French language is steadily growing it’s influence and is currently the world’s fourth most spoken language.
The French language comes behind English, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish as one of the world’s most used languages, according to the International Organisation of Francophonie (OIF).
Currently there are 396 million French speakers worldwide in 2025 compared to standard Arabic’s 335 million.
OIF figures indicate that African continent hosts 65% of French speakers.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has the largest number, with just over 57 million French speakers, followed by Algeria with more than 15 million and Morocco with nearly 14 million.
Louis Mushikiwabo the secretary General of the OIF said in her report that there will be 590 million people speaking French by 2050.
Only around 90 million have French as their mother tongue.
“Nine out of ten of whom will live in Africa”, said Mushikiwabo,
She predicted the future of French “will no longer be shaped in Paris, but rather in Abidjan, Beirut, Brussels, Dakar, Kinshasa, Montreal, Port-au-Prince, Tunis or Yaoundé”.
French is the second most widely studied foreign language in the world – after English – with nearly 170 million learners worldwide.
While French remains a key language in diplomacy, tourism and international law.
