This is a list of official languages by country and territory. It includes all languages that have official language status either statewide or in a part of the state, or that have status as a national language, regional language, or minority language.
Definitions Official language A language designated as having a unique legal status in the state: typically, the language used in a nation's legislative bodies, and often, official government business. Regional language A language designated as having official status limited to a specific area, administrative division, or territory of the state. (On this page a regional language has parentheses next to it that contain a region, province, etc. where the language has regional status.) National language A language that uniquely represents the national identity of a state, nation, and/or country and is so designated by a country's government; some are technically minority languages. (On this page a national language is followed by parentheses that identify it as a national language status.) Some countries have more than one language with this status.
List
Country/RegionNumber ofofficial(includingde facto)Official language(s)National language(s)Regional language(s)Minority language(s) Widely spoken 2 Abkhaz Russian Abkhaz Georgian Constitution of Afghanistan (Chapter 1, Article 16)2 Persian (Dari) Pashto Persian (Dari) Pashto Uzbek Turkmen Pashayi Nuristani Balochi Pamiri Persian (Dari) Constitution of Albania (Article 14)1Albanian Greek Macedonian AromanianItalian Constitution of Algeria (Article 3)2 Arabic Berber Arabic BerberFrench 1 CatalanConstitution of Andorra (Article 2) Spanish French Portuguese 1 Portuguese Kimbundu Umbundu Kikongo Chokwe Kwanyama Ganguela Angolan Portuguese 2 (English has de facto status) Spanish Antiguan and Barbudan Creole 2 None at federal level (Spanish has de facto status) Argentine Sign Language Spanish (in Corrientes and Chaco) Guarani (in Corrientes) Kom (in Chaco) Moquoit (in Chaco) Wichi (in Chaco) Argentine Spanish English Italian German French Welsh (in Chubut state) 1 Armenian Armenian (state language)Constitution of ArmeniaRussian 1 None (English has de facto status) Cocos Malay (on Cocos (Keeling) Islands) English (official status on Norfolk Island) Malay (on Christmas Island) Mandarin Chinese (on Christmas Island) Norfuk (on Norfolk Island) Bundesgesetz über die Rechtsstellung der Volksgruppen in Österreich (Volksgruppengesetz – VoGrG)1German German (state language) Burgenland Croatian (parts of Burgenland) Hungarian (parts of Burgenland) Slovene (parts of Carinthia) Slovene Czech Hungarian Slovak Romani SerbianEnglish 1 Azerbaijani Azerbaijani (state language)Constitution of Azerbaijan, Constitution of Azerbaijan (English translation) (Article 21)Russian 1 English 1 Arabic English 1 Bengali Bengali Sylheti (parts of Sylhet Division) Chittagonian (parts of Chittagong Division) Rangpuri/Kamtapuri (parts of Rangpur Division) Chakma Marma Rakhine Hajong Santali Tripuri Manipuri 1 English 2 Belarusian RussianBelarusianRussian 3Dutch French German Dutch (Flanders, Brussels)Constitution of Belgium, in Dutch, French and German (Article 4) French (Brussels, Wallonia) German (German-speaking community)English 1 EnglishGarifuna Kriol (lingua franca) Spanish (border with Mexico and Guatemala) 1 French 1 Dzongkha 37 Castilian (Spanish) Aymara Araona Baure Bésiro (Chiquitano) Canichana Cavineña Cayubaba Chácobo Chimán Ese Ejja Guarani Guarasu'we Guarayu Itonama Leco Machajuyai-Kallawaya Machineri Maropa Mojeño-Ignaciano Mojeño-Trinitario Moré Mosetén Movima Pacawara Puquina Quechua Sirionó Tacana Tapieté Toromona Uru-Chipaya Weenhayek Yaminawa Yuki Yuracaré Zamuco 3None (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian all have de facto status) 1Setswana Tswana Other Bantu languages Several Khoisan languages 1PortugueseAccording to the Brazilian Constitution, article 13: A língua portuguesa é o idioma oficial da República Federativa do Brasil. "The Portuguese language is the official language of the Federative Republic of Brazil". Portuguese95 municipalities and 3 Brazilian states have co-official languages, with 61 co-officialized languages.Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas (Brazilian Repository of Linguistic Legislation) The list can be seen at Languages of Brazil. Spanish English French 1MalayEnglish Chinese 1 Bulgarian 4 Mooré Bissa Dyula Fula Working languages: French English 3 French Kirundi English Kirundi Swahili 1 KhmerFrench English Chinese 2 English French Grassfields languages Beti Fulfulde Sawabantu Hausa Baka Bassa Chadian Arabic Bafia Gbaya Cameroonian Pidgin English Camfranglais Mandara 2 English (Federal) French (Federal) Chipewyan (Northwest Territories) Cree (Northwest Territories) Gwich'in (Northwest Territories) Inuinnaqtun (Northwest Territories and Nunavut) Inuktitut (Northwest Territories and Nunavut) Inuvialuktun (Northwest Territories) Mi'kmaq (Nova Scotia) North Slavey (Northwest Territories) South Slavey (Northwest Territories) Tłı̨chǫ (Northwest Territories) Chipewyan Cree Gwich'in Inuinnaqtun Inuktitut Inuvialuktun Mi'kmaq North Slavey South Slavey Tłı̨chǫ 1 Portuguese Cape Verdean Creole 2 French Sango 2 Arabic French 1 Spanish Languages of ethnic groups are official in their territories 1 Standard Chinese English (Hong Kong) Portuguese (Macau) Mongolian Uyghur Tibetan Zhuang Kazakh KoreanOther Sinitic languages 1 Spanish Languages of ethnic groups are official in their territoriesConstitution of Colombia, 1991 (Article 10) 3 Arabic Comorian French 1 French Kituba Lingala Swahili Tshiluba 1 French Lingala Munukutuba 2 English Cook Islands Māori 1 Spanish Indigenous languages Limonese CreoleArchived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: 1 Croatian Italian (Istria County) Romani (non-territorial) Slovene (non-territorial) Serbian Hungarian Czech Slovak Pannonian RusynEnglish 1 Spanish 2 Greek Turkish Armenian Cypriot Arabic English 1 CzechCzechBelarusian Bulgarian Croatian German Greek Hungarian Polish Romani Russian Rusyn Serbian Ukrainian Vietnamese 1 Danish Faroese (in the Faroe Islands) Kalaallisut (in Greenland) German (in Southern Jutland)English 2 Arabic French 1 English 1 Spanish 2 Portuguese Tetum Indonesian Constitution of Ecuador 2008 , (Article 2)1 Spanish Languages of ethnic groups are official in their territories Spanish Kichwa Shuar 1 Arabic Egyptian Arabic Coptic English 1 Spanish 3 French Portuguese Spanish 1 Tigrinya Arabic Italian 1 Estonian English Russian 2 English Swazi 5 Afar Amharic Oromo Somali Tigrinya Afar Amharic Benshangul Gumuz Harari Kunama Oromo Sidamo Somali Tigrinya 4 English Fijian Fiji Hindi Standard Hindi 2 Finnish Swedish Finnish Swedish Sami (in Enontekiö, Inari, Sodankylä, Utsjoki)English 1 FrenchConstitution of France (Article 2) Corsican language Basque language Breton languageOccitan language 1 French 1 English Mandinka Pulaar Wolof Serer Jola English Balanta Arabic Mandjak Mankanya Noon Dyula Soninke Fula Karon Kassonke Cangin Gambian Sign Language Wolof Mandinka Pulaar Soninke Jola-Fonyi Serer Mandjak Bainuk Kiriol 1 GeorgianRussian 1 GermanThough not explicitly specified in the constitution, this is regulated in §23 Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz (Administrative Procedures Act) Danish (in Schleswig-Holstein) Lower Sorbian (in Brandenburg) North Frisian (in Schleswig-Holstein) Saterland Frisian (in Lower Saxony) Upper Sorbian (in Saxony) German Sign Language Low German Danish Lower Sorbian North Frisian Romani Upper SorbianEnglish 1 English Working languages: English French Hindi (except Urdu) Arabic Ghanaian English Ghanaian Pidgin EnglishFante Asante Twi Akuapem Twi Adangme (in Greater Accra) Dagaare (in the Upper West Region) Dagbani (in the Northern Region) Ewe (in