A detailed guide to all French-speaking countries and related territories

Whether you are just at the beginning stage of learning French or an intermediate speaker looking to put your skills to the test, you may be wondering: where do people speak French around the world? Just as English is a global language, French is spoken all over the world, including in places you might not expect. In fact, after English, French is used as the national language of most countries in the world.

Aside from France, French is spoken in dozens of countries on every continent. Speaking French is a skill that will come in handy all over the world, thanks to French-speaking countries, French Overseas Territories, and speakers of French as a foreign language.

If you are looking for a private French tutor, this guide is the right place for you. We recommend you to get enrolled with italki to gain once in a lifetime learning opportunity. This platform has made learning French online an organized task with the availability of experienced teachers, learning tools, and techniques. To visit the website, click here.

French is officially the national or official language of 29 countries. France also has 11 Overseas Territories, which are administrative divisions of France located outside of the mainland. These are analogous to Puerto Rico in the United States.

These countries and regions are distributed throughout the world, with at least one in each of the following regions:

• Africa
• The Caribbean
• Europe
• North America
• South America
• The Caribbean
• Oceania

French-speaking countries

It’s difficult to imagine how many countries speak French if you’re studying French online or at home. We will divide the countries that speak French by continent or region to make the list more manageable.

French-speaking countries of Africa

By far most French-speaking countries are found on the African continent. It is also the continent with the greatest number of French speakers. Africa is also the most populous country with French as its national language.

Indeed, French has become a lingua franca in much of Eastern Africa. Whereas Northern Africa tends to use Arabic as a lingua franca, Central Africa uses Swahili, and Southern Africa uses English, the majority of the East uses French.

The following are the 21 African countries where French is the national or official language:

Country	Capital	Population	Percentage of the population who speak French
Benin	Porto-Novo	12,785,000	33.68%
Burkina Faso	Ouagadougou	22,103,000	24.45%
Burundi	Gitega	12,625,000	8.51%
Cameroon	Yaoundé	27,912,000	67.0%
Central African Republic	Bangui	5,017,000	28.60%
Chad	N’Djamena	17,414,000	12.91%
Côte d’Ivoire	Yamoussoukro	27,742,000	33.61%
Comoros	Moroni	907,000	26.13%
Congo	Brazzaville	5,798,000	60.68%
Congo, Democratic republic of	Kinshasa	95,241,000	51.37%
Djibouti	Djibouti	1,016,000	50.0%
Equatorial Guinea	Malabo	1,497,000	28.92%
Gabon	Libreville	2,332,000	65.14%
Guinea	Conakry	13,866,000	27.24%
Madagascar	Antananarivo	29,178,000	26.49%
Mali	Bamako	21,474,000	17.24%
Niger	Niamey	26,084,000	12.89%
Rwanda	Kigali	13,600,000	5.83%
Senegal	Dakar	17,654,000	26.28%
Seychelles	Victoria	99,000	53.54%
Togo	Lomé	8,681,000	40.94%

French-speaking countries of Europe

Do you know that French is also spoken in four other European countries? Look at the table below to get amazed:

Country	Capital	Population	Percentage of the population who speak French
Belgium	Brussels	11,668,000	75.55%
France	Paris	68,508,000	96.91%
Luxembourg	Luxembourg City	642,000	92.06%
Monaco	Monaco	40,000	97.50%
Switzerland	Bern	8,774,000	67.12%

This table must have removed your confusion about what language is spoken in Belgium because now you know that 75.55% population in Belgium speaks French.

French-speaking countries and cities in North America

Québec, Canada’s largest territory, speaks almost entirely French, with over 93% of the population fluent in the language. New Brunswick also has a sizable French-speaking population, with 42% of residents fluent in the language.

Country	Capital	Population	Percentage of the population who speak French
Canada	Ottawa	38,694,000	28.59%

French-speaking countries of the Caribbean

The Caribbean only has one country that speaks French as its official language.

Country	Capital	Population	Percentage of the population who speak French
Haiti	Port-au-Prince	11,680,000	42.0%

French-speaking countries of Oceania

French is spoken across Oceania. Australia and New Zealand are known as “the Antipodes,” which refers to the point on Earth that is diametrically opposed to where you are. In this case, Oceania in general is Europe’s antipode. French made it all the way to France’s antipode.

