How Many Countries Speak Spanish? A Guide

If you feel like Spanish is everywhere, you’re not too far from the truth. Spanish today is the second-most widely spoken native language in the world, second only to Mandarin Chinese. When comparing total speakers, Spanish is still in the top-five list. Almost 550 million people speak Spanish today, including over 470 million native speakers.

So where are all these people speaking Spanish? Around the world, 20 countries have Spanish as an official or the official language. That means the government and businesses communicate in Spanish, that Spanish is taught in schools, and that most people speak the language natively. In addition, a few countries and regions have Spanish spoken widely, even if it’s not the official language.

What are these countries, and what are they like? We’ll explore each of these countries and what makes them a unique part of the Spanish-speaking world.

Spain: where Spanish started

Although Spaniards have been speaking Spanish longer than anyone, the country barely accounts for 10% of the world’s Spanish-speaking population. But it’s here where Spanish started, evolving from Latin over thousands of years to the Spanish we hear and speak today. If you’re having trouble with some of the trickier parts of Spanish, such as reflexive verbs and the conditional tense, you can thank Latin for that!

Recommended Learning Platform course

Spanish for Beginners. The Complete Spanish Course. LEVEL 1.

Peter Hanley