How many languages are spoken in the world?
Although it is impossible to give an exact figure -not even approximate-, it is estimated that 7,000 languages are currently spoken in the world, of which only 600 have more than 100,000 speakers, a figure that is considered minimal to guarantee their survival. medium term. Among the most widespread languages are Mandarin Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish and Russian.
Another curious aspect is the one that has to do with its geographical distribution, which is not even homogeneous.
It is estimated that more than 1,500 different languages are spoken in Africa. There are unique cases like that of Cameroon, a country with 12 million inhabitants in which no less than 270 languages are spoken, or Nigeria, where almost 450 have been registered. But the palm is taken by Papua New Guinea, whose inhabitants communicate , attention, in 850 different languages! A whole tower of Babel.
Among the threatened ones, which are almost 90% of the existing ones, there are as suggestive as the cayapa, in Ecuador, with just under 5,000 speakers; the walmajari, spoken only by 1,000 human beings in the world; and zuñi, in North America, with 6,000 users. There are also more serious cases, such as the miwok, an Indian language that only 4 people speak; or the Yidiny, in Australia, with just over a dozen speakers. Regarding kamas, a language that was spoken in the Urals, is practically disappeared, because it is more than likely that the last speaker who had news, an old man who was 92 years old in 1987, died.
The most talked about
It is probably not a surprise that China leads this list. About 1.3 billion people speak a variation of Chinese as their first language that includes more than 10 varieties; Some of which we have surely heard, such as Mandarin, and others, such as the Pu-Xian, with which you may not be so familiar.
The Spanish occupies the second place. This great club is made up of 437 million people, mainly in Spain, Latin America and part of the United States.
English holds the third place. English is established in 106 countries, compared to 37 of Chinese or 31 of Spanish, so it is much more widespread, hence it is usually named as the most international language of all.
However, it is worth remembering that these numbers always change, and our knowledge of the world's languages is constantly refined.
Solitary languages
Speaking a language can be a solitary affair. There are more than 1,000 languages with between 100 and 999 speakers, more than 300 with between 10 and 99, and 114 with nine speakers or less. These 114 languages have so few speakers that they could fit in the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona (to give an example), 170 times.
Be that as it may, we all speak at least one. In fact, more than a quarter of the population speaks one of the three major languages as their mother tongue.
