News Flash

There are 192 countries in the world today (193 if Taiwan is included), inhabited by 6.5 billion people ( POP Clocks ) who speak 6,912 known living languages. With an estimated 300 million people, the United States accounts for only 4.6% of total world population. Despite the popular belief held by adult Americans that “just over half (52%) of the whole world's population speaks English,” a number which grows to 59% of those ages 18-24, our traditional college-age population (The Harris Poll #61), the fact is that most of the world does not speak English. In terms of first-language (or native) speakers, English is spoken by some 309 million people ( 4.7% of the world's “native” speakers). When “alternate” or “second” (“co-native”) language speakers are factored in, English is spoken by some 514 million speakers ( 8% of total world population). Other estimates for speakers of English (“international,” “global,” or “learned” English) range as high as 16% of total world population. When the sun shines over the Atlantic hemisphere, the world's most spoken native languages are English and Spanish, 15% of total world population. When it shines in the western Pacific, the world's most spoken native languages are Chinese and Hindi, 24% of total world population. In the future, more people than ever will speak English… but more people than ever will speak a language other than English, as world population increases toward the nine billion projected for the year 2050.