how many people speak french

As of 2025, approximately 320 to 321 million people worldwide speak French. This includes both native speakers and non-native speakers. Around 80 million of these are native speakers, while the rest are non-native speakers who use French as a second language or lingua franca. French is the fifth most spoken language globally and is official in about 29 to 32 countries. A significant portion of French speakers, roughly 60%, reside in Africa, with rapid population growth expected to increase the number of French speakers to as much as 700 million by 2050, mostly in Africa.