Top 15 Countries by Native Spanish Speakers

What We’re Showing

This graphic ranks the top 15 countries by number of native Spanish speakers. Figures were sourced from Statista and are as of 2022.

The Origins of Spanish

Spanish evolved from Vulgar Latin, the common speech of the Roman Empire, brought to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain & Portugal today) by Roman settlers around 200 BCE.

Modern Spanish emerged during the Middle Ages, and became more standardized by the 13th century.

Spanish spread across the world, particularly in the Americas, due to Spain’s colonial expansion from the 15th to 19th centuries. Spain conquered many indigenous civilizations, including the Aztecs in Mexico, and the Incas in Peru.

Today, Spanish is the world’s 4th most spoken language in the world.