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Top Ten Countries That Speak English As a Second Language

Whether for business or pleasure, you need to know the top ten countries where people speak English as a second language.

I have compiled this list before, because at one point I needed to figure out which countries had the the most people that speak English as a second language because I was doing a Google Adwords advertising campaign, and didn't want to waste clicks on countries that might not understand English too well.

This information is also valuable for business, or travel purposes, and it tells you which foreign countries have enough people that speak English as a second language that you will be able to communicate, at least with some of the people.


About 232 million people in India speak it, or about 23%. This number is growing all the time, as schools are teaching English to more students, so they can get jobs in call centers, and other jobs that require and understanding of English. And of course, India was once a country in the English empire.


Apparently over half of all the people in Nigeria speak English, which is about 79 million people. You should be aware that many internet scams come out of Nigeria, and they aren't a country that PayPal will do business with.


Over 55 million people speak the language in the the Philippines, which is about 55% of the population. The exchange rate is almost ten to one for US dollars, which makes it a great country to find workers in, although perhaps not so great if you want them to buy something.


There are around 46 million who speak English in Germany, and that's about 56% of the population. Germany is a great place to do business in, or to visit as a tourist.


Many people assume that the French are reluctant to learn or speak English as a second language, which is partly true, although 36% do speak it, or around 23 million Frenchmen.


Pakistan is a large country, with the largest amount of people who speak English in the Middle East. There are around 18 million who speak it there, or around 11% of the population.


In Italy, about 29% of the Italian people speak English, which is approximately 17 million people. English is the most widely used language in the world, and it is probable that these numbers will only continue to rise due to globalization.


Approximately 15 million Japanese people speak English, or about 12% of the population. It is important to know the international language of business.


The Netherlands is a small country, although you might say that English was almost a first language there, because 87% of the people speak it, which is around 14 million.

South Africa

29% of South Africans speak English, or about 14 million people. The main language was Dutch I think, or perhaps they still speak the native languages there as well.

Anyway, that was my list of the top ten countries that speak English as a second language, and of course you would know that England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America all speak it as their first, at least mostly.

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Comments (8)

Hmm, interesting, I,m surprised other European countries are not in the line up.

This is good information to know. Thanks.

100% perfect work.

Very informative article. Thanks.

Very true. In India, English is given too much priority.

Voted up


Just to find a way to insult some counrties. Talking abt call centers and PayPal . Just so you know get ready to learn Chinese.

90% of the Dutch, 89% of the Maltese and 86% of the Swedes know english fluently according to Wikipedia. We might not be big countries, but if you want to talk about whos the best, then this is your top 3.