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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.
English is the official second language of Ireland, while Irish is the first. [110] While New Zealand is majority English-speaking, its two official languages are Māori [111] and New Zealand Sign Language. [112] The United Kingdom does not have an official language.
English in the Commonwealth is diverse, and many regions have developed their own local varieties of the language. In Cyprus, it does not have official status but is widely used as a lingua franca. [4] English is spoken as a first or second language in most of the Commonwealth.
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.
While there is no official language at the federal level, 32 of the 50 U.S. states [54] and all five inhabited U.S. territories have designated English as one, or the only, official language, while courts have found that residents in the 50 states do not have a right to government services in their preferred language. [55]
Most UN councils use all six languages as official and working languages; however, as of 2023 the United Nations Secretariat uses only two working languages: English and French. [ 5 ] The six official languages spoken at the UN are the first or second language of 2.8 billion people on the planet, less than half of the world population.
Opponents of the legislation question why there is a sudden need for an official language, given that the United States government has flourished without one for the past two hundred years. They argue that it is not an official language that binds Americans together as a country, but rather the freedoms and ideals that are enjoyed by its citizens.
The English-only movement, also known as the Official English movement, is a political movement that advocates for the exclusive use of the English language in official United States government communication through the establishment of English as the only official language in the United States. The United States has never had an official ...