List of official languages by state.html
 
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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, or that have status as a national language, regional language, or minority language.

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). Some countries have more than one language with this status.
Contents Top · 0–9 · A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

  •  Afghanistan1
    • Pashto (statewide) (official)
    • Dari (statewide) (official)
    • Uzbek (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Turkmen (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Pashai (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Nuristani (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Balochi (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Pamiri (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)

B

C

  •  Colombia
    • Spanish (the languages and dialects of ethnic groups are also official in their territories 13)

D


E

  •  Ecuador
    • Spanish (Quechua or Kichwa and Shuar are official languages of intercultural relation, ancient languages are official in their territories.14)


F



G

H


I

J

  •  Japan
    • No official language nationwide, Japanese is the de facto official language and the national language.
    • Ryukyuan (minority language)
    • Ainu (minority language)
    • Korean (minority language)

K

L

M

  •  Malaysia
    • Malay (national)
    • English(secondary/residual official status under National Language Act 1967)

English (science & mathematics) and Malay (all other subjects) are the medium of instruction in National schools. In addition, Mandarin and Tamil are used as the medium of instruction in National-type primary schools


N

O

P

Q

R