Languages in censuses

Many countries, through the use of censuses, enumerate their populations by languages and by their level of competence in using those languages.

Afghanistan

Pashto and Dari (Persian) are the official languages of Afghanistan; bilingualism is very common. Both are Indo-European languages from the Iranian languages sub-family. Dari has always been the prestige language and a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communication. It is the native tongue of the Tajiks, Hazaras, Aimaks, and Kizilbash. Pashto is the native tongue of the Pashtuns, although many Pashtuns often use Dari and some non-Pashtuns are fluent in Pashto. Other languages, including Uzbek, Arabic, Turkmen, Balochi, Pashayi, and Nuristani languages (Ashkunu, Kamkata-viri, Vasi-vari, Tregami, and Kalasha-ala), are the native tongues of minority groups across the country and have official status in the regions where they are widely spoken. Minor languages also include Pamiri (Shughni, Munji, Ishkashimi, and Wakhi), Brahui, Hindko, and Kyrgyz. A small percentage of Afghans are also fluent in Urdu, English and other languages.

Albania

Algeria

The official language of Algeria is Modern Standard Arabic (literary Arabic), as specified in its constitution since 1963. In addition to this, Berber has been recognized as a "national language" by constitutional amendment since 8 May 2002. Algerian Arabic and Berber are the native languages of over 99% of Algerians, with Algerian Arabic spoken by about 72% and Berber by 27.4%. French, though it has no official status, is widely used in government, culture, media (newspapers) and education (from primary school), due to Algeria's colonial history and can be regarded as being a de facto co-official language of Algeria. Kabyle, the most spoken Berber language in the country, is taught and partially co-official (with a few restrictions) in parts of Kabylie.

Andorra Official language is Catalan, although the most spoken language is Spanish. Other minority languages are French and Portuguese.

Antigua and Barbuda The de facto official language is English, while Antiguan Creole is dissuaded from use. Around 10,000 inhabitants speak Spanish.

Argentina

The de facto official language is Spanish, spoken by almost all Argentines. Due to the extensive Argentine geography, Spanish has a strong variation among regions, although the prevalent dialect is Rioplatense, primarily spoken in the La Plata Basin and accented similarly to Neapolitan language. There are several second-languages in widespread use among the Argentine population:

English, taught since elementary school. 42.3% of Argentines claim to speak it, with 15.4% of them claiming to have a high level of language comprehension. Italian, by 1.5 million people. Arabic, specially its Northern Levantine dialect, by one million people. Standard German, by 400,000 people. Yiddish, by 200,000 people, the largest Jewish population in Latin America and 7th in the world. Guaraní, by 200,000 people, mostly in Corrientes, where it is official de jure. Catalan, by 174,000 people. French, including the rare Occitan language. Quechua, by 65,000 people, mostly in the Northwest. Wichí, by 53,700 people, mainly in Chaco where, along with Kom and Moqoit, it is official de jure. Vlax Romani, by 52,000 people. Japanese, by 32,000 people. Aymara, by 30,000 people, mostly in the Northwest. Ukrainian, by 27,000 people. Welsh, including its Patagonian dialect, in which 25,000 people are fluent. Some districts have recently incorporated it as an educational language.

Armenia Armenian is the only official language. Due to its Soviet past, Russian is still widely used in Armenia and could be considered as de facto second language. According to a 2013 survey, 95% of Armenians said they had some knowledge of Russian (24% advanced, 59% intermediate) compared to 40% who said they knew some English (4% advanced, 16% intermediate and 20% beginner). However, more adults (50%) think that English should be taught in public secondary schools than those who prefer Russian (44%).

Australia Although Australia has no official language, English has always been entrenched as the de facto national language. Standard Australian English serves as the standard dialect. According to the 2016 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for 72.6% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (2.5%), Arabic (1.4%), Cantonese (1.2%), Vietnamese (1.2%), Italian (1.2%), Greek (1.0%), Tagalog (0.8%), Hindi (0.7%), Spanish (0.6%) and Punjabi (0.6%); a considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. A 2010–2011 study by the Australia Early Development Index found the most common language spoken by children after English was Arabic, followed by Vietnamese, Greek, Chinese, and Hindi. 0.3% of Australians spoke an Indigenous Australian language at home in 2016.

Austria The official and national language of Austria is German. In some regions in the east of the country Croatian is a co-official language too.

Azerbaijan Native language according to the census in 2009

Bahamas English is the most widely spoken language in the Bahamas. Bahamian Creole serves as a vernacular among much of the population. Haitian Bahamians speak Haitian Creole.

Bahrain Arabic is the official language of Bahrain, though English is widely used. Bahrani Arabic is the most widely spoken dialect of the Arabic language, though this differs slightly from standard Arabic. Among the Bahraini and non-Bahraini population, many people speak Persian, the official language of Iran, or Urdu, the official language of Pakistan. Malayalam and Nepali are also widely spoken in the Nepalese workers and Gurkha Soldiers community. Hindi is spoken among significant Indian communities.

Bangladesh According to the Report on Socio-Economic and Demographic Survey 2023 of the 2022 Bangladeshi census, 99.17% of Bangladeshis spoke the Bengali language as a mother tongue while 0.83% spoke other languages. 92.94% of people did not speak a second language; 6.10% of people spoke English as a second language; 0.80% of people spoke Bengali as a second language, and 0.17% of people spoke another language. Other languages include the Chakma language and the Santali language.

Barbados While English is the official language of Barbados, Bajan Creole is used as a vernacular tongue. 98% of Barbados' population is literate in English.

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