The Portuguese-speaking world, also known as the Lusophone world (Portuguese: mundo lusófono), Lusophony (Lusofonia), or the Lusosphere (Portuguese: Lusoesfera) is the countries and territories in which the Portuguese language is an official, administrative, cultural, or secondary language. This article provides details regarding the geographical distribution of all Portuguese-speakers or Lusophones, regardless of legislative status. Portuguese is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and is an official language of countries on four continents. The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) is an international organization formed to facilitate cooperation between these countries.
Statistics
Native speakers This table depicts the native speakers of the language, which means that the table includes people who have been exposed to the Portuguese language from birth and, thus, excludes people who use the language as a second language (L2).
Status by country
Spread of Portuguese
During a period of Portuguese discoveries and through a large colonial empire, the language was spread to areas in Africa, the Americas, and Asia, beyond East Timor and Macau in the Far East. Portuguese-based creole languages also developed during this era. Today, Portuguese continues to thrive outside the Lusophone world through the presence of large expat communities of Angolans, Brazilians, Cape Verdeans, Portuguese, and Timorese found throughout the world.
Europe
Portugal Portuguese is spoken as a first language in Portugal (the language's namesake) by nearly all of the nation's 10.6 million people. The ancestor of modern Portuguese, Galician–Portuguese, began developing in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, in an area encompassing present-day northern Portugal and Galicia, at around the 9th century. Modern Portuguese started developing in the early 16th century.
Galicia (Spain) The region of Galicia in Spain is not exactly classified as Lusophone, but holds close ties to the Lusophony. The Galician language used to form a common dialect continuum with Portuguese during the Middle Ages, denominated as Galician–Portuguese by historians. Thus, efforts have been made by the Xunta de Galicia to promote cultural and linguistical interchange between Galicia and the Lusophone world, such as the Euroregion between Galicia and North Portugal. The Consello da Cultura Galega (Council of Galician Culture) has been considered an observer member of the CPLP since 2016.
Rest of Europe Portuguese-speaking immigrants from Portuguese-speaking Africa, Brazil, Macau, and Portugal have also settled in Andorra (around 15,000 speakers), Belgium, France (around 500,000 speakers), Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In Luxembourg, 19% of the population speaks Portuguese as mother tongue, making it the largest minority language by percentage in a Western European country.
Africa
Angola Portuguese is the sole official language of Angola, and 85% of the population profess fluency in the language. Additionally, 75% of Angolan households speak Portuguese as their primary language, and native Bantu languages have been influenced by Portuguese through loanwords.
Cape Verde Similar to Guinea-Bissau, although Portuguese is the only official language, a Portuguese-based creole known as Cape Verdean Creole is spoken by the majority of the population. Most Cape Verdeans are fluent in Portuguese as well. Education and media are available largely in standard European Portuguese only.
Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea was a Spanish colony between 1778 and 1968 and was originally a group of Portuguese colonies between 1474 and 1778. A Portuguese creole is spoken by locals on the island of Annobón. In 2007, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema announced a decision to make Portuguese the third official language of the country after Spanish and French. Despite government promotions, Portuguese remains rarely spoken in Equatorial Guinea, but increased political and trade relations with Portuguese-speaking nations (i.e. Brazil, Angola, Portugal) will soon increase the number of Portuguese speakers in the country. News, sports, and entertainment media in Portuguese will undoubtedly also facilitate increased comprehension. The majority of the population (~90%) still speaks Spanish as their primary language, and Spanish is still the administrative language and that of education, while French is the second official language.
Guinea-Bissau Despite being the sole official language, only 50% of the population professes fluency in Portuguese. However, a Portuguese-based creole called Guinea-Bissau Creole (Kriol) is spoken by nearly the whole population as a lingua franca.
Mozambique Portuguese is the sole official language of Mozambique and serves as a lingua franca between the various ethnic groups in the country. Slightly over 17% of the population are native speakers of Portuguese, totaling circa 5.8 million native speakers and making it the fourth biggest Portuguese native speaker community in the world right behind Brazil, Angola and Portugal. Also approximately 58.1% profess fluency, which amounts to almost 20 million speakers (a bigger community than Portugal if L2 speakers are counted). According to the 2017 Mozambican census, Portuguese is the second preferred native language (in first place is the Emakwa language spoken mostly in the northern provinces), being the main native language in both the Maputo province and the Maputo Capital in particular and a common second most spoken native language in the Gaza and Nampula provinces. The government, courts, education and most of Mozambican media is available solely in Portuguese, and the country receives several Portuguese and Brazilian television stations.
São Tomé and Príncipe In São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese is by far the most spoken language, with around 95% of the population speaking it at home or professing fluency; 99.8% declared speaking Portuguese in the 1991 census. A Portuguese-based creole called Forro is also spoken.
Rest of Africa Large Portuguese-speaking communities are found in Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia due to immigration from the Lusophone African countries. Portuguese is also taught in the schools of these countries.
Americas
North America
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