Re: List of countries where English is an official language

Yes, when I first read this I am like: Wow, finally an eye opener! I am happy to share this fact to finally stop ignorism in the ESL/ EFL teaching field. I hope this helps.

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List of countries where English is an official language

Try: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_English_is_an_official_language
If you can't believe this for yourselves

The following is a list of sovereign states and territories where English is an official language, in order of population. Several of these nations, like India, Ireland, Canada and the Philippines, use English as an official language but not the sole official language.

This list also includes countries where English is the dominant language, but does not have official status. In Australia, English is spoken by the vast majority of the population and is the only language used in government institutions, yet Australia does not have an official language. This is the same in the U.S. and the UK, although some states or regions within the UK and the U.S. have English as an official language.

The status of English as a country's official language does not necessarily correlate with the number of English-speakers in that country. India, for example, with a population of 1.1 billion, has fewer than 200,000 native speakers of English and approximately 100 million second-language English speakers (who form less than 10% of its population). Nigeria on the other hand, has a small percentage of Standard English second-language speakers; however, more than 60% of its population speaks Nigerian Pidgin English, which although not a dialect of English, does contain many English words and possesses an English-like grammatical structure.

Map of nations using English as an official language or as the predominant non-official languageAlmost all of these countries are current or former colonies or dependencies of the UK (see also British Empire). The notable exception is Madagascar, which is a former French colony with English speaking neighbors.

India's linguistic picture is complex. According to the Constitution of India, "Hindi in the Devanagari script" is the official language of the union[1] and English the 'subsidiary official language';[2] however, English is mandated for the authoritative texts of all federal laws and Supreme Court decisions, and (along with Hindi) is one of the two languages of the Indian Parliament. See Official languages of India.

These nations total 2.135 billion people, cover 15,583,152 square miles, and have a combined GDP of about 18 trillion US dollars.

Sovereign states
Rank Country Continent Population1
1 India Asia 1,103,600,000
2 United States14 North America 300,007,997
3 Pakistan Asia 162,419,946
4 Nigeria Africa 128,771,988
5 Philippines[3] Asia 87,857,473
6 United Kingdom14 Europe 60,441,457
7 South Africa Africa 44,344,136
8 Sudan Africa 36,992,490
9 Kenya Africa 33,829,590
10 Canada North America 32,300,000
11 Uganda Africa 27,269,482
12 Ghana Africa 21,029,853
13 Australia14 Oceania 20,800,000
14 Madagascar Africa 19,280,000
15 Cameroon Africa 16,380,005
16 Zimbabwe Africa 12,746,990
17 Malawi Africa 12,158,924
18 Zambia Africa 11,261,795
19 Rwanda Africa 8,440,820
20 Sierra Leone Africa 6,017,643
21 Papua New Guinea Oceania 5,545,268
22 Singapore Asia 4,425,720
23 Ireland Europe 4,130,700
24 New Zealand14 Oceania 4,108,561
25 Liberia Africa 3,482,211
26 Jamaica North America 2,731,832
27 Namibia Africa 2,030,692
29 Lesotho Africa 1,867,035
30 Botswana Africa 1,640,115
31 The Gambia Africa 1,593,256
32 Mauritius Africa 1,230,602
33 Swaziland Africa 1,173,900
34 Trinidad and Tobago America 1,088,644
35 Fiji Oceania 893,354
36 Guyana South America 765,283
37 Solomon Islands Oceania 538,032
38 Malta Europe 398,534
39 The Bahamas America 301,790
40 Belize Central America 279,457
41 Barbados America 279,254
42 Vanuatu Oceania 205,754
43 Saint Lucia America 166,312
44 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines America 117,534
45 Micronesia Oceania 108,105
46 Kiribati Oceania 103,092
47 Grenada America 89,502
48 Seychelles Africa 81,188
49 Dominica America 69,029
50 Antigua and Barbuda America 68,722
51 Marshall Islands Oceania 59,071
52 Saint Kitts and Nevis America 38,958
53 Palau Oceania 20,303
54 Nauru

Non-sovereign entities
Rank Entity Continent Population1
1 Hong Kong 2 Asia 6,898,686
2 Puerto Rico 3 America 3,912,054
28 Kosovo Europe 2,000,000
3 Guam 4 Oceania 108,708
4 U.S. Virgin Islands 5 America 108,708
5 Jersey 6 Europe 88,200
6 Northern Mariana Islands 7 Oceania 80,801
7 Isle of Man 8 Europe 75,049
8 Bermuda 9 America 65,365
9 Guernsey 10 Europe 65,228
10 American Samoa 11 Oceania 64,869
11 Cayman Islands America 44,270
12 Gibraltar Europe 27,884
13 British Virgin Islands America 22,643
14 Cook Islands Oceania 21,388
15 Turks and Caicos Islands America 20,556
16 Anguilla America 13,254
17 Montserrat America 9,341
18 Saint Helena Africa 7,460
19 Falkland Islands South America 2,967
20 Norfolk Island Oceania 1,828
21 Christmas Island 12 Oceania 1,600
22 Niue Oceania 1,600
23 Tokelau Oceania 1,400
24 Tristan da Cunha Africa 273
25 Pitcairn Islands 13 Oceania 67

[edit] See also
List of countries by English-speaking population
Anglosphere
[show]v d eThe Anglosphere
Dark blue: Countries and territories where English is the official, de facto official or primary national language.

Light blue: countries (in the case of Quebec: province) where English is an official language but not primary. English is also one of the official languages of the European Union. Click on the coloured regions to get to the related article:

[edit] Footnotes
^ The population figures are based on List of countries by population.
^ Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China
^ Puerto Rico is an unincorporated United States territory called a "Commonwealth"
^ Guam is an organized unincorporated territory of the United States
^ The US Virgin Islands is an insular area of the United States
^ Jersey is a British Crown dependency
^ The Northern Mariana Islands is a commonwealth in political union with the United States
^ Isle of Man is a British Crown dependency
^ Bermuda is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom
^ Guernsey is a British Crown dependency
^ American Samoa is an unincorporated U.S. territory
^ Christmas Island is an external territory of Australia
^ Pitcairn Islands is a British overseas territory
^ Widely spoken but not an official language

[edit] References
^ The Union: Official Language. National Informatics Centre (NIC) (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
^ Notification No. 2/8/60-O.L. (Ministry of Home Affairs), dated 27th April, 1960. Retrieved on July 4, 2007.
^ Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, Article XIV, Chanrobles Law Library, 1987, <http://www.chanrobles.com/article14language.htm>. Retrieved on 2007-10-27 (See Article XIV, Section 7)