kids encyclopedia robot

List of countries and territories where French is an official language facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Map-Francophone World
     Regions where French is a majority native language      Regions where French is an official or administrative language but not a majority native language      Regions where French is an unofficial secondary language

French is an official language in 27 independent nations. The following is a list of sovereign states and territories where French is an official or de facto language.

Only official language

Countries

List of countries where French is the only official language:

Non-sovereign entities

Co-official use

Sovereign states

In many countries, French is used as a co-official language alongside one or more other languages. List of countries where French is a co-official language:

Countries where French is an official language
Countries in the world with French as an official language.

National subdivisions

Officially recognized status

Although a non-official minority language, French is granted certain rights in the following countries and territories:

Intergovernmental organizations

Francophonie flag Ottawa
The Francophonie flag flying at the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa

French is an official language, mostly in conjunction with English, of 36 international organisations. These include:

Countries

This table shows the total populations of the countries, not the number of French speakers – most of these countries have a majority that do not speak French.

No. Country Continent Population
1. Democratic Republic of Congo Africa 105,044,646
2. France Europe 68,051,000
3. Canada North America 38,653,740
4. Madagascar Africa 24,235,400
5. Cameroon Africa 23,345,200
6. Côte d'Ivoire Africa 22,701,600
7. Niger Africa 19,899,100
8. Senegal Africa 15,129,300
9. Chad Africa 14,037,500
10. Guinea Africa 12,608,600
11. Rwanda Africa 11,607,700
12. Belgium Europe 11,358,357
13. Burundi Africa 11,178,900
14. Benin Africa 10,879,800
15. Haiti Caribbean 10,711,100
16. Switzerland Europe 8,510,000
17. Togo Africa 7,304,600
18. Central African Republic Africa 4,900,300
19. Congo Africa 4,620,300
20. Gabon Africa 1,725,300
21. Equatorial Guinea Africa 1,221,490
22. Djibouti Africa 887,861
23. Comoros Africa 795,601
24. Luxembourg Europe 602,900
25. Vanuatu Oceania 264,652
26. Seychelles Africa 92,900
27. Monaco Europe 38,731
Total All countries World c. 430,406,578

Dependent entities

Nr. Entity Continent Population Status
1. French Polynesia Oceania 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".284,060 Overseas collectivity of France
2. New Caledonia Oceania &&&&&&&&&0267000.&&&&&0267,000 Collectivity of France with special status
3. Aosta Valley Europe &&&&&&&&&0128000.&&&&&0128,000 Autonomous region of Italy
4. Saint Martin North America 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".37,264 Overseas collectivity of France
5. Wallis and Futuna Oceania &&&&&&&&&&015289.&&&&&015,289 Overseas collectivity of France
6. Saint Barthélemy North America &&&&&&&&&&&09131.&&&&&09,131 Overseas collectivity of France
7. Saint Pierre and Miquelon North America &&&&&&&&&&&05888.&&&&&05,888 Overseas collectivity of France
8. French Southern and Antarctic Lands Africa, Antarctica &&&&&&&&&&&&0100.&&&&&0100 Overseas collectivity of France
9. Clipperton Island North America &&&&&&&&&&&&&&00.&&&&&00 Overseas collectivity of France

Note: Réunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Mayotte are classified as overseas departments and regions of France and are thus not a part of this list. While not de jure official, the U.S. states of Louisiana and Maine recognize the usage of French in law, governance, and commerce and allow state services and publicly funded education in the language, rendering it de facto official alongside English.

Non-official but significant language

While French is not an official language in these countries, it is widely used in administration and many professional sectors, as well as being highly influential as a cultural language in the local society and has certain privileges in the education system.

Country Continent Population (2023) Usage of French
Algeria Africa 44,758,398 Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language
Burkina Faso Africa 22,489,126 Administrative, educational
Cambodia Asia 16,891,245 Administrative (particularly judicial and diplomacy), cultural, some educational
Laos Asia 7,852,377 Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational
Lebanon Asia 5,331,203 De jure second language
Mali Africa 21,359,722 Administrative (de facto official), educational
Mauritania Africa 4,244,878 De facto second official language, educational
Mauritius Africa 1,309,448 Administrative (de facto official), cultural, educational
Morocco Africa 37,067,420 Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language
Tunisia Africa 11,976,182 Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language
Vietnam Asia 99,460,000 Administrative (diplomatic), cultural, some educational, working language in medicine, science, and law

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Anexo:Países donde el francés es idioma oficial para niños

  • Geographical distribution of French speakers
  • Francophonie
  • List of international organisations which have French as an official language
kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
List of countries and territories where French is an official language Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.