the Volta Region) Ga (in Greater Accra) Gonja (in the Northern Region) Kasem (in the Upper East Region) Nzema (in the Western Region) 1 Greek 1 English 1 SpanishGarifuna Maya Xinca 1 French Fula Maninka Susu 1 Portuguese 1 English Guyanese Creole 2 French Haitian Creole 1 Spanish 2 Cantonese English 1 Hungarian Croatian German Romanian Serbian Slovak Slovene 2 Icelandic Icelandic Sign Language 2 Hindi EnglishScheduled languages: Assamese Bengali Bodo Dogri Gujarati Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Konkani Maithili Malayalam Meitei (Manipuri) Marathi Nepali Odia (Oriya) Punjabi Sanskrit Santali Sindhi Tamil Telugu Urdu Assamese Bengali Boro Chhattisgarhi Dogri Garo Gujarati Hindi Ho Kannada Kashmiri Khasi Konkani Maithili Meitei Marathi Mizo Nepali Odia Punjabi Santali Sindhi Tamil Telugu Urdu 1Indonesian Indonesian Javanese (in Yogyakarta) Indonesian Malay Javanese Sundanese Batak Minangkabau 700 more languages in Indonesia 1 PersianPersian Azerbaijani Kurdish Luri Gilaki Mazanderani Balochi Arabic Qashqai Tati Turkmeni 2 Arabic KurdishConstitution of Iraq, Article 4(1st) Armenian recognized Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (in Assyrian areas) Iraqi Turkmen (in Turkmen areas) Constitution of Ireland (Article 8)2 Irish English Irish 1 Hebrew Arabic English Russian English 1 Italian French (in Aosta Valley) Franco-Provençal (in Aosta Valley) German (in South Tyrol) Ladin (in South Tyrol) Friulian (in Friuli-Venezia Giulia) Sardinian (in Sardinia) Corsican (in northern Sardinia) Catalan (in Sardinia) Slovene (in Friuli-Venezia Giulia) Occitan (in Piedmont's Occitan valleys) Albanian (in Sicily and Calabria) Greek (in Calabria and Puglia)Other Italo-Dalmatian languages 1 French 1 English Jamaican PatoisJamaican Patois Jamaican Patois 1 None (Japanese has de facto status) Japanese 1 Arabic Circassian Chechen Armenian 2 Kazakh Russian Kazakh 2 English Swahili Swahili 2 English Gilbertese 1 Korean 2 Korean Korean Sign Language 2 Albanian Serbian Albanian (nationwide) Serbian (Northern Kosovo) Turkish 1 Arabic Kuwaiti Sign Language Kuwaiti Arabic Kuwaiti Persian 2 Kyrgyz Russian Kyrgyz 1 Lao French 1 LatvianRussian 1 Arabic Arabic English FrenchArabicArmenian Arabic English French 2 Sesotho English Sotho 1 English 1 Arabic 1 German 1 Lithuanian Polish Russian 3 French German Luxembourgish Luxembourgish English Portuguese 2 Cantonese Portuguese 2 French Malagasy Malagasy 1 English Chichewa 1MalayMalayRegional/State dialects Malay Mandarin Chinese Cantonese Tamil English 1 Dhivehi Dhivehi English 13 Bambara Bobo Bozo Dogon Fula Hassaniya Kassonke Maninke Minyanka Senufo Songhay Soninke Tamasheq French 2 Maltese English Maltese 1 Italian 2 English Marshallese 1 Arabic Arabic Fula Soninke Wolof French 2 None (English and French have de facto status)English 1 None (Spanish has de facto status) 68 National languages 1 English Chuukese (in Chuuk State) Kosraean (in Kosrae State) Pohnpeian (in Pohnpei State) Yapese (in Yap State) 1 Romanian Gagauz Russian Ukrainian Constitution of Monaco (Article 8)1 French Monégasque 1 Mongolian 1Montenegrin 2 Arabic BerberArabic BerberFrench 1 Portuguese (Burma)1 Burmese Chin Kachin Karen Karenni Mon Rakhine Shan English 1 English Afrikaans German Oshiwambo 2 English Nauruan 1 NepaliThe Constitution of Nepal, article 7 (1) All languages spoken as the mother tongue in NepalThe Constitution of Nepal, article 6 1Dutch Frisian (in the province of Friesland) English (in Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, Saba) Papiamento (in Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire) Dutch Low Saxon Dutch Sign Language Limburgish Sinte Romani YiddishEnglish 3 Māori language New Zealand Sign Language (English has de facto status) Tokelauan language (in Tokelau) 1 Spanish In Autonomous Regions: Creole Garifuna Mayangna Miskito Rama Sumo 1 Hausa Arabic French Fulfulde Gulmancema