French Speaking Countries.docx

French Speaking Countries

There are approximately 444 million people in the world who come from a country where

French is the official language. In addition, 98 million people come from a country where French

is commonly used. It is the official language of 29 countries. It is estimated that around 12% of

the European Union’s population speaks French as a mother tongue, making it the fourth most

widely-spoken European language.

Furthermore, 20% of EU citizens report knowing how to speak French, making it the third

most understood language in the continent. With that being said, 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. It is

also the country of origin of the language, and the country most commonly associated with

French. 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

in descending order of the number of people speaking the language. 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.

Countries where French is the official language:

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.

How French is spreading around the world

The French language emerged as an international language during the Middle Ages, thanks

to the influence of the Kingdom of France. From the 17th century, it replaced Latin as the lingua

franca of educated Europe, and became the main language of diplomacy and the European Court

in the 18th century. Most French-speaking countries were originally French colonies. Indeed,

French colonialism spread the French language to many regions in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Quebec region of Canada was a French colony from 1534 to 1760, but a series of wars

caused France to lose most of its colonies in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

A second French colonial empire took shape during the 19th century, beginning with the

Arab conquest. By the end of the 19th century, France controlled Senegal, the Ivory Coast, the

Republics of Congo and Mali, which continue to speak French today. Most of the French

colonies gained their independence following World War I, but France continued to be

influential in Africa until the late 1960s, and most former French colonies still use French as

their primary language.