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This is a complete list of the official languages designated in the sovereign states of the world. It includes all languages that have official language status either statewide or in a part of the state, regional language status, or minority language status.

Only states, which are defined as sovereign, internationally recognised, independent political entities, are listed. This is not a list of countries or nations, although many states listed, are simultaneously also countries and/or nations.

For dependent territories, refer to the corresponding sovereign states.

Definitions

  • Official language: one designated as having a unique legal status in the state, typically, the language used in a nation's legislative bodies, and often, official government business
  • Regional language: one designated as having official status limited to a specific area, administrative division, or territory of the state (on this page a regional language will have parentheses next to it that contain a region, province, etc. where the language has regional status)
  • Minority language: (as used here) one spoken by a minority population within the state and officially designated as such; typically afforded protection and designated an officially permissible language for legal and government business in a specific area or territory of the state (on this page a minority language will be followed by parentheses that identify its minority status)
  • National language: one that uniquely represents the national identity of a state, nation, and/or country and so designated by a country's government; some are technically minority languages (on this page a national language will be followed by parentheses that identify it as a national language status)

A

  • Afghanistan
    • Arabic (statewide minority language)
    • Balochi (statewide minority language) (official in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Dari (statewide)
    • Nuristani (statewide minority language) (official in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Pashto (statewide)
    • Pamiri (statewide minority language) (official in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Pashai (statewide minority language) (official in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Turkmen (statewide minority language) (official in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Uzbek (statewide minority language) (official in areas where spoken by majority of population)

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

  • Japan
    • No official language, Japanese is the de facto official language.

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z

See also

Lists of languages

各国の公用語の一覧 | 各国官方语言列表

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "List of official languages by state".

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