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

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Spanish is a language spoken by millions of people around the world! This article lists the countries where Spanish is an official language. It also talks about other places where Spanish is very important, even if it's not the main official language.

Official majority language Co-official or administrative language but not majority native language Secondary language (more than 20% Spanish speakers) or culturally important

Countries Where Spanish is Official
- Main Official Language
  - Independent Countries
  - Territories Where Spanish is Official
- Spanish as a Secondary Official Language
  - Partially Recognized State
Countries Where Spanish is Important
Spanish in the Philippines
Spanish-Based Languages
- Judeo-Spanish
International Organizations Using Spanish
See also

Countries Where Spanish is Official

An animation showing flags of some countries where Spanish is spoken.

Spanish is an official language in 20 independent countries. It's also official in one territory that depends on another country, and one state that is only partly recognized by the world. In total, about 442 million people live in these places.

Main Official Language

In these countries and territories, Spanish is the most important language. Most people speak it every day. Official papers are written in Spanish, and it's taught in schools as the main language.

Independent Countries

Here are the independent countries where Spanish is an official language:

Countries with Spanish as a Main Official Language
Country	How it's official	Population (2021)	Language Group	More about their Spanish
Mexico	By common use	130,207,371	Academia Mexicana de la Lengua	Mexican Spanish
Colombia	By law	52,695,952	Academia Colombiana de la Lengua	Colombian Spanish
Spain	By law	48,797,875	Real Academia Española	Peninsular Spanish
Argentina	By common use	45,864,941	Academia Argentina de Letras	Rioplatense Spanish
Peru	By law	32,201,224	Academia Peruana de la Lengua	Peruvian Spanish
Venezuela	By law	29,069,153	Academia Venezolana de la Lengua	Venezuelan Spanish
Chile	By common use	18,307,925	Academia Chilena de la Lengua	Chilean Spanish
Guatemala	By law	17,422,821	Academia Guatemalteca de la Lengua	Guatemalan Spanish
Ecuador	By law	17,093,159	Academia Ecuatoriana de la Lengua	Ecuadorian Spanish
Bolivia	By law	11,758,869	Academia Boliviana de la Lengua	Bolivian Spanish
Cuba	By law	11,032,343	Academia Cubana de la Lengua	Cuban Spanish
Dominican Republic	By law	10,597,348	Academia Dominicana de la Lengua	Dominican Spanish
Honduras	By law	9,346,277	Academia Hondureña de la Lengua	Honduran Spanish
Paraguay	By law	7,272,639	Academia Paraguaya de la Lengua Española	Paraguayan Spanish
El Salvador	By law	6,528,135	Academia Salvadoreña de la Lengua	Salvadoran Spanish
Nicaragua	By law	6,243,931	Academia Nicaragüense de la Lengua	Nicaraguan Spanish
Costa Rica	By law	5,151,140	Academia Costarricense de la Lengua	Costa Rican Spanish
Panama	By law	3,928,646	Academia Panameña de la Lengua	Panamanian Spanish
Uruguay	By common use	3,398,239	Academia Nacional de Letras	Uruguayan Spanish
Equatorial Guinea	By law	1,468,777	Academia Ecuatoguineana de la Lengua Española	Equatoguinean Spanish
Total		464,509,172	Association of Academies of the Spanish Language

Territories Where Spanish is Official

Spanish is also an official language in this territory:

Territory with Spanish as a Main Official Language
Territory	How it's official	Population (2021)	Language Group	More about their Spanish
Puerto Rico	By law	3,142,779	Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española	Puerto Rican Spanish

Spanish as a Secondary Official Language

In some places, Spanish is an official language, but it's not the main one. For example, in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Spanish is official along with Arabic, which is the main language.

Partially Recognized State

Partially Recognized State with Spanish as a Secondary Official Language
State	How it's official	More about their Spanish
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic	By common use	Saharan Spanish

Notes:

Countries Where Spanish is Important

Even if Spanish isn't an official language, it's spoken by many people in these countries. You can often find public services, schools, and media in Spanish.

Countries with Many Spanish Speakers
Country	Population (2022)	Total Spanish Speakers	Percentage Spanish-speaking
Andorra	85,468	~40,000	48.6%
Belize	419,137	165,296 (2010)	56.6% (2010)
Gibraltar	34,003	25,500	75%
United States	339,665,118	~60,000,000	19%

Andorra

Andorra is a small country where Spanish is not official. However, it's very important in schools and businesses. Almost half of the people in Andorra can speak Spanish. It's often used to communicate between different language groups.

Belize

Belize is a country in Central America where English is the official language. But Belize shares borders with Mexico and Guatemala, where Spanish is spoken. A big part of Belize's population speaks Spanish. In 2010, about 30% of people said Spanish was their first language, and about 50% could speak it well.

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British territory next to Spain. Spanish is not official here, but students must learn it in high school. Many people speak a mix of Spanish and English called Llanito. However, younger people are using English more and more.

United States

Percentage of the U.S. population aged 5 and over that speaks Spanish at home in 2019, by US States.

Spanish has been spoken in the United States for hundreds of years, especially in the Southwest and Florida. Most Spanish speakers today are from recent immigration. Only in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado have Spanish-speaking communities existed since colonial times without interruption.

Spanish is the most studied foreign language in U.S. schools. About 41 million people speak it as their first language, and another 11 million speak it well as a second language. This makes the U.S. the country with the second-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world, after Mexico. Spanish is becoming more common in business and politics across the U.S.

Spanish in the Philippines

Spanish used to be the official language of the Philippines for a very long time, from 1565 until 1973. Then, a president made it official again for a while. In 1987, it became an optional language. The Philippine government even said that the country's Constitution should be translated into Spanish.

Even though Spanish is not widely spoken in daily life in the Philippines today, many words in local languages like Tagalog come from Spanish. This is because of over 300 years of Spanish influence.

Spanish-Based Languages

There are some languages that started from Spanish but changed over time. These are called creole languages.

Chavacano is a Spanish-based creole language spoken in Zamboanga City in the Philippines.
Papiamento is an official language in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. It's a mix of Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages.

Spanish-Based Creole Languages
Country	Creole language	Estimated speakers	Year	Status
Aruba	Papiamento	~100,000		Official
Caribbean Netherlands	Papiamento	–	–	Official
Curaçao	Papiamento	185,155	1981	Official
Philippines	Chavacano	689,000	1992	Regional