Top 100 Languages by Population
These are the top 100 languages in order of number of first language speakers.
This is from the 13th Edition of the Ethnologue (1996).
More up-to-date information may well be avaliable
www.ethnologue.com is by far, the best language resource I've found on the web and much more detailed information about individual languages is avaliable there.
Top 100 Languages by Population
| Rank | Language Name | Primary Country | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHINESE, MANDARIN | China | 885,000,000 |
| 2 | SPANISH | Spain | 332,000,000 |
| 3 | ENGLISH | United Kingdom | 322,000,000 |
| 4 | BENGALI | Bangladesh | 189,000,000 |
| 5 | HINDI | India | 182,000,000 |
| 6 | PORTUGUESE | Portugal | 170,000,000 |
| 7 | RUSSIAN | Russia | 170,000,000 |
| 8 | JAPANESE | Japan | 125,000,000 |
| 9 | GERMAN, STANDARD | Germany | 98,000,000 |
| 10 | CHINESE, WU | China | 77,175,000 |
| 11 | JAVANESE | Indonesia, Java, Bali | 75,500,800 |
| 12 | KOREAN | Korea, South | 75,000,000 |
| 13 | FRENCH | France | 72,000,000 |
| 14 | VIETNAMESE | Viet Nam | 67,662,000 |
| 15 | TELUGU | India | 66,350,000 |
| 16 | CHINESE, YUE | China | 66,000,000 |
| 17 | MARATHI | India | 64,783,000 |
| 18 | TAMIL | India | 63,075,000 |
| 19 | TURKISH | Turkey | 59,000,000 |
| 20 | URDU | Pakistan | 58,000,000 |
| 21 | CHINESE, MIN NAN | China | 49,000,000 |
| 22 | CHINESE, JINYU | China | 45,000,000 |
| 23 | GUJARATI | India | 44,000,000 |
| 24 | POLISH | Poland | 44,000,000 |
| 25 | ARABIC, EGYPTIAN SPOKEN | Egypt | 42,500,000 |
| 26 | UKRAINIAN | Ukraine | 41,000,000 |
| 27 | ITALIAN | Italy | ?x'37,000,000' |
| 28 | CHINESE, XIANG | China | 36,015,000 |
| 29 | MALAYALAM | India | 34,022,000 |
| 30 | CHINESE, HAKKA | China | 34,000,000 |
| 31 | KANNADA | India | 33,663,000 |
| 32 | ORIYA | India | 31,000,000 |
| 33 | PANJABI, WESTERN | Pakistan | 30,000,000 |
| 34 | SUNDA | Indonesia | 27,000,000 |
| 35 | PANJABI, EASTERN | India | 26,013,000 |
| 36 | ROMANIAN | Romania | 26,000,000 |
| 37 | BHOJPURI | India | 25,000,000 |
| 38 | AZERBAIJANI, SOUTH | Iran | 24,364,000 |
| 39 | FARSI, WESTERN | Iran | 24,280,000 |
| 40 | MAITHILI | India | 24,260,000 |
| 41 | HAUSA | Nigeria | 24,200,000 |
| 42 | ARABIC, ALGERIAN SPOKEN | Algeria | 22,400,000 |
| 43 | BURMESE | Myanmar | 22,000,000 |
| 44 | SERBO-CROATIAN | Yugoslavia | 21,000,000 |
| 45 | CHINESE, GAN | China | 20,580,000 |
| 46 | AWADHI | India | 20,540,000 |
| 47 | THAI | Thailand | 20,047,000 |
| 48 | DUTCH | Netherlands | 20,000,000 |
| 49 | YORUBA | Nigeria | 20,000,000 |
