English

FACT FILE:

Official language in: 67 countries & 27 non-sovereign entities… UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, Belize, Botswana, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Genada, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Micronesia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Soloman Islands, South Africa, South Sudan, Trindidad & Tobago, Zambia

Co-language in: Burundi, Cameroon, Eswatini, India, Ireland, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malta, Marshall Islands, Namibia, Nauru, Pakistan, Palau, Philippines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Zimbabwe

Minority language in: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Cyprus, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Oman, qatar, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United Arab Emirates

Spoken by: 400 million (native)

Language family: Anglic – Anglo-Frisian – Ingvaeonic (North Sea Germanic) – West Germanic – Germanic – Indo-European

Writing system: Latin (English alphabet)

Fun Fact: 1/4 of the world’s population speaks at least some English. In fact, over 80% of the information stored on computers worldwide is in English.

On average a new word is added to the dictionary every two hours. During the course of the year, almost 4,000 new words are added.