TOP TEN LANGUAGES
IN THE INTERNET

Internet
Penetration
by Language

2007 Estimated
World Population
for the Language

English

30.2 %

376,708,552

18.4 %

165.4 %

2,042,963,129

Chinese

14.7 %

184,001,513

13.6 %

469.6 %

1,351,737,925

Spanish

8.5 %

106,529,930

24.1 %

331.6 %

442,525,601

Japanese

7.0 %

87,540,000

68.0 %

85.9 %

128,646,345

French

5.0 %

62,211,627

16.0 %

410.0 %

387,820,873

German

4.9 %

60,761,834

63.0 %

119.3 %

96,488,326

Portuguese

4.1 %

50,828,760

21.7 %

570.9 %

234,099,347

Arabic

3.7 %

46,359,140

13.6 %

1,575.9 %

340,548,157

Korean

2.7 %

34,430,000

46.0 %

80.8 %

74,811,368

Italian

2.6 %

32,860,087

55.2 %

148.9 %

59,546,696

TOP 10 LANGUAGES

85.0 %

1,042,231,443

20.2 %

217.3 %

5,158,804,027

Rest of the Languages

16.5 %

206,125,983

14.6 %

534.7 %

1,415,478,651

WORLD TOTAL

100.0 %

1,248,357,426

19.0 %

245.8 %

6,574,666,417

(*) NOTES: (1) Internet Top Ten Languages Usage Stats were updated for November 30, 2007. (2) Internet Penetration is the ratio between the sum of Internet users speaking a language and the total population estimate that speaks that specific language. (3) The most recent Internet usage information comes from data published by Nielsen//NetRatings, International Telecommunications Union, Computer Industry Almanac, and other reliable sources. (4) World population information comes from the U.S. Census Bureau . (5) For definitions and navigation help in several languages, see the Site Surfing Guide. (6) Stats may be cited, stating the source and establishing an active link back to Internet World Stats. Copyright © 2008, Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.

Examples for data interpretation:
- There are 106,529,930 Spanish speaking people using the Internet, this represents 8.5 % of all the Internet users in the world.
- Out of the estimated 442,525,601 world population that speaks Spanish, only 24.1 % use the Internet.
- The number of Spanish Speaking Internet Users has grown 331.6 % in the last seven years (2000-2007).

Tallying the number of speakers of the world's languages is an increasingly complex task, particularly with the push in many countries to teach English in their public schools. How many people can actually use the global language? David Graddol estimated a total of 750 million L1 (first or native language) plus L2 (second or nth language) speakers of English in his Future of English Report for the British Council in 1997. One of our subscribers, Martin Schell, has reviewed Prof. Braj Kachru's new book Asian Englishes which claims that India and China combined have over half a billion "users" of English.

Indeed, many people are bilingual or multilingual, but here we assign only one language per person in order to have all the language totals add up to the total world population (zero-sum approach). No adjustments have been made for infants or illiteracy in the Internet penetration rate calculations. Very few countries have 100% literacy. Australia, Denmark, Finland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Norway are six examples to mention. Regarding children, most are early adopters (when they are given the chance to surf).

Other Web Sites with Statistics and Information on Language Sites in the Internet

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Internet Market Reports
A large selection with Internet Market Research, featuring the latest information about Internet usage statistics, global markets, world population, emerging international e-markets, top languages in Internet, and regional Internet stats. Based on the exclusive Internet World Stats archives (2000 - 2007).
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