Humans are thought to speak more than 7, 000 languages across the globe. Asia has the most of them, 2, 301, followed by Africa with 2, 138. There are 1, 313 tongues spoken in the Pacific region, followed by 1, 064 in the Americas. Europe has 286 different languages.
According to Ethnologue, Papua New Guinea has 839 living languages, nearly three times as many as Europe. A living language is defined as having at least one speaker for whom it is their first language. Exinct languages used only as a second language are not included in this ranking.
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Europe’s Most Useful Foreign Languages (see chart further down)
There are 23 officially recognised languages within the European Union while there are more than 60 indigenous regional and minority languages. 54 percent of Europeans are able to have a conversation in one additional language while 25 percent can converse in two.
English is the most widely spoken foreign language in the European Union (38 percent) followed by French and German. It is also the language European citizens consider the most useful second language to learn. Luxembourg is the only non-English speaking country that ranked a different language to English as the most useful foreign tongue to master. When it comes to the languages Europeans consider the most useful after English, things become even more illuminating, with Russian, German and French the most dominant.
This chart shows the number of living languages spoken per country in 2015.
You will find more statistics at Statista
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This chart shows the foreign language people consider the most useful for personal development.
You will find more statistics at Statista
