French Speaking Countries

By Valentine Taylor on December 15th, 2006

French, ranked as 9th, as the most popular language around the world with more then 200 million French speaking people. It is an official language in 41 countries.
There is a long list of countries in which French which spans around the globe. Next to English, French language is a mother tongue or spoken as first language in many countries. In fact French is the second most taught language after English.

In European Continent
France, one of the predominant leaders in the European Union, with population more then 60 million is one of the richest countries of the world. French is the official language of France, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium and Switzerland.

In African Continent
The French-speaking countries include Algeria, Burundi, Benin, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Comoros. Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Guinea, Madagascar, Morocco, Rwanda, Togo, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia, Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles.

In American Continent
In the Americas and the Caribbean, French is spoken in Canada, Haiti, French Guiana, Martinique and Guadeloupe (these last three are French territories).
In Australia and the Pacifics, Vanuatu and the overseas French territories French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Fortuna are French-speaking.

Other French speaking countries
In many other countries, French plays a significant role either as an administrative, commercial or international language. Some of these countries are Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Egypt, Greece, India, Italy, Laos, Lebanon, Mauritania, Poland, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom (Channel Islands), United States particularly Louisiana and New England, the Vatican City and Vietnam. Clearly, the French language is spoken everywhere.

Countries where French is a national language:
Belgium
Benin
Burkina-Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Canada
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
France
Gabon
Guinea
Haiti
Ivory Coast
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Mali
Monaco
Niger
Republic of Congo
Rwanda
Senegal
Seychelles
Switzerland
Togo
Vanuatu

Other member states of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF):
Bulgaria
Cambodia
Cape Verde
Dominica
Egypt
Equitorial Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Laos
Lebanon
Morocco
Mauritania
Mauritius
Moldova
Romania
Saint-Lucia
Sao-Tomé et Principe
Tunisia
Vietnam

Associate states:
Albania
Andorra
Greece
Macedonia

Observer states:
Armenia
Austria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Georgia
Hungary
Lithuania
Poland
Slovakia
Slovenia

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