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I agree with Littlefella that the USA has the highest population of speakers of English as a first language, although I believe the figures stated are underestimated. I think the important thing is what level people speak English to. I have worked in this field for a long time and have these figures -see below
How many people speak English?
English has official or special status in at least seventy five countries with a total population of over two billion
English is spoken as a first language by around 375 million and as a second language by around 375 million speakers in the world
speakers of English as a second language probably outnumber those who speak it as a first language
around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language
one out of four of the world's population speak English to some level of competence; demand from the other three-quarters is increasing.
I would say in the world more than 1 billion people speak English, the question is on what level.
B2W
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