Top 15 Countries by Native French Speakers

What We’re Showing

This graphic ranks the top 15 countries by their number of native French speakers. Figures were sourced from WorldData.info, which were last updated in July 2024.

The Origins of French

Similar to Spanish, French evolved from Vulgar Latin, the everyday language of the Roman Empire. Over time, the dialect used in Île-de-France (Paris) became dominant, leading to the standardization of modern French by the 17th century.

French is spoken in many African countries due to France’s colonization efforts in the 19th and 20th centuries. Even after gaining independence, many of these nations retain French as an official language. For this reason, the number of French speakers in the world is predicted to keep climbing in future decades.