Country	Capital	Population	Percentage of the population who speak French
Vanuatu	Port Vila	322,000	31.06%

French Overseas Territories where French is spoken

Territory	Continent	Population	Percentage of the population who speak French
French Guiana	South America	294,436	66.23%
Guadeloupe	Caribbean	384,239	87.45%
Martinique	Caribbean	364,508	83.13%
Mayotte	Africa	299,348	51.78%
Réunion	Africa	868,846	87.82%
French Polynesia	Oceania	279,300	99.53%
Saint Barthélemy	Caribbean	9,961	90.0%
Saint Martin	Caribbean	32,489	98.49%
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	North America	6,000	100.0%
Wallis and Futuna	Oceania	11,558	77.87%
New Caledonia	Oceania	271,407	66.62%

Regions where French is spoken but not an official language

The fact that French is not an official language of a country does not imply that it is not widely spoken. Many countries around the world have a sizable francophone population. All of the countries listed in the table below have at least 10% of their population speak French.

Country	Capital	Continent	Population	Percentage of the population who speak French
The Gambia	Banjul	Africa	2,558,000	20.02%
Mauritius	Port Louis	Africa	1,275,000	72.63%
São Tomé and Príncipe	São Tomé	Africa	228,000	20.18%
Lebanon	Beirut	Asia	6,685,000	38.0%
Morocco	Rabat	Africa	37,773,000	35.63%
Tunisia	Tunis	Africa	12,047,000	52.47%
Andorra	Andorra la Vella	Europe	77,000	70.13%
Algeria	Algiers	Africa	45,350,000	32.86%
Italy	Rome	Europe	60,263,000	19.58%
Portugal	Lisbon	Europe	10,141,000	25.12%
Cabo Verde	Praia	Africa	568,000	10.74%
Guinea-Bissau	Bissau	Africa	2,063,000	15.37%
Mauritania	Nouakchott	Africa	4,902,000	13.38%
Romania	Bucharest	Europe	19,031,000	11.99%
Austria	Vienna	Europe	9,067,000	12.86%
Ireland	Dublin	Europe	5,020,000	12.67%
Malta	Valletta	Europe	444,000	13.06%
Germany	Berlin	Europe	83,884,000	14.66%
Spain	Madrid	Europe	46,719,000	11.71%
Netherlands	Amsterdam	Europe	17,211,000	19.21%
United Kingdom	London	Europe	68,498,000	16.47%

How many people in the world speak French?

As of 2022, there are over 321 million French speakers worldwide. Surprisingly, only about 100 million of them speak French as their first language. This makes French one of the languages with the highest proportion of non-native speakers in comparison to native speakers.

There are two main reasons for this. For starters, many countries have French as one of their official languages. This means that a country has multiple official languages, with French serving as the lingua franca.

Second, French is one of the most widely studied languages in the world Perhaps it’s because French culture, including its cuisine, media, literature, and arts, has such a strong global influence. Perhaps there’s something inherently appealing about French. In any case, students all over the world can’t get enough of French. And, now you know how important it is for you to learn French pronunciation so pull up your socks!

Frequently asked questions

Q. Is French still useful around the world?

A. Aside from being the official language of 29 countries worldwide, French is an extremely useful language to learn for business or for pleasure. According to Bloomberg, French is the third most useful business language, trailing only English and Mandarin.

Q. Is it better to learn French or Spanish?

A. According to the Power Language Index, French is more useful than Spanish in general because it is a better business language and a more powerful language. But, it also depends on where you live. If you live in the United States, learning Spanish will almost certainly be more beneficial than learning French.

Q. What country has the best French accent?

A. Metropolitan French, also known as Parisian French, is generally considered to be the best French accent.

Conclusion

Now that you know about different French-speaking countries, it is also significant to know that French is expected to have over one billion speakers by 2065. In less than 50 years, the current number of French speakers will have more than tripled. If these forecasts are correct, French will overtake Spanish and Arabic in terms of the total number of speakers.

Then, what are you waiting for? Start learning French today with italki! You can also look for some additional learning resources for instance, learning French through podcasts is a very effective strategy to gain fluency like native French speakers.