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It is the country's common language and de facto national language; while Australia has no official language, English is the first language of the majority of the population, and has been entrenched as the de facto national language since British settlement, being the only language spoken in the home for 72% of Australians. [5]
As of 2024, there are 57 sovereign states and 28 non-sovereign entities where English is an official language. Many administrative divisions have declared English an official language at the local or regional level. Most states where English is an official language are former territories of the British Empire.
The European Union is a supranational union composed of 27 member states. The total English-speaking population of the European Union and the United Kingdom combined (2012) is 256,876,220 [69] (out of a total population of 500,000,000, [70] i.e. 51%) including 65,478,252 native speakers and 191,397,968 non-native speakers, and would be ranked 2nd if it were included.
Australian English is a major variety of the language, with a distinctive accent and lexicon, [84] and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling. [85] General Australian serves as the standard variety. At the 2021 census English was the only language spoken in the homes of 72% of the population.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the Anglosphere as "the countries of the world in which the English language and cultural values predominate". [7] [b] However the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English is an official language, so it is not synonymous with anglophone. [8] [better source needed]
The Australian sign language known as Auslan was used at home by 16,242 people at the time of the 2021 census. [380] At the 2021 census, English was the only language spoken in the home for 72% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home were Mandarin (2.7%), Arabic (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%) and Punjabi (0 ...
The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, [1] [2] making it the largest language by number of speakers, the third largest language by number of native speakers and the most widespread language geographically.
English is the majority language of Australia today. Although English has no official legal status, it is the de facto official and national language. [2] [3] Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon, [4] and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling. [5]