Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. According to the Nationalencyklopedin (NE), Spanish is now the second world language by number of native speakers, making up 6.15 % of the planet’s population.1
| Rank | Language | Native speakers (millions) | % of world population |
| 1 | Mandarin 官話/官话 |
955 | 14.4 % |
| 2 | Spanish Español/Castellano |
470 | 6.15 % |
| 3 | English | 360 | 5.43 % |
| 4 | Hindi हिन्दी |
310 | 4.70 % |
| 5 | Arabic العربية |
295 | 4.43 % |
| 6 | Portuguese Português |
215 | 3.27 % |
| 7 | Bengali | 205 | 3.11 % |
| 8 | Russian Русский |
155 | 2.33 % |
| 9 | Japanese 日本語й |
125 | 1.90 % |
| 10 | Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ پنجابى |
102 | 1.44 % |
Projections for the Spanish language
Projections for the next half century suggest that Spanish will continue to grow at a faster pace than any other major European language.2
| % variation 1996-2050 |
||
| Arabic | + 140 | Elaborated from Hozumi Tanaka, 1999, MT Summit XII |
| Bengali | + 83 | |
| Hindi/Urdu | + 76 | |
| Malay | + 70 | |
| Spanish | + 60 | |
| Portuguese | + 50 | |
| English | + 37 | |
| Chinese | + 24 | |
| French | + 9 | |
| German | – 11 | |
| Japanese | – 12 | |
| Russian | – 15 |