the city.^[127][128] Singapore's historical roots as atrading settlement gave rise to an influx of foreign traders,^[129] and their languages were slowly embedded in Singapore's modern day linguistic repertoire.

Malay is the national language of the country, although English is mainly used. English serves as the link between the different ethnic groups and is the language of theeducational system and the administration. The colloquial English used in everyday life is often referred to asSinglish.

The government of Singapore has been promoting the use of Mandarin, the official form of Chinese in Singapore as well as mainland China and Taiwan, with itsSpeak Mandarin Campaign among the Chinese population. The use of othervarieties of Chinese, likeHokkien,Teochew,Cantonese,Hainanese andHakka, has been declining over the last two decades, although they are still being used especially by the older generations of the Chinese population.

About 60% of Singapore's Indian population speaksTamil as their native language. Other widely spokenIndian languages arePunjabi,Malayalam,Hindi andTelugu.

Around 5,000Peranakans, the early Chinese population of the region, still use the Hokkien-influencedMalay dialect that calledBaba Malay.

Thirteen options are provided in response to the question "Which two languages does(name) speak most often in this household?", namely the elevenofficial languages,sign language and "Other".^[131]

Spain is openly multilingual,^[132] and the constitution establishes that the nation will protect "all Spaniards and the peoples of Spain in the exercise of human rights, their cultures and traditions, languages and institutions.^[133]

Spanish (español)—officially recognized in the constitution asCastilian (castellano)—is the official language of the entire country, and it is the right and duty of every Spaniard to know the language. The constitution also establishes that "all other Spanish languages"—that is, all other languages of Spain—will also be official in their respective autonomous communities in accordance to theirStatutes, their organic regional legislations, and that the "richness of the distinct linguistic modalities of Spain represents a patrimony which will be the object of special respect and protection."^[134]

The other official languages of Spain, co-official with Spanish are:

• Basque (euskara) in theBasque Country andNavarre;
• Catalan (català) inCatalonia, theBalearic Islands and in theValencian Community, where its distinct modality of the language is officially known asValencian (valencià); and
• Galician (galego) inGalicia

As a percentage of the general population, Basque is spoken by 2%, Catalan (or Valencian) by 17%, and Galician by 7% of all Spaniards.^[135]

InCatalonia,Aranese (aranés), a local variety of theOccitan language, has been declared co-official along with Catalan and Spanish since 2006. It is spoken only in thecomarca ofVal d'Aran by roughly 6,700 people. OtherRomanceminority languages, though not official, have special recognition, such as the Astur-Leonese group (Asturian,asturianu; also called "bable", inAsturias^[136] andLeonese,llionés, inCastile and León) andAragonese (aragonés) inAragon.

In theNorth African Spanish autonomous city ofMelilla,Riff Berber is spoken by a significant part of the population. In the tourist areas of the Mediterranean coast and the islands, English and German are widely spoken by tourists, foreign residents, and tourism workers.

BothSinhala andTamil are the official and national languages ofSri Lanka. The Sinhala language is spoken by theSinhalese people, who constitute approximately 74% of the national population and total about 13 million. It utilizes theSinhala abugida script, which is derived from the ancientBrahmi script. TheRodiya language, a dialect of Sinhala, is spoken by the low-caste community of chamodi veddhas. TheVeddah peoples, totaling barely 2500,^[137] speak a distinct language, possibly a creolized form of an earlier indigenous language. The Tamil language is spoken bySri Lankan Tamils, as well as byTamil migrants from the neighboringIndian state of Tamil Nadu and bySri Lankan Moors. Tamil speakers number around 5 million. There are more than 50,000 speakers of theSri Lankan Creole Malay language, which is strongly influenced by the Malay language.

Dutch is the sole official language, and is the language of education, government, business, and the media.^[80] Over 60% of the population speak Dutch as amother tongue,^[138] and most of the rest speak it as a second language.

In Paramaribo, Dutch is the main home language in two-thirds of households.^[139] The recognition of"Surinaams-Nederlands" ("Surinamese Dutch") as a national dialect equal to"Nederlands-Nederlands" ("Dutch Dutch") and"Vlaams-Nederlands" ("Flemish Dutch") was expressed in 2009 by the publication of theWoordenboek Surinaams Nederlands (Surinamese–Dutch Dictionary).^[140] Only in the interior of Suriname is Dutch seldom spoken.

Sranan, a localcreole language originally spoken by thecreole population group, is the most widely used language in the streets and is often used interchangeably with Dutch depending on the formality of the setting.^[141]

Surinamese Hindi or Sarnami, a dialect ofBhojpuri, is the third-most used language, spoken by the descendants ofSouth Asian contract workers from thenBritish India.Javanese is used by the descendants of Javanese contract workers. TheMaroon languages, somewhat intelligible with Sranan Tongo, includeSaramaka,Paramakan,Ndyuka (also calledAukan),Kwinti andMatawai.Amerindian languages, spoken by Amerindians, includeCarib andArawak.Hakka andCantonese are spoken by the descendants of the Chinese contract workers.Mandarin is spoken by some few recent Chinese immigrants.English,Spanish andPortuguese are also used. Spanish and Portuguese are spoken by Latin American residents and their descendants and sometimes also taught in schools.

From 1850 until 2000, Switzerland had a census every 10 years. Beginning in 2010, they switched to a yearly system which used a combination ofmunicipal citizen records and a limited number of surveys.^[142] Data on the main language spoken by citizens and non-citizen residents has been collected since at least 1970. Of the four official languages, German is the most commonly spoken, with 64.94% of the total population speaking it in 1970 and 63.67% in 2000. French was spoken by 18.09% in 1970 and 20.38% in 2000, while Italian was 11.86% in 1970 and 6.46% in 2000. The fourth national language,Romansh was spoken by just 0.8% in 1970 and 0.48% in 2000. In the 2000 census, English (1.01%), Spanish (1.06%), Portuguese (1.23%), Serbian and Croatian (1.42%) and Albanian (1.30%) were all spoken by significantly more residents than Romansh.^[143]

Selected languages from the 1970 to 2000 census are given in the following table:^[143]

Arabic is anofficial language of Syria. Several modernArabic dialects are used in everyday life, most notablyLevantine in the west andMesopotamian in the northeast.Kurdish (in itsKurmanji form) is widely spoken in theKurdish regions of Syria.Armenian andTurkish (South Azeri dialect) are spoken among theArmenian andTurkmen minorities.

Aramaic was thelingua franca of the region before the advent ofArabic, and it is still spoken amongAssyrians, andClassical Syriac still used as the liturgical language ofvarious Syriac Christian denominations. Most remarkably,Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken in the village ofMa'loula as well as two neighboring villages, 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Damascus. Many educated Syrians also speak English and French languages.

People in Turkmenistan (when it was still a part of theRussian Empire) were enumerated by native tonguein the 1897 Russian Empire Census.^{[citation needed]} In addition to the Soviet Union enumerating people by ethnicity for its entire existence,^{[citation needed]}Turkmenistan also enumerated people by ethnicity in its only post-Soviet census in 1995.^[145]

People in Ukraine (when it was still a part of theRussian Empire) were enumerated by native tonguein the 1897 Russian Empire Census.^[146] In addition to the Soviet Union enumerating people by ethnicity for its entire existence,^[147]Ukraine also enumerated people by ethnicity and native language in its only post-Soviet census in 2001.^[148]

Data onlanguage spoken at home and English-speaking ability of individuals age five and older are currently collected in theAmerican Community Survey (an ongoing statistical survey by theU.S. Census Bureau, sent to approximately 250,000 addresses monthly, or 3 million per year).

A variety of questions on language use were asked in the censuses from 1890 to 1970.^[150][151] These correspond to the different political purposes and policies for which the data were used. For example, early 20th century questions about mother tongue were used to assess theethnic or racial background of the population, while the current purpose is to calculate the size of theLimited English Proficient population.^[152]

The following three-part question onlanguage spoken at home and English speaking ability was asked on the census long form in 1980, 1990, and 2000, and is the same question asked in the American Community Survey.^[150] The data are used for enforcing theVoting Rights Act, determining Department of Education funding for English Language Learners, and implementing language access policies.

a. Does this person speak a language other than English at home?

• Yes
• No

b. What is this language? (For example: Korean, Italian, Spanish, Vietnamese)

c. How well does this person speak English?

• Very well
• Well
• Not well
• Not at all

The coding operations used by the Census Bureau puts the reported answers from the question "What is this language?" into 382 language categories of single languages or language families. These categories represent the most commonly spoken languages other than English at home in the U.S. Due to small sample counts, data tabulations are not generally available for all 382 detailed languages. Instead, the Census Bureau collapses languages into smaller sets. These sets of languages were originally developed following the 1970 Census and are grouped linguistically and geographically.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2014^[update], the simplest collapse recodes the 382 language codes into four major language groups: Spanish; Other Indo-European languages; Asian and Pacific Island languages; and All Other languages. A more detailed collapsing puts the 382 codes into 39 languages and language groups.^[153]

People inUzbekistan (when it was still a part of theRussian Empire) were enumerated by native tonguein the 1897 Russian Empire Census.^{[citation needed]} The Soviet Union (to which Uzbekistan also belonged) enumerated people by ethnicity for its entire existence.^{[citation needed]} Uzbekistan has not conducted any censuses at all since 1989.^[154]

Vatican City enumerated people by ethnicity in 1948.^{[citation needed]}

Its official language isLatin.

People inVietnam were enumerated byethnicity in 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009 and 2014.^[155]

Yemen enumerated its population by ethnicity in 1994.^{[citation needed]} TheBritishColony of Aden (which is within Yemen's current borders) enumerated its population by ethnicity in 1946 and 1955.^{[citation needed]}

Zambia's official language isEnglish.

Zimbabwe has 10 different official languages. They areShona,English,Ndebele,Xhosa,Chewa,Venda,Southern Sotho,Tswana,Tsonga andTonga.

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