| 50 | SINDHI | Pakistan | 19,720,000 |
| 51 | ARABIC, MOROCCAN SPOKEN | Morocco | 19,542,000 |
| 52 | ARABIC, SAIDI SPOKEN | Egypt | 18,900,000 |
| 53 | UZBEK, NORTHERN | Uzbekistan | 18,466,000 |
| 54 | MALAY | Malaysia, Peninsular | 17,600,000 |
| 55 | AMHARIC | Ethiopia | 17,413,000 |
| 56 | INDONESIAN | Indonesia | 17,050,000 |
| 57 | IGBO | Nigeria | 17,000,000 |
| 58 | TAGALOG | Philippines | 17,000,000 |
| 59 | NEPALI | Nepal | 16,056,000 |
| 60 | ARABIC, SUDANESE SPOKEN | Sudan | 16,000,000 |
| 61 | SARAIKI | Pakistan | 15,015,000 |
| 62 | CEBUANO | Philippines | 15,000,000 |
| 63 | ARABIC, NORTH LEVANTINE SPOKEN | Syria | 15,000,000 |
| 64 | THAI, NORTHEASTERN | Thailand | 15,000,000 |
| 65 | ASSAMESE | India | 14,634,000 |
| 66 | HUNGARIAN | Hungary | 14,500,000 |
| 67 | CHITTAGONIAN | Bangladesh | 14,000,000 |
| 68 | ARABIC, MESOPOTAMIAN SPOKEN | Iraq | 13,900,000 |
| 69 | MADURA | Indonesia, Java, Bali | 13,694,000 |
| 70 | SINHALA | Sri Lanka | 13,220,000 |
| 71 | HARYANVI | India | 13,000,000 |
| 72 | MARWARI | India | 12,104,000 |
| 73 | CZECH | Czech Republic | 12,000,000 |
| 74 | GREEK | Greece | 12,000,000 |
| 75 | MAGAHI | India | 12,000,000 |
| 76 | CHHATTISGARHI | India | 10,985,000 |
| 77 | DECCAN | India | 10,709,800 |
| 78 | CHINESE, MIN BEI | China | 10,537,000 |
| 79 | BELARUSAN | Belarus | 10,200,000 |
| 80 | ZHUANG, NORTHERN | China | 10,000,000 |
| 81 | ARABIC, NAJDI SPOKEN | Saudi Arabia | 9,800,000 |
| 82 | PASHTO, NORTHERN | Pakistan | 9,685,000 |
| 83 | SOMALI | Somalia | 9,472,000 |
| 84 | MALAGASY | Madagascar | 9,398,700 |
| 85 | ARABIC, TUNISIAN SPOKEN | Tunisia | 9,308,000 |
| 86 | RWANDA | Rwanda | 9,306,800 |
| 87 | ZULU | South Africa | 9,142,000 |
| 88 | BULGARIAN | Bulgaria | 9,000,000 |
| 89 | SWEDISH | Sweden | 9,000,000 |
| 90 | LOMBARD | Italy | 8,974,000 |
| 91 | OROMO, WEST-CENTRAL | Ethiopia | 8,920,000 |
| 92 | PASHTO, SOUTHERN | Afghanistan | 8,206,000 |
| 93 | KAZAKH | Kazakhstan | 8,000,000 |
| 94 | ILOCANO | Philippines | 8,000,000 |
| 95 | TATAR | Russia | 8,000,000 |
| 96 | FULFULDE, NIGERIAN | Nigeria | 7,611,000 |
| 97 | ARABIC, SANAANI SPOKEN | Yemen | 7,600,000 |
| 98 | UYGHUR | China | 7,595,512 |
| 99 | HAITIAN CREOLE FRENCH | Haiti | 7,372,000 |
| 100 | AZERBAIJANI, NORTH | Azerbaijan | 7,059,000 |
| 101 | NAPOLETANO-CALABRESE | Italy | 7,047,400 |
| 102 | KHMER, CENTRAL | Cambodia | 7,039,200 |
| 103 | FARSI, EASTERN | Afghanistan | 7,000,000 |
| 104 | AKAN | Ghana | 7,000,000 |
| 105 | HILIGAYNON | Philippines | 7,000,000 |
| 106 | KURMANJI | Turkey | 7,000,000 |
| 107 | SHONA | Zimbabwe | 7,000,000 |