French speaking countries: where French is spoken, with OIF figures

French speaking countries are the places where French is an official language, plus others where many people use it every day. No single list covers both. This page uses the OIF (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie) for the speaker numbers and the United Nations for the official-language count. It also shows where the sources disagree. For how Canadian speech sounds, see Canadian French and Quebec French vs France French. To pick a level to aim for, read French levels explained.

What are the French speaking countries?

The United Nations says French is an official language in 29 countries across several continents [1]. Most of them are members of the OIF [1]. The OIF’s own older page says “29 countries and 3 governments” [2].

The count changes with the question you ask. A UN magazine article from April 2022 says French is official in 21 of the 54 countries of Africa [3]. That is a count for one continent, not a different total.

A country can have many French speakers without French being official. The OIF’s 2022 ranking of speakers by headcount includes Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom [2]. The table below is that ranking.

These are the OIF’s 2022 numbers, from its older observatory site [2]. They are the most recent country-by-country figures this page opened.

What are the places French is spoken, by share of the population?

Headcount favours big countries. Share of the population shows where French is most present in daily life. The OIF’s 2022 ranking by percentage of the population is below [2].

The page lists these fourteen only. Other places may sit just below them.

Here are some words you will need to talk about this map. Tap to hear each one.

• le pays means country.
• le monde means the world.
• la langue means language.
• la frontière means border.
• une île means an island, which fits Mauritius and the Seychelles.
• le drapeau means flag.

What does francophone mean, and how many are there?

A francophone is a person who speaks French. The OIF’s 2026 report defines it widely: someone who speaks French as a mother tongue, second language, official language or everyday language [4].

The OIF launched its 2026 report on 16 March 2026 with 396 million speakers, which it calls the fourth most spoken language in the world [5]. It estimated 220 million in its 2010 edition [4].

Part of that rise is a change of method. The 2026 report adds a second way of counting, based on children aged 6 to 9 who are learning to read in French in 30 countries of the South where French is official, co-official or a language of schooling [4]. By the older method the figure for 2025 is 348 million [4]. The 2022 estimate was 321 million [2]. Quote the number with its year and method.

The 396 million covers everyone who can use the language. As a mother tongue, the OIF counts about 90 million speakers, which puts French sixteenth [4].

The OIF’s own pages also disagree on its membership. Its “La Francophonie en bref” page says 90 states and governments [6]. The 2026 report summary says 93, counting all statuses [4]. Do not treat the membership as the list of French speaking countries.

Which French speaking countries are in Africa?

Africa holds about 65% of the world’s French speakers, according to the OIF [5]. Between 2010 and 2025 the OIF counts nearly 76 million people added to the group that live in French every day, and Africa accounts for 92% of that growth [4]. On current trends the OIF expects 590 million speakers in 2050, nine in ten of them in Africa [5].

For schooling, the OIF lists the countries where French is the main or only language of instruction, even where it is introduced alongside national languages [7]:

• Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, the Comoros, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo [7].
• French is one of several languages of instruction in Burundi, Cameroon, Djibouti, Madagascar and Chad [7].

That list is about classrooms. It is not the list of official languages, so do not read it as one. It does show why the numbers are rising: three quarters of the 93 million people schooled in French, in the OIF’s 2022 figures, are in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean [7].

Which Africa country that speaks French has the most speakers?

It depends on whether you count people or share. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has the most French speakers after France, at 48.9 million in 2022, which is 51% of its population [2]. Among the African places in the OIF’s share ranking, Mauritius is highest at 73%, then Gabon at 65% and Congo at 61% [2].

The North African countries need care. The 2026 report says French holds a “paradoxical” position in the Maghreb, still used in media, universities, administration and business, and also criticized as the colonizer’s language [4]. In 12 African capitals the report describes everyday life as multilingual, with French added to several major local languages [4]. Speaking French in these countries rarely means speaking only French.

Check what you learned

Common mistakes

• Treating “member of the OIF” as “French-speaking”. The OIF’s own pages give 90 and 93 members, and membership is not the same as the 29 countries where French is official [1][4][6].
• Mixing 396, 348 and 321 million. They come from different years and methods [2][4][5].
• Assuming French is official everywhere in Africa. The UN magazine counts 21 of 54 countries [3].
• Reading a school-language list as an official-language list. The OIF’s list of schooling languages is a different thing [7].
• Quoting a number from a blog, including this one. The OIF publishes its main report every four years [5]. Check the date of the official page against the date at the top of this one.

See also: French prepositions.

